How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It is a sequel to 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City, with the same sardonic wit.

Seven years on from the first book, the siege continues. Notker is a mediocre actor and playwright with a talent for political impersonations, when he gets dragged in the center of politics. The people's hero Lysimachus (gladiator and bodyguard from the first book) was crushed by an unfortunate catapult stone, and the ruling military junta needs a Lysimachus impersonator to keep morale from collapsing entirely.

It'd be like if George Bush was one of the victims of 9/11, and they got Will Ferrell to pretend to be him to rally round the flag. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm intrigued by the possibilities.


Will Ferrell as George Bush

Notker realizes that while the siege has settled into an equilibrium, the City has to get lucky every time, and Ogus with the besieging army has to get lucky just once. And what follows is a series of desperate improvisations, keeping just one step ahead of events. Notker is a lucky fellow, with an uncanny political judgement, and his stage metaphors serve to keep him alive. Compared to the first book, there's more contrivance and some reuse of beats, but a better narrative voice.

Great series all around!