Making History

 

Making History is an ascerbically funny, cynical, dark academia novella by Tom Holt, writing pseudonymously as K.J. Parker. Released 2nd Sept. 2025 by Macmillan on their Tor/Forge imprint, it's 128 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. 

For fans of the author, who are familiar with his biting humor and juxtaposing horrifying elements into absurdist comedy, this is more of the same. This time, a bunch of hapless academics who would much rather be studying dead languages and military history, get sucked into a warlord's plot to change the past as an excuse to start a war. It all predictably goes belly-up, spectacularly. 

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 3 hours 5 minutes and is well read by Ian Bedford. He has a gravelly well modulated professionally trained baritone in this read and does a good job with a large cast of disparate characters across a range of ages, both male and female. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read. 

For readers who enjoy linguistics (word nerds), for fans of Holt/Parker's other works, especially the Saevus Corax trilogy, and folks who enjoy absurdist humor (Dungeon Crawler Carl, et. al.). 

Four stars. Funny, sharp, sarcastic, and jaded. It would be a good choice for public or home library acquisition. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.