The Chimes
#8373.37 adjusted 3.52 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 2015 Reading commitment Low Anna Smaill Last reviewed 2026-08-18
Overview
The Chimes is a 2015 standalone novel by Anna Smaill, set in a future London where written language has been outlawed and memory itself decays without deliberate ritual to preserve it. Simon, a young man newly arrived in the city, carries fragments of a half-remembered mission and a strange object that draws the attention of a gang of scavengers led by Lucien, in a society where music, played daily through communal ceremonies, has replaced writing as the primary way people record and share the past. As Simon and Lucien grow closer, they begin piecing together suppressed memories that point to a conspiracy behind the very system that erased written language in the first place. Smaill, a poet and violinist by training, builds the novel's prose and structure directly around musical notation and terminology, treating sound as both the setting's dominant technology and its instrument of political control. The Chimes won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.
Dark fantasy, Epic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
The Chimes Anna Smaill
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Chimes | 2015 | 1 | core | 3.37 (3,118 ratings) |
Standalone novel; a dystopian secondary world where written language is banned and memory is instead carried through music. Anna Smaill's first universe in this canon; her only other novel, Bird Life (2023), is an unrelated, separate standalone work.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Chimes? The Chimes's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is The Chimes finished? Complete (2015).
- How much reading does The Chimes take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book · ~291 pages).
- How is The Chimes ranked? #837 in this site's official ranking, based on 3,118 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #837?
Ranked #837 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.37 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (3,118 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- 0.03 behind #836, Grimpow.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Modestly rated · 1 book · Complete · 3k ratings · Ranks #837 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment dark fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2016: won: The Chimes
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.37 across 3,118 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: The Chimes admitted accepted 2026-08-18
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-18
Rule: Core = the single standalone novel; the author's other novel is a confirmed unrelated work.