“Lying is like farming, or draining marshland, or terracing a hillside or planting a grove of peach trees. It’s an attempt to control your environment and make it better.”

Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead – 3.25 stars

Saevus Corax just wants to be left in peace to operate his battlefield salvage company, but when his past comes calling, he must admit to possession of his former name, and deal with all the troubles that are still brewing in that prior life.

Saevus Corax is an interesting character, a fast-talking rogue with a talent for survival and a desire to keep eking his living without getting embroiled in major geopolitical issues which is, unfortunately, not what happens in this book. At least he spins a good tale from it, and I enjoyed all the different slippery devices he attempts to save his skin (and maybe the lives of many other people, not that he’d like to admit it).

On the other hand, despite the first person narration, the stakes felt a little distant, as did all the supporting characters, who are held at arms-length throughout the book. The battlefield salvage also doesn’t come into the story as much as you’d expect. And the solutions for some of Saevus Corax’s biggest problems come from gambits originating from before he ever appears on the page, so that he reaps the benefits of his colorful past lives without us seeing it, which made me feel a little cheated.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

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Saevus Corax Captures the Castle – 3.75 stars

Saevus Corax is on his way back from a tough scavenging mission when he is forced to try and capture a castle by his former mother-in-law – who also reveals that his wife and child may still be alive.

This is the second book in the Saevus Corax series, but apart from a few references to the first book could probably work as a standalone. In this book we dig further into Saevus’s past, including the astonishing to me revelation that he at one point had a wife. I enjoyed this book more than the first for that reason, as we got to know both Saevus and the people around him better, and also get to explore some more unusual corners of this world.

On the other hand, this means we have less of the plotting and double-crossing and more headlong flights across dangerous terrain, which has its charms but gets a little dull after a while. And once Saevus had reached the end of his journey, you somehow wind up right back at the beginning because nothing makes a difference, which gets frustrating.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.