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The Court of Broken Knives

By: Anna Smith Spark
Narrated by: Colin Mace, Meriel Rosenkranz
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Publisher's Summary

Perfect for fans of Mark Lawrence and R. Scott Bakker, The Court of Broken Knives is the explosive debut by one of grimdark fantasy's most exciting new voices.

They've finally looked at the graveyard of our empire with open eyes. They're fools and madmen and like the art of war. And their children go hungry while we piss gold and jewels into the dust.

In the richest empire the world has ever known, the city of Sorlost has always stood, eternal and unconquered. But in a city of dreams governed by an imposturous emperor, decadence has become the true ruler and has blinded its inhabitants to their vulnerability. The empire is on the verge of invasion - and only one man can see it.

Haunted by dreams of the empire's demise, Orhan Emmereth has decided to act. On his orders, a company of soldiers cross the desert to reach the city. Once they enter the palace, they have one mission: kill the emperor, then all those who remain. Only from ashes can a new empire be built.

The company is a group of good, ordinary soldiers for whom this is a mission like any other. But the strange boy Marith who walks among them is no ordinary soldier. Marching on Sorlost, Marith thinks he is running away from the past which haunts him. But in the Golden City, his destiny awaits him - beautiful, bloody, and more terrible than anyone could have foreseen.

©2017 Anna Smith-Spark (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic Reviews

"Grim, gritty and fast paced, with great battle scenes! Anna Smith-Spark is one to watch." (Andy Remic)
"Holy crap this is good!" ( Grim Tidings)
"On a par with R. Scott Bakker." ( Grimdark Alliance)

What listeners say about The Court of Broken Knives

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Beautifully written.

Note the highly mixed reviews. I really enjoyed this audiobook, the writing, the story and the narration especially Colin Mace. It’s a grim but wonderful read.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant. I hate it.

Wonderfully writing. Well performed. The story is so bleak and pointless. The characters are very interesting they are all assholes and I hate them all (not in a good way). The over the top homosexuality is overbearing and really quite strange, what I mean is there is pleanty of heterosexual relations as well but the author skips over them where as all the homosexuality ones are gone into in great detail. It adds very little to the book. I usually love this genre, I love the first law, I won't be able to read another one of these.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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That was dreadful

Can’t get the time back but what a truly dreadful book. Kept hoping it was going somewhere but it never did. Really regret sticking it out.

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