K. J. Parker.
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City.
Orbit. 2019
rating : 2.5 : great stuff
review : 28 June 2024
A siege is approaching, and the city has little time to prepare. The people have no food and no weapons, and the enemy has sworn to slaughter them all.
To save the city will take a miracle, but what it has is Orhan. A colonel of engineers, Orhan has far more experience with bridge-building than battles, is a cheat and a liar and has a serious problem with authority. He is, in other words, perfect for the job.
Orhan is an engineer, and it’s his job to defend the walled city against almost insuperable odds. Here is the story of the many strategems and engineering feats this unlikely hero resorts to.
This is amusing in a sarcatic way, instructive if you have a walled city to defend, moving, exciting, and a great read. A bit of a downer of an ending, but I’ll definitely be reading more in this universe.