randomseed's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
brents's review against another edition
4.0
I have been jonesing for a grimdark story and chasing the high that I got from the The Second Apocalypse by R. Scott Bakker, and based on what I had heard this would be a good place to go looking for both of those things. In terms of whether that was successful I'd say for point 1 very much so and point 2 not really. I think that's ok though because I'm not sure really anyone can be Bakker 2.0. However, this is a really dark story with a unique prose and style and some really awful people as characters. The grimdark lover in me was all about it, but it's clearly not going to be for everyone.
This book really has 3 parts and parts 1 and 3 really worked for me while part 2 was a lot less successful. Part 1 is really a crew on a mission type of storyline while it introduces you to the characters and some of the dastardly politics of this world. It culminates in the kind of insanity that I read books like this for. Part 2 delves into a romance storyline that is pretty much insta-love and is a lot less successful but didn't ruin the book for me. Fortunately, part 3 revved the insanity back up again to a finish that makes me pretty excited to pick up book 2.
This book really has 3 parts and parts 1 and 3 really worked for me while part 2 was a lot less successful. Part 1 is really a crew on a mission type of storyline while it introduces you to the characters and some of the dastardly politics of this world. It culminates in the kind of insanity that I read books like this for. Part 2 delves into a romance storyline that is pretty much insta-love and is a lot less successful but didn't ruin the book for me. Fortunately, part 3 revved the insanity back up again to a finish that makes me pretty excited to pick up book 2.
nadiadarkstar's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
powder_and_page's review
5.0
Months prior to its release, The Court of Broken Knives was already receiving significant and consistent praise from basically every fantasy reader that had managed to snag an advanced copy. That in itself, regardless of synopsis and fancy cover design, was enough for me to add it to my ever growing list of books to be read. At long last, I received my own copy and the anticipation was over! It was well worth the wait, as this is one of the most striking debuts I’ve read this year.
If you’re looking for an epic fantasy with heroes galore, happiness, and high moral standards this book doesn’t meet those requirements. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read The Court of Broken Knives anyways though – it’s way too awesome to ignore! The book starts out with a company of mercenaries that are willing to knife their own men in the night if they can’t keep up the grueling trek through the desert, so we don’t exactly have any heroes in the mix. It only gets more interesting from here as additional characters are introduced, storylines weave together, and situations get progressively worse. Our main protagonist, Marith, is a particularly interesting piece of work. Entire character studies could be done on him and his host of personal demons. He’s has the appearance of naïve innocence at first, but as the story progresses you realize he’s a bloody monster and he’ll be watching the world burn to ash before it’s all said and done. I loved to hate him and hated to love him and can’t wait to read more in the sequel.
Anna Smith Spark’s writing style is unusual and suited perfectly to her story – I would describe it as elegantly blunt, if such a thing is possible. She details the world, the characters, tidbits of history, and incredible battle scenes with an artist’s touch. I could easily visualize EVERYTHING. Whether that is actually a good thing is still up for debate. This book has all the interesting stuff you could ever want – battles, politics, betrayal, attractive love interests, flawed characters – so if you haven’t already you should really check this book out. Unless you’re only into heroes, then maybe not.
Overall, this is definitely one of the coolest debuts of the year. The continual reinforcement of dual natures/feelings was really interesting and made me think harder about, well, life in general. This was particularly strong for Thalia, as she was both attracted to and abhorrent of Marith, depending on which side of him he was showing. Their relationship was an interesting one and I’m curious to see how it will play out over the course of the next two books. Excitingly enough, we already have a cover, title, and exceprt for the second book, The Tower of Living and Dying, at the end of The Court of Broken Knives.
If you’re looking for an epic fantasy with heroes galore, happiness, and high moral standards this book doesn’t meet those requirements. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read The Court of Broken Knives anyways though – it’s way too awesome to ignore! The book starts out with a company of mercenaries that are willing to knife their own men in the night if they can’t keep up the grueling trek through the desert, so we don’t exactly have any heroes in the mix. It only gets more interesting from here as additional characters are introduced, storylines weave together, and situations get progressively worse. Our main protagonist, Marith, is a particularly interesting piece of work. Entire character studies could be done on him and his host of personal demons. He’s has the appearance of naïve innocence at first, but as the story progresses you realize he’s a bloody monster and he’ll be watching the world burn to ash before it’s all said and done. I loved to hate him and hated to love him and can’t wait to read more in the sequel.
Anna Smith Spark’s writing style is unusual and suited perfectly to her story – I would describe it as elegantly blunt, if such a thing is possible. She details the world, the characters, tidbits of history, and incredible battle scenes with an artist’s touch. I could easily visualize EVERYTHING. Whether that is actually a good thing is still up for debate. This book has all the interesting stuff you could ever want – battles, politics, betrayal, attractive love interests, flawed characters – so if you haven’t already you should really check this book out. Unless you’re only into heroes, then maybe not.
Overall, this is definitely one of the coolest debuts of the year. The continual reinforcement of dual natures/feelings was really interesting and made me think harder about, well, life in general. This was particularly strong for Thalia, as she was both attracted to and abhorrent of Marith, depending on which side of him he was showing. Their relationship was an interesting one and I’m curious to see how it will play out over the course of the next two books. Excitingly enough, we already have a cover, title, and exceprt for the second book, The Tower of Living and Dying, at the end of The Court of Broken Knives.
faithtrustpixiedust's review
5.0
Nothing is pointless, as long as one is alive.
For being a grimdark fantasy novel, this was surprisingly optimistic. Well, if you can look past the whole "death and all demons" parts.
Why we march and why we die,
And what life means...it's all a lie.
Death! Death! Death!
Yeah, that kinda dampens the mood a little.
I really enjoyed this. At first, the writing was somewhat difficult to get into, particularly the first chapter, but once I got into it, it flowed amazingly well and painted quite an enrapturing image. It was scenic and epic and I loved it entirely. (My only qualm with this being that Thalia's 1st person perspective every once in a while was jarring and didn't feel entirely necessary, but was well-written nonetheless.)
Amrath and the lore was probably one of the coolest things I've ever read. This gave me the strongest Game of Thrones vibes in the world, mixed with a little bit of Six of Crows of all things as well. It has a little something for everyone who likes fantasy: political intrigue, court squabbling, epic battles, dark anti-heroes, unreliable narrators, and mysterious pretty bois. Gosh, this was great.
The main characters Marith, Thalia, Orhan and Tobias were all absolutely great, believable people with distinct personalities and positions in the plot. The representation was pretty great too, as Orhan was gay and Marith was bisexual, but wasn't a flippant sex-addict like a lot of bi rep seems to be. Their relationships with their respective partners read like real relationships, not pandering, and I really liked them.
Also, even though this is very much adult (lots and LOTS of blood), it didn't have sex scenes, which was extremely appreciated, because I really don't like reading sex scenes and will now and forever have Empire of Storms war flashbacks whenever fantasy turns into erotica.
The themes of death and dying, like I said, were actually strangely optimistic. Especially on the part of Thalia. Marith was darker (and has some kind of issue that turns him into a psychotic murderer willing and able to destroy literally anything, which was kinda rad tbh). Thalia, though having her own demons, wasn't swept under depressive behavior like Marith was.
It was just so good.
The world is a good place. Even with pain in it. Even with death.
vanahian's review
4.0
Cuatro estrellas aunque diría que más bien entres 3,5 y 4.
The Court of Broken Knives es un libro que aunque me ha gustado en líneas generales no es un libro que recomendaría a todo el mundo.
El estilo de Spark al narrar se aleja bastante de todo lo que he leído hasta ahora y en ciertas ocasiones me ha saturado un poco, pero por suerte no lo suficiente para hacerme dejar aparcado el libro. Es complicado explicar por qué digo esto sin entrar en desvelar cosas sobre la historia así que lo dejo para que, si os pica la curiosidad el libro, lo descubráis vosotr@s.
Una vez terminado TCoBK puedo decir que se trata en su mayor parte de un tomo introductorio: worldbuilding interesante (si bien no especialmente novedoso), un lore que aparentemente está trabajado aunque dosifica la información que da sobre ello... y unos personajes principales, Marith, y Thalia, que para mi gusto si están bien definidos pero con los que no he conseguido conectar, y un tercer personaje principal, Orhan, con el que si he podido hacerlo pero cuya trama era la que menos me llamaba.
El segundo libro caerá sin duda porque quiero ver cómo evoluciona la historia y sobre todo los personajes.
The Court of Broken Knives es un libro que aunque me ha gustado en líneas generales no es un libro que recomendaría a todo el mundo.
El estilo de Spark al narrar se aleja bastante de todo lo que he leído hasta ahora y en ciertas ocasiones me ha saturado un poco, pero por suerte no lo suficiente para hacerme dejar aparcado el libro. Es complicado explicar por qué digo esto sin entrar en desvelar cosas sobre la historia así que lo dejo para que, si os pica la curiosidad el libro, lo descubráis vosotr@s.
Una vez terminado TCoBK puedo decir que se trata en su mayor parte de un tomo introductorio: worldbuilding interesante (si bien no especialmente novedoso), un lore que aparentemente está trabajado aunque dosifica la información que da sobre ello... y unos personajes principales, Marith, y Thalia, que para mi gusto si están bien definidos pero con los que no he conseguido conectar, y un tercer personaje principal, Orhan, con el que si he podido hacerlo pero cuya trama era la que menos me llamaba.
El segundo libro caerá sin duda porque quiero ver cómo evoluciona la historia y sobre todo los personajes.