 Hello, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Philip Magnus and today I'm reviewing The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith-Spark This book is the first in the Empires of Dust trilogy and it is as grimdark as they come What I'm going to do today is I'm not going to be talking at you I'm going to be reading my script and you'll be seeing pretty little pictures in the background or in the foreground And I'll be in a little box somewhere in one of these corners Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get into it. Shall we? I have long meant to read through Anna Smith-Spark's Empires of Dust trilogy The ways it's spoken about make it out to seem custom-made for me One of the darker series out there. It aims for a more literary tone Its language can be staggeringly beautiful and its characters are finely crafted Flawing for even the smallest fragment of light in a world whose darkness overwhelms all Reading it, I found all these purported qualities to be well in line with my own impressions Even as one sensation eclipsed all of them A mixture of revulsion, the weakness of some of these characters, their greed, their powerlessness Their inability to learn from their mistakes And a yearning to dive deeper Explore this hopeless world where the price to craft a better tomorrow often turns out very tomorrow into dust Or in Sparks own words Disgust and desire Desire and disgust The language of the cause has weight behind it Metaphors and other forms of comparisons Borrow something from epic poetry Have almost the weight of chimeric similes where the author draws from the Where the author draws the comparison at length spending more time describing an imaginary far off world Than they do the thing they're actually describing This definition I have borrowed from episode 14 of literature and history By Doug Metzger an excellent podcast for all of you literature and history lovers out there Look to this quote back to The call to broken lives The dragon was gray a deep storm cloud gray in which all the colors of the world flickered Its eyes were green the green of trees and leaves Eyes that knew things men could never know See how the colors lingered over how they expand the idea of the dragon in your mind how they encapsulate Knowledge and the natural world in ways far removed from what you might otherwise Have glimpsed from the figure of the dragon without the play on colors Many of the finest descriptions in broken knives work in these same ways Exhibiting an attention to language that is joyous to read Our main characters are marris an exiled prince who is supposed to be dead Talir a high priestess whose hands are dripping red with the blood of those sacrificed for her god Tobias a mercenary whose loyalty extends very little past his own well-being and self-interests and Orhan a member of the ruling royal family And he's also a member of the royal family Who's loyalty extends very little past his own well-being and self-interests and Orhan a member of the ruling class of an empire at its slowest point A man who hopes to breathe life into the troubling ruin of this once great empire They are one and all compelling and repulsive They are not in equal parts Marit is more loathsome while Talir is easier to root for yet both have killed children It could have something to do with the question of choice The high priestess of the god of living and dying is forced to become a tool of his will Or the mere result of traditions of generations upon generations countless of them word of traditions While Marit's reasons are far more selfish Sentences such as the following certainly will do something to limit the appeal of a novel any novel They were all in bed fast asleep and so Marit went through the house and killed everyone in it There was in fact a newborn baby He killed it He killed three children three women two men a dog and a cat Then he found a bottle of what was probably wood alcohol and drank it as fast as he could By the time he reached the bottom He'd almost blotted out the noise the baby had made before he died Then he lay down in the best bed and slept for a long time You've forgiven the thing based on this quote that marit is a remorseless and brutal killer And if you come away from this book with the impression that this is the case I won't try to assuage you too hard But there is another side to him that is hidden away very difficult to glimpse From a perspective outside his own The following quote is From his own perspective therefore Oh no, no, no He looked back at them rubbed his eyes warily all the joy had gone out of him replaced with shame This gust he never wanted to see another drop of blood as long as he lived He never wanted to hold a sword again. He couldn't do this He couldn't just make it stop make it all stop make everything go away Help me. He taught distantly. Help me. Please He sighed and rubbed his eyes again As long as I get the best bed afterward Here again is a break between the self we show to the world and the one hidden deep within Does it make marit more palatable? That is at least in part a question of personal preference So I am hesitant to lay it all on the feet of your own personal tastes For character. I'm also aware that the most twisted ones have the Stiniest fanfics written about them. Just think of American psycho, right? But it does make marit Far more interesting Is the point I would like to highlight through these two quotes There's almost Reminiscence of noir to grim dark fantasy. I've noticed Clipped sentences the casual violence a hurtling between sex and death This last trait is especially evident towards the end of the court as violence Becomes almost orgasmic in its intensity the jovial bit the madness of obsessive love I am well impressed with Anna Smith's spark as the beat novel Well enough that now I've finished this review. I'm ready to jump into the tower of living and dying This is not a book I can recommend to everyone as the quotes have shown you there is Content here that will turn away Some even many of you and I'm sure there are fantasy readers who prefer to keep away from the more Highbrow language Anna Brow spark employs for the comfort of more straightforward prose But if your interests lie in internal conflict as much as an external one if you're Eager to explore Dark worlds and darker deeds and the kernel Of hope at the core of it. You might just find yourself gripped by the court of broken knives If you enjoy this video, please like it share it subscribe Give me a comment. Let me know what you think. Do you enjoy these reviews? I know they might not seem quite as personal As the ones in which I speak directly onto the camera But I think there's something to be said about a well constructed review I'm a much better writer than I am a speaker I'm not half bad at speaking. I must admit And without in mind, I am going to leave you with one final quote crowned in silver Frowned in silver Troned in gold Radiant with light Not a bad thing to see Surely I'll see you again next time. Bye