Early Review – Making History by K.J. Parker (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 128 pages
Publisher: Tordotcom
Release Date: September 2, 2025
ASIN: B0DQJ3S6XX
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley for review
Rating: 4/5 stars

“History isn’t truth, it’s propaganda.

Seeking war with his neighbor, the tyrannical ruler of Aelia convenes several of his kingdom’s professors for a chat. First Citizen Gyges only just invaded Aelia a few years back and, naturally, his public image can’t take the hit of another unjustified assault.

His totally sane solution? Simple, really. These scholars must construct a fake ancient city from scratch to verify Gyges’s apocryphal claims.

Now these academics must put their heads together to make history. Because if they don’t, they’ll lose their heads altogether.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got a copy of this on ebook from NetGalley for review.

Thoughts: I liked this; it was intriguing and ironic. I like the message it delivers and enjoyed the twists and turns. The characters are definitely not all that likable, but I was impressed by the world-building in such a short page space.

The story follows a linguist who is part of a group of scholars who are given an impossible task by the new ruler, First Citizen Gyges. Gyges wants the scholars to fabricate a lost city and a history that will allow him to have an excuse to go to war with a neighboring country. After all, if the population is distracted by war they won’t notice what a horrible ruler Gyges actually is…

This was a quick read and gets a bit rambling at parts, but it has a thoughtful message and an ironic twist. The whole idea behind a ruler “making” history to re-write things in a way he wants them to be remembered and to justify his actions is not new; but it is poked fun at in this book. The way leaders and scholars assume that the general public is a bunch of idiots is challenged as well.

I really enjoyed the ironic twist in this book; it is well done and adds a lot of ironic humor to the story.

The book is told from the viewpoint of a linguistic scholar, and, as much as I enjoy language, some of these parts get a bit dry. He spends quite a bit of page space talking about the intricacies and importance of language. Some of this is intriguing and some isn’t. He also uses his engagement in the details of language as an excuse for the rather despicable action of literally re-writing history. This is not a character driven book and the characters in here are unlikable and forgettable. This book seems to be more of a politcal satire/satement than anything.

My Summary (4/5): Overall this is a quick and somewhat entertaining read. I enjoyed the irony of the story and some of the topics it delves into. Some of the linguistic discussion got a bit long for me, and none of the characters are likable or all that memorable. However, I enjoyed some of the twists to the story. It’s been awhile since I read a book by Parker and I am guessing it will be awhile more before I pick up another. Everything I’ve read by him is decent but just doesn’t really grab me.