After a trilogy of superlative trilogies, the personally elusive K.J. Parker has turned his distinctive talents to his first standalone novel. InThe Company, many of Parker’s familiar themes and precoccupations are explored: we have characters who are unable to break free of their origins; we have subterfuge and deceit at the heart of apparently strong relationships; we have self-deception on a grand scale and breathtakingly ruthless pragmatism. With not a shred of magic to be seen, this is a fantasy that’s all about character and motivation, and this being Parker there’s also the obligatory fascination with things to make and do.

Teuche Kunessin has finally left the army with the rank of General; returning to his home of Faralia to less than a hero’s welcome. It’s a while since the war ended, against an unspecified enemy, and Teuche has been keeping himself busy – to be more specific, he got himself promoted to the rank of general and set about engineering the situation that he’s about to explain to his four former comrades-in-arms – to whit, that he has ‘stolen’ an uninhabited island, a former army base, and intends to go and live the simple life out there. Teuche wants his friends to come with him. Together, they were part of an elite squad of ‘linebreakers’ in the war, and there are no people Teuche would rather have with him: as the feared A Company, Aidi, Muri, Kudei and Alces fought and bled at his side, doing a difficult job where they were not expected to survive, and he wants them at his side again.

Once they agree, and once they address the problem that four of them are in want of wives (no big deal, consult the local matchmaker), they load a cornucopia of supplies and equipment (and being Parker this is virtually ironmongery porn) on to a ship and set sail for their new paradise. They have livestock on board, as well as indentured labourers, and A Company think of both in not dissimilar terms – their relationships with each other are more important, and those relationships are sorely tested after they arrive, with supplies being lost, a fire and many other mishaps besides. It’s not so much The Good Life as it is Castaway, and Teuche’s vision of island life is starting to look hopelessly naive.

In to this unhappy situation, Parker throws two further hand grenades: revelations about the death of Nuctos, the sixth member of A Company, who almost made it to the end of the war; and a discovery on the island itself that totally changes the focus of its unhappy inhabitants. The stage is set for an exploration of just how strong the ties that bind A Company really are, while at the same time Teuche’s sleight of hand in appropriating the island for himself and his comrades starts to look rather less watertight than he had made it out to be.

For K.J.Parker, fantasy is about what goes on in people’s heads – the fantasy medium, most of the time, merely provides the ability to draw characters and situations on a canvas that acts as the best possible setting for them to interact. Coupled with a very particular ear for dialogue (especially inner dialogue), this gives Parker’s stories a unique feel. Parker knows that what goes on between people’s ears can be just as fantastic as anything else it’s possible to imagine, and the delusions, deceptions and disappointments that follow lead to inevitable real world consequences. In the case of The Company, this tendency is perhaps more pronounced than normal – the standalone novel form having reduced the amount of time spent on the details of manufacturing weapons and such – and in many ways this book is the essence of Parker’s output to date. I am sure his fans will love it, and I hope the shorter form will attract new readers to explore his bleak but realistic view of humanity. Highly recommended.

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