Review: The House of Sacrifice by Anna Smith Spark

The House of Sacrifice (Empires of Dust #3) by Anna Smith Spark

Orbit

Publication Date: August 13th, 2019

Paperback. 480 pages

About The House of Sacrifice:

"Marith's power is growing. His empire stretches across half the world, and allies are flocking to his banner to share the spoils of war. With Thalia ruling at his side they are unstoppable. 

But Marith is become increasingly mentally unstable and their victories cannot continue forever."

Reviews for books one and two:
The Court of Broken Knives
The Tower of Living and Dying


Now this was a satisfying ending to a truly remarkable trilogy that has left me speechless on more than one occasion.

The poetic and literature nature of Spark's writing has done nothing but flourish throughout this trilogy, and it remains as vibrant and immersive as ever in The House of Sacrifice. Spark's prose is, as I've said before, more of an experience than it is anything else. It's really not for everyone and I totally understand that, but I'm so glad that I love it as much as I do and find it absolutely beautiful. This is going to be one of those reviews where I can't get too specific on plot or other details because I don't want to give anything away, but I'll still share all of my non-spoiler thoughts to the best of my abilities.

This installment had a marked shift in the events of the story from the other books. In this story, Marith has essentially taken over almost everything he wants to, Thalia is still by his side, it looks as though there is no end in sight for the victories of his army, and Marith is beginning to lose his marbles a bit. Well, okay, a bit more. Despite some gory moments and occasional sieges, the first half of the book had a sort of lack of urgency that I really enjoyed,. It's not that nothing was happening or there were no stakes, but it just had this sense of normalcy from Marith and his army in how they continually sacked cities that translated really well through Spark's writing and allowed me to really understand that sense of glorified monotony. Soon enough, however, things heated up once again and the stakes were cranked up into something that had me continuously turning the pages. 

The story is split into three parts and within those parts we follow many of the same compelling perspectives as before: Marith, Thalia, Tobias, Orhan, and Landra. I love getting into the heads of Martih and Thalia in particular, two of the most flawed characters who make up the most dysfunctional couple I've ever seen--and yet, somehow, it all works. Orhan is another POV that I always enjoy following. He has this hopeless sense of humor that is full of dread, yet he maintains a very distinct personality that shines through in his chapters. 

The world-building has long been established by this final installment and previous books have included plenty of travel that explores it, but I still enjoyed how much of the world was explored in this book as well. Marith's army travels around to new places during their quest to take over everything, all of it eventually coming a head in the golden city of Sorlost. This is a harsh world that feels entirely unpredictable most of the time (especially thanks to the help of some pretty intense dragons) and always manages to keep things unpredictable. Something about the world that might seem sort of minor that I love is how Spark manages to include a glimpse into what the 'regular' people of this world are doing. It's not anything that takes up much space or time in the novel, but the occasional mention in the narrative or dialogue remark from a character that notes how civilians are reacting to these events, how it takes so long for news to travel to them, etc. just really stood out to me and added a certain level of credence to the story that I appreciated. 

If you were worried that this book was any less intense than the previous two, then I'm here to allay your fears: there's plenty of gore and violence, all done in a style that is both poetic and blunt at the same time. Spark just has this way of using language to effortlessly both convey and evoke a wide variety of emotions in her readers and to build a strong atmosphere. Even though the plot itself didn't feel as intense--at least in the first half--as I mentioned before, the brutality of this world and those within it was not lessened at all. The ending was bittersweet, both tragic and beautiful in its own right and I couldn't have asked for anything else. Every character arc left me feeling wholly satisfied with their fate, though I am sorry to see the end of their--and my--journey in this world. I have no idea what Spark plans to do next, but I have high hopes for anything she writes and will be first in line to check it out.

Overall, I've given The House of Sacrifice five stars! If you've enjoyed the first two books in this trilogy, then I have no doubts that you will always love this one.

*I received an ARC of The House of Sacrifice courtesy of Orbit books in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my rating or enjoyment of the novel.*

Amazon | Book Depository | IndieBound

Can't-Wait Wednesday: The House of Sacrifice by Anna Smith Spark & The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

 

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

This week's upcoming book spotlight is: 

The House of Sacrifice by Anna Smith Spark
Publication: August 13th, 2019

Orbit

Hardcover. 400 pages.

Pre-order: Amazon | Book Depository | IndieBound

From Goodreads:

"A powerhouse grimdark fantasy of bloodshed, ambition, and fate, The House of Sacrifice is the thunderous conclusion to Anna Smith Spark's Empires of Dust trilogy, which began with The Court of Broken Knives. 

Marith Altrersyr has won. He cut a path of blood and vengeance and needless violence around the world and now he rules. It is time for Marith to put down his sword, to send home his armies, to grow a beard and become fat. It is time to look to his own house, and to produce an heir. The King of Death must now learn to live. 
But some things cannot be learnt. 

The spoils of war turn to ash in the mouths of the Amrath Army and soon they are on the move again. But Marith, lord of lies, dragon-killer, father-killer, has begun to falter and his mind decays. How long can a warlord rotting from within continue to win? 

As the Army marches on to Sorlost, Thalia's thoughts turn to home and to the future: a life grows inside her and it is a precious thing - but it grows weak. 

Why must the sins of the father curse the child?"

I have been anxiously awaiting this finale since I closed the last page of The Tower of Living and Dying and I cannot wait to see Spark wraps everything up! This grimdark fantasy has easily been one of my favorites and I can't seem to get over how gorgeous Spark's writing style is and how she crafts such complex characters.

and...

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, trans. Stephen Snyder

Publication: August 13th, 2019

Pantheon Books

Hardcover. 288 pages.

Pre-order: Amazon | Book Depository | IndieBound

From Goodreads:

"A haunting Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance, from the acclaimed author of The Housekeeper and the Professor. 

On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, things are disappearing. First, animals and flowers. Then objects--ribbons, bells, photographs. Then, body parts. Most of the island's inhabitants fail to notice these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the mysterious "memory police," who are committed to ensuring that the disappeared remain forgotten. 

When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her wiring as the last way of preserving the past.

Part allegory, part literary thriller, The Memory Police is a stunning new work from one of the most exciting contemporary authors writing in any language."

I recently read Ogawa's short story collection Revenge and have been really wanting to read more of her work. She has some backlist titles I'm also interested in, but when I saw this new book she has coming out, I couldn't help but be drawn to the intriguing premise! I am also absolutely loving the cover.

What do you think about these upcoming releases? What are your anticipated upcoming releases?

Review: The Tower of Living and Dying by Anna Smith Spark

The Tower of Living and Dying (Empires of Dust #2) by Anna Smith Spark

Orbit (US), 2018

Paperback. 480 pages. 

Last year, I read and was blown away by The Court of Broken Knives and could not wait to get my hands on a copy of the sequel because I desperately needed more of Anna Smith Spark lush prose. I am thrilled to say that Tower of Living and Dying completely lived up to my expectations--and then some more. There is something so engrossing about Spark's poetic, addicting writing style. Her writing never fails to make me want to just slow down and almost luxuriate in each and every word and phrase. This might make it take longer to read the book, but it's so worth it.

In this second installment in the Empires of Dust trilogy, the story picks up pretty much where the previous book left off with the same general cast of characters. The plot and overall storyline felt a bit slower-paced and more like a bridge than in The Court of Broken Knives, and I really enjoyed this small difference for providing a new tone. There are still plenty of high-intensity battle scenes and other intense moments, of course, but there seemed to be a much heavier focus on the characters that I loved. This book allows readers to really get into the heads of Thalia, Tobias, Orhan, and Marith (to a lesser extent) more deeply in order to understand more of where they're at in the story and what their motivations are. I was particularly hooked on Thalia and Orhan's POVs this time around, both of which I felt had so much incredible development that I could not get enough of. I am also endlessly intrigued by the dynamic between Thalia and Marith, and I cannot wait to see how it continues to play out in the next book.

There are a lot of different parts of this book that I could talk about, but I want to focus on one specific example that involves a deadly fever that overtakes a city. Now, I've read a lot of books that feature some sort of plague or terrifying illness that invades a city, but it's safe to say that Spark has written some of the most chilling, truly horrifying plague scenes that I've ever read. I literally had chills, and despite the fact that I'm a huge germaphobe myself and usually avoid these sorts of things, I simply couldn't look away. Spark just has a way of completely drawing the reader in and making them feel exactly what is happening. I could feel the terror of people trapped in the city during the plague, I could feel the excitement and intensity of Marith's battle scenes, and I could feel the pain and despair that so many characters felt at different times. Spark's books aren't just entertainment, they're an experience. 

As mentioned, the main perspectives that we follow are Thalia, Marith, Orhan, and Tobias, along with one other minor character's that I really enjoyed. In this book, we still get to experience some time in the city of Sorlost, but we also get to explore so much of the world outside of Sorlost as Marith travels around on his attempts to basically take over the world. I liked how Spark split up the book into various parts that mainly seemed to be based upon general location of the characters. This really made the book feel exceptionally cohesive and clear to me, which in turn made for a wonderful reading experience.

Another thing that I loved about this book was how much more background and history we are able to learn about a few of the characters. Marith, in particular, had a lot of background and family history revealed that was so captivating and helped me to better understand him as a character. I also appreciated being able to learn more about the world and various cities and peoples, which seemed like something that happened fairly often in this book. And did I mention that there are more dragons? I made a pretty big deal about dragons in my review for the first book, so seeing another dragon in this book made me so happy.

As always, there was still plenty of death, blood, killing, and violence in general to really cement this book in its beautiful grimdark shine. I'm not sure I've ever read any books where an author can make killing sound quite as beautiful and exciting as Spark makes it sound in her books, and for that I will always be completely enchanted with it. Her characters are all rather grey as far as morals go (okay, so some might be really, really dark grey), so while reading I would occasionally sit back and think, 'wait, why am I rooting for this person?'-- but then I read more of Spark's captivating writing and am swept back into the multi-faceted and deeply complex motivations and thoughts of each character and can't help but want to know more about them.

So this review has been a bit all over the place, but the bottom line here is that I loved the second book just as much as the first, and I'm just so glad I've had a chance to read these books. This is probably obvious, but overall I've given The Tower of Living and Dying five stars! Now what a I to do until the third book comes out?

*I received a copy of The Tower of Living and Dying courtesy of Orbit in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my rating of the book.*

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

You might also like:

The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark
Master Assassins by Robert V.S. Redick
Kings of Paradise by Richard Nell
Red Sister by Mark Lawrence 

Book Recommendations: If You Like Your Fantasy on the Darker Side

I enjoy most book genres, but fantasy tends to be one of my favorites, and although I enjoy many different types of fantasy, I have to say that I'm usually drawn to darker books and settings. Because of this, I decided that I might as well make a post with some of the ones I've really enjoyed that I am always recommending to people. About half of these were actually released in 2017 because it was such a fantastic year for debuts in fantasy, but the rest vary in release date. Many of the books on this list are also referred to as 'grimdark' novels, which, for those that do not know, does not have a firm definition, but generally refers to fantasy books that have dark, nihilistic, gritty settings with morally ambiguous characters. Of course, don't let the definition confine your opinions, because it isn't a fully defined term, but just that be a guideline. Now, on to the books!

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

I love Nevernight so much it's ridiculous. This is a story of Mia Corvere, who competes to become a true assassin so that she can take revenge on those who killed her father. It's super bloody, brutal, and all-around amazing. The second book, Godsgrave, is also already out and the final book should be out this year.

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark -- Review

This book was so dark in such a beautiful way. Anna Smith Spark uses a really unique writing style that is, at times, almost reminiscent of a steam-of-consciousness style. From my review for it: This is true grimdark, meaning it is dark, full of gory details and violence, and spilling with characters whose morals lie in the grey area of life. The Court of Broken Knives is a devastating duet of beauty and cruelty that weave together to create a breathtaking book that is impossible to step away from. The sequel is coming this year!

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

Jade City by Fonda Lee -- Review 

Jade City really stood out from other fantasy books that I read this past year because it was more of an urban/contemporary Asian setting, but still a very different world from what we have now. It's a gritty world with mafia-inspired groups that don't shy away from violence. 

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

Blackwing by Ed McDonald 

I have a really hard time describing this book, which is partially why I do not yet have a review up for it. This is essentially set in a post-apocalyptic world that includes a huge wasteland known as the Misery, which is basically a terrifying, unpredictable, and incredibly deadly expanse of land that many do not survive crossing. The story focuses on a sort of bounty hunter who regularly crosses the Misery, and that's about all of the story I'll dive into. This book maybe be on the shorter side*, but it is brutal, dark, and not overly optimistic. It's great!

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

*Okay, so I just checked and it's actually 380 pages, but for some reason it looks really short and read really fast, so I thought it was shorter than it is. Oh well.

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski - Review

I've never played The Witcher games, but I have read a few of the books that inspired them and I love them! This particular book in The Witcher series is a series of short stories that each focuses on one instance of Geralt taking down some crazy creature, spirit, etc. It's dark, bloody, and fantastic. I can't recommend these books enough--the entire series has about seven books so far.

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

Scythe by Neal Shusterman - Review

So this one isn't your typical grimdark-style fantasy that I've been recommending, but I still think it's very dark. It takes place in a world in which death is pretty much eradicated and everyone can live forever. To combat the risk of overpopulation, every year a certain amount of people are chosen at random to be 'gleaned' (aka: killed). This book dives deeply into many topics surrounding death and the many grey areas of life. Thunderhead, the sequel, just released this week. (This is also more dystopian, but thought that it fit on this list.)

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository



Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
Assassin nuns.
In this book, young girls are trained to become assassins and are taught how to fight, poison, lie, and do all-around not socially acceptable things--this book has it all! Oh, and magic. The second book, Grey Sister, is coming out this year.

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence 

Mark Lawrence is pretty much just great for grimdark. The protagonist in this book/trilogy walks a very thin line between a mere 'grey' character and being completely heartless.  It is absolutely not recommended for the faint of heart, but if you tend to think 'the darker the better,' then step right up.

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

Godblind by Anna Stephens 

This is another one that doesn't have a review yet because I've had a hard time putting my thoughts into words. Essentially, a group of peopleknown as the Mireces worship the rather bloodthirsty Red Gods and decide to invade the land of Rilpor. It is much, much more complex than that, but just be aware that this book is dark, bloodt, full of deceit, and hard to put down. 

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

I will confess that I have only ever read the first fifty or so page of this because I had to put it down for school and then sort of forgot about it.... but I plan to finally finish it up this year! Abercrombie's First Law books are dark and tend to be the top recommendation when people are asking for grimdark/dark fantasy. Let's just say that it's recommended for a reason.

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository | Pretty Edition

(Note: I thought I included The Lies of Locke Lamora in this list, but after proofreading it I can see that I didn't. Oops. Please consider The Lies of Locke Lamora in your future book reading endeavor because it is fantastic. You can purchase it at Book Depository or Amazon [or any other bookstore probably].)

Have you read any of these? What books would you add to this list?

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The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark

The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark. Harper Voyager, 2017. Hardcover. 400 pages.
US release (left): August 15th, 2017
UK release (right): June 29th, 2017

Once again, 2017 proves to be a fantastic year for fantasy with the addition of this incredible grimdark novel. This book was phenomenal, and I loved every single page.

This is true grimdark, meaning it is dark, full of gory details and violence, and spilling with characters whose morals lie in the grey area of life. The Court of Broken Knives is a devastating duet of beauty and cruelty that weave together to create a breathtaking book that is impossible to step away from.

The first thing that caught my attention in The Court of Broken Knives was the writing style, which embodies an extremely strong, almost poetic voice. The opening page is so striking and different from other books that I almost felt as if I needed to re-read it a few times just to take it all in. Off the bat, I wasn't sure if I liked it. I thought I did, but then I also felt that if the entire book was written exactly like that paragraph, I might get tired of it. As you can see, I didn't get tired of it. This book has an almost stream-of-consciousness-esque form at times, but the most prominent moments in which this occurred were also the most perfect moments to use this style. Violent scenes and high intensity moments were incredibly mesmerizing, and the Spark continues to use this style throughout the book, though it varies somewhat in style and intensity at various moments throughout the book. Together, it all worked to create something wholly unique and endlessly entertaining.

Another positive note about this book was that I was interested in each and every character in this book. We get the perspective of a four main different character, most of which are in third person, but one occasionally occurs in the first. I found that switch between first and third to be an interesting choice, but one that really stuck out in a positive way; it almost made me pay more attention and seemed to draw attention to certain points of the story.

I think the worldbuilding was done really well, and guess what!? There were dragons! Not a lot, I confess, but there were actual dragons in this book. Do you know how many fantasy books actually have dragons? Not nearly as many as there should be; dragons are a hallmark of fantasy and yet I feel as though so many fantasy books lack them, but I digress. In addition to the dragons, the world itself felt in-depth and carefully planned out, but it wasn't too overly complicated or confusing. I was able to work out who was who and what place was what and I really appreciated that.

Look, I can logically understand how people might not enjoy this book and its style, but I personally think it's brilliant. Some people complained that the plot was "too simple," but I really didn't get that from it. I thought the plot itself was interesting and truly fit the entire tone of the book perfectly. My impression from this book is that there is much coming in the next book, that this book has set up something none of us can guess -- of course, I have no idea what, but I can just feel it, and I know it's going to be good.

I know I've kept a majority of my review somewhat vague on the details, but I've done that on purpose because I really don't want to spoil any aspect of this book for you. I think the enjoyment level of this book is increased greatly if you go into it just knowing the basics and with an open mind to the story, the characters, the world - it's so much fun to explore, and I encourage you to do so!

As for Anna Smith Spark being dubbed the Queen of Grimdark, I think it is absolutely deserved and I wholeheartedly agree with the notion. This is a definitely a book that I will be rereading to savor and enjoy each and every page. Overall, if you like strong literary voices, grimdark, or fantastic immersive fantasy, then definitely pick up a copy of The Court of Broken Knives! Five stars!

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

Never miss a post of bookish fun by subscribing to Forever Lost in Literature!

Planning to purchase a book or two? Consider purchasing on Book Depository through my affiliate link! Book Depository has worldwide free shipping and millions of titles to choose from.

I am also an Amazon affiliate, so if you'd prefer to shop through Amazon, just click the banner on the upper right hand side of my blog! (above the 'Follow by email' box, you may need to turn off adblock to see it!)

You might also like:
Soul of the World by David Mealing
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff