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A review by brents
The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark
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.