Sister Svangerd and the Not Quite Dead

From World Fantasy Award-winning author K.J. Parker comes a devilishly clever tale of murder, intrigue, and existential crisis.

​Not even the Church of the Invincible Sun is invincible - and somebody has to do its dirty work. Enter Sister Svangerd and her accompanying priest, both first-rate practitioners. Their mission is simple: to make a meddlesome princess disappear (permanently).

To get to her, they must attend the legendary Ecumenical Council, the once-in-a-century convening of the greatest spiritual minds the world has to offer. But when they arrive, they find instead a den of villainy that would make the most hardened criminal blush.

To complicate matters further, it appears that some people who were definitely grim reapered might be not quite dead after all. What began as a little assassination is about to escalate into a theological debate with terrifying consequences for everyone.

For more from K. J. Parker, check out:

Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead
Saevus Corax Captures the Castle
Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City
How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It
A Practical Guide to Conquering the World

The Two of Swords
The Two of Swords: Volume One
The Two of Swords Volume Two
The Two of Swords: Volume Three

The Fencer Trilogy
Colours in the Steel
The Belly of the Bow
The Proof House

The Scavenger Trilogy
Shadow
Pattern
Memory

Engineer Trilogy
Devices and Desires
Evil for Evil
The Escapement

The Company
The Folding Knife

Author: K. J. Parker
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 01/27/2026
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Paperback
Size: 8.25h x 5.50w x 0.96d
ISBN13: 9780316566988
ISBN10: 0316566985
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Fantasy | Epic
- Fiction | Fantasy | Historical

About the Author
K.J. Parker is a pseudonym for Tom Holt. He was born in London in 1961. At Oxford he studied bar billiards, ancient Greek agriculture and the care and feeding of small, temperamental Japanese motorcycle engines; interests which led him, perhaps inevitably, to qualify as a solicitor and emigrate to Somerset, where he specialized in death and taxes for seven years before going straight in 1995. He lives in Chard, Somerset, with his wife and daughter.