K.J. Parker has created an efficient and intriguing trilogy based on a city of engineers and their neighbors, surrounding nations with lesser technology. Devices and Desires introduced us to all the players. An engineer from the Republic of Mezentia, Ziani Vaatzes, transgresses their sacrosanct Specifications to build a toy for his daughter. He’s sentenced to death for it.

He escapes and sets in motion a plan to be reunited with his family - a plan that will mean war and death for thousands. In the second book, Evil for Evil, the intrigue behind the engineer’s crime is slowly brought to light. Heinous wrongs are overlooked by all the characters so that they can accomplish their larger goals. The final war with Mezentia looms ever closer.

This third book, The Escapement, is what readers have been awaiting. Duke Valens, the leader of the Vadani nation, and his army of nomads, the Aram Chantat, begin their seige of the Perpetual Republic, Mezentia. Succinctly, we are told exactly what’s involved in a siege: the strategies of artillery, the considerations of food for an army of hundreds of thousands, the labor of undermining a city’s walls. Inside the city, Chairman Psellus consults an ancient tome to prepare for the defense of his city. He also continues his pursuit of the truth in the Vaatzes’ case. He finds two key investigators and interrogates Vaatzes’ wife yet again. He’s sure the answer will help his defense.

The book begins with the same thought as each of its predecessors: “The quickest way to a man’s heart is proverbially through his stomach, but if you want to get into his brain I recommend the eye socket.” It’s an interesting play on an old axiom. It’s a quaint and warm truth with romantic overtones contrasted with the vicious death stroke of the next phrase in the sentence. That same juxtaposition is explored throughout this trilogy. In other words, the books have much to say about the damage love can do to the world and the damage people can wreak on their own relationships.

For example, Valens finally has the woman he loves. She waits in the capital city for the Duke to complete his conquest and return to her. This becomes his undoing. As he makes a quick trip to visit her, he is waylaid and terribly injured. Thus, the way is paved for the freak Daurenja, a madman introduced in book two, to take over the campaign against the great city. His love, not a woman but a weapon, proves to be his undoing as well. And Vaatzes, the mastermind behind the entire mechanism, was set on his course because of his love for his wife. For all of them, their love had tragic consequences.