chantaalreads left a rating...
chantaalreads finished a book

The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family
Jesselyn Cook
chantaalreads made progress on...
chantaalreads wrote a review...
Such a great premise with some good humor and a fast pace. While this is shelved as fantasy and Tor certainly calls it a dark fantasy, I wouldn't go into this expecting typical genre conceits. In my mind, this is kind of a historical novella taking place in another world that may or may not be fantastical.
In this novella, a tyrant demands that the top scholars at a university create a fake ancient city as a pretext for making war upon their neighbors. Our unnamed narrator is a linguist whose part in the whole farce is to create a dead language that could have been real.
I've previously read Prosper's Demon by KJ Parker, and I think the greatest strength in his writing is that he knows how to give his characters a compelling and strong voice. That voice rings throughout this novella, especially with how obsessed with linguistics our narrator is, and as he faces such an impossible task. There's some decent world building for such a short novella, as well.
I do have to say that this was probably a bit too short for the story - the last 20% flew by at such a quick pace that I got whiplash. But, I was still satisfied with the whole story overall and enjoy KJ Parker's writing a lot.
chantaalreads finished a book

Making History
K.J. Parker
chantaalreads TBR'd a book

Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga, #4)
Pierce Brown
chantaalreads TBR'd a book

A Questionable Client (Kate Daniels, #0.5)
Ilona Andrews
chantaalreads commented on chantaalreads's update
chantaalreads started reading...

Making History
K.J. Parker
chantaalreads made progress on...
chantaalreads made progress on...
chantaalreads started reading...

The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family
Jesselyn Cook
chantaalreads left a rating...
chantaalreads commented on chantaalreads's update
chantaalreads made progress on...
chantaalreads made progress on...