Book Review: The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of Empires of Dust
Publisher: Orbit (August 15, 2017)
Length: 512 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
The Court of Broken Knives is unlikely to shatter any molds in the grimdark genre, but I do have to give it credit for checking off all the right boxes and pushing all my right buttons. Also, the writing is exquisite, making it hard to believe this is Anna Smith Spark’s debut as it’s so incredibly polished and well done.
I do worry, however, that prospective readers might pick up this novel dismiss it almost right away because of its first chapter. There’s a pervasive belief about the fantasy genre these days that “grimdark” is all about the violence, nihilism, amoralism, and a lot of piss, blood, shit thrown in along with all the killing and dying. While, sure, those are the common features of many works of grimdark, I would argue that there’s also a lot more to it than that. Unfortunately, a lot new authors also tend to fall into the trap, trying to score points by shamelessly resorting to shock value when their main concern should be developing their characters and story, regardless of the desire to include as many examples of brutal violence, graphic sex, profanity, and explicit descriptions of bodily fluids as possible.
Where am I going with this, you ask? Well, not long before I started The Court of Broken Knives, I’d just come from another debut grimdark that I would described as edgy-for-the-sake-of-being edgy. And when I was reading the opening pages of this, there was that brief period of annoyance where I thought for sure I was strapping myself in for yet another one.
But thankfully, I was wrong. Yes, the book does begin with a bloody battle and lots of DEATH! DEATH! DEATH! Eventually though, we move beyond that into the meat of the story, following a rough crew of mercenaries as they close upon their destiny of Sorlost, the Sekemleth Empire’s seat of power. The truth of their mission will be revealed soon enough, but for now, let’s take a look at the key players. Nervous and inexperienced, Marith is the new recruit, a young Adonis with the face of an angel and a dark secret in his blood. Tobias is his squad captain, a thoughtful but pragmatic leader who keeps his purpose close to this heart and his eye on the prize.
But the mercenaries are just a small piece of the big picture—the muscle behind the brain, so to speak. They follow the orders of Orhann Emmereth, a powerful nobleman and counselor to the Emperor. A hardened and jaded politician, Orhann fears for the future of the Sekemleth Empire and believes that doom will come to them all come unless he can bring about a new leader to rise from the ashes of the old. It is he who has hired Tobias and his mercenaries, tasking them to kill the Emperor and everyone else in his court. Meanwhile, in the nearby temple in Sorlost, much of the power also rests in the hands of a fourth major character. Thalia is the High Priestess of the empire’s rather unusual and cruel religion whose god demands the sacrifice of children, and as the head of the order, it is she who must carry out these difficult ritualistic killings.
From these four perspectives, the author weaves a tale of intrigue, passion, and betrayal about the complexities of human nature and war. Characterization is the real standout here, exploring the different interaction between the members of this eclectic cast. Every one of them is a unique and multi-faceted individual, complete with their own set of quirks and flaws. In particular, I found Orhann and Thalia’s storylines to be the most intriguing, for both are conflicted characters who are in positions of influence and yet are also victims of their own circumstances. Tired and cynical, Orhann may have seen it all in his long career as a politician, but it still wouldn’t be fair to call him a bad or callous man. If anything, he cares too much. Despite the troubles in his personal life, he strives to be the loving husband and soon-to-be father, and any corrupt or treasonous decisions he makes, he does it because he truly believes he is doing it for the good of the empire.
Then, of course, we have Thalia, a complicated woman who carries on with her grisly work with child sacrifices as she knows she must. But there is also a spark of defiance there, fueled by the knowledge of the fate that awaits her at the end of her tenure as High Priestess. Curiously, hers is the only perspective we get in first-person, a strange choice by the author. Short as they were though, Thalia’s chapters do give readers deeper insight into her character and personality. She goes on to develop an unexpected romance with Marith, a grand love affair that really should deserve a paragraph all on its own, though it’s probably best to leave the best parts as a surprise. Suffice it to say that they are not your typical fictional couple, and I wouldn’t go in expecting anything you’d usually get from a more traditional romance.
Likewise, I don’t want to reveal too much about the story, because so much of the joy in reading this book was the experience of peeling back its layers and discovering its secrets. What I can tell you is that it is more than the sum of its parts, and the plot follows a slow-burn approach that gradually builds to a violent climax. To wit, A Court of Broken Knives wasn’t a book that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, but neither was I ever bored. And although I wouldn’t call it groundbreaking by any means, this is still a very solid and well put-together debut. Certainly, it ended up giving me a lot more than I expected, and I would not hesitate to recommend it if your predilections run to grimdark or dark fantasy. Anna Smith Spark is an author to watch, and I would not hesitate to pick up the next book in the series.
The BiblioSanctum 
I am still not sure if I am a grimdark kind of gal
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It does seem to be a somewhat niche genre!
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Great review, very honest. I’m looking forward to the read myself
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Thank you, I’m so glad you enjoyed my review! I hope you get a chance to check out the book soon, I had a great time with it and I can’t wait for the next one!
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Mine’s sitting in my tbr stack. I’ll get to it as soon as my writing commitments have calmed down 🙂
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Hmm, interesting. I pondered picking it up this weekend, but I hadn’t seen any reviews yet!
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Yeah, I’m surprised there aren’t more reviews out there, since it’s also been out in the UK for a while.
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I’ll be reading this soonish. I’m glad to hear it’s multi-layered and “more” than just grimdark. It’s always cause for celebration when a female author breaks into grimdark territory, so for that reason alone I’m excited!
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Yeah, once you get through the first couple chapters, you get past more of the “grimdarkness” into the meat of the story. I hope you get a chance to read this, I really enjoyed it!
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To read about the “complexities of human nature”, to quote your words, I would happily look past any amount of blood, sweat and other assorted bodily fluids, indeed, especially when the story is peopled with interesting, well-drawn characters.
Thank you for the warning about the fist chapter: if I’m granted the opportunity to read this, I will keep that in mind, but your review has convinced me anyway that I might enjoy this story. Thanks for sharing 🙂
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I’m glad this one caught your eye! Once you get past the first couple of chapters you do get to see more of what the book has to offer. Crossing my fingers you’ll get a chance to read this! 😀
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This sounds like a great book to get into grimdark!
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It really is! I would say this one is a pretty good gateway book into the genre 🙂
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Yep, after I got through the first chapter I discovered that there was so much more to this than violence and bloodshed. The writing is lovely – I confess it took me a little while to become accustomed to it but then I found myself totally on board.
Lynn 😀
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The clipped writing did give me pause a bit, but after a while I just kind of fell into it. I really like her style 😀
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Interesting and it’s great that now you want to try more. Not sure it is for me really as it is well fantasy but great thing to see it was good
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No worries! I agree, you really have to like the grimdark genre for boos like this to work I think.
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Great review, very honest.
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Thanks for checking out the review!
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Edgy for the sake of being edgy books are so frustrating, so I’m glad to hear that this one doesn’t fall into that trap! I’m always intrigued by a talented debut author, even when they’re writing in a sub-genre I don’t normally reach for.
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Yeah, I’ve been seeing a lot of “for the sake of” books lately and it’s getting a little tiresome. A good story starts with a good plot and good characters, I think more debut authors should focus on that first and foremost – and Smith Spark definitely succeeded here!
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I don’t have a ton of grimdark books under my belt but the ones I do that I love, certainly have their grim and dark 🙂 moments the thing that made me like them was fascinating characters that are on the gray side. So I agree – that’s what they should focus on but I’m guessing it’s pretty tempting to start with actiony and visceral scene.
I do like the idea of grand romance being included!
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In terms of grimdark, I think this one’s just grim and dark enough without going overboard which makes it a good choice for both fans and newcomers to the genre. I did think the first chapter was a bit too bombastic, but hopefully most will make it through the beginning to see everything the book has to offer 🙂
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I’ll get to it as soon as my writing commitments have calmed down 🙂 I would say this one is a pretty good gateway book into the genre 🙂
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I’ll mother to it as soon as my penning commitments stimulate calmed down 🙂 I would sound out this one is a pretty right gateway playscript into the literary genre 🙂
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