The Court of Broken Knives
core novel 2017 Empires of Dust
Record
| First published | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.45 (3,442 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| Page count | 470 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780008204181 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
The Court of Broken Knives is a grimdark fantasy set around the Sekemleth Empire and follows four protagonists whose paths converge in a plot to overthrow it. Among them is Marith Altrersyr, a young mercenary of uncertain but clearly significant birth who fights alongside a mercenary company and is drawn, along with the empire's political and military elite, into the violent conspiracy against the throne. The novel moves between multiple points of view to build a picture of an empire ripe for collapse and the varied, often morally compromised people willing to bring it down, establishing the brutal tone and multi-perspective structure that carries through the rest of the Empires of Dust trilogy.
Where it sits
- Universe: Empires of Dust
- Series: Empires of Dust core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Anna Smith Spark
Awards (verified)
- David Gemmell Morningstar Award (Best Fantasy Newcomer), 2018: finalist; Finalist; the award was won by Kings of the Wyld (Nicholas Eames).
Notes
- From the series record (Empires of Dust): Completed trilogy; all 3 published by HarperVoyager (UK).
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Empires of Dust: position 1 of 3: next The Tower of Living and Dying (2018)
Sources
- Anna Smith Spark - Wikipedia
- 2018 David Gemmell Award Shortlists - Locus Online
- 2018 Gemmell Awards Winners - Locus Online
- The David Gemmell Awards 2018 - SFFWorld
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