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A review by sonice
The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark
3.0
3.5 stars. Though it’s not perfect, I enjoyed this quite a lot… which I guess says something about me as a person. This was one of the grimdarkiest grimdarks I’ve ever read.
I can’t overstate how much I loved the writing. It’s not flowery, or ‘purple’, but sort of…clipped, like the way a person would think these things rather than say them out loud. It felt so authentic, so visceral. I can’t remember the last time I read something and was so regularly thinking to myself, “man – what a good line” or “holy, that paragraph tho”. It’s the way it fits with the subject matter, and the terrible nasty despicable shit she’s writing about. Dark dark stuff, but not just for the sake of dark, either; she told an entertaining story here as well, and the tone fit the plot perfectly. It even manages to be humorous at times. But good lord; graphic, shocking, brutal. Makes Joe Abercrombie look like he’s telling children’s bedtime stories.
There were issues that kept it from being a perfect read. A couple of very minor plot conveniences that felt a bit off: two characters get together way too fast, for example, which at the time and given the circumstances was a little hard to believe. A certain character with a terrible drug addiction seems to be able to function somewhat normally when it’s needed, while most of the time he’s a pants-pissing mess who can’t control his emotions or bodily functions. Additionally, there are parts of the plot that didn’t end up amounting to much, although this isn’t really a plot driven book to begin with. Thankfully these issues didn’t hinder my enjoyment much.
So clearly, this isn’t the type of book that’s going to work for everyone. This is very much a character focused story, and the characters - while being interesting and pretty well written - are terrible, terrible people. The world is horrible and hopeless. The story being told is not exactly family friendly. If you aren’t someone who likes (or can stomach) stuff like ‘Prince of Nothing’ or ‘Berserk’, you’re going to have a bad time. This is for people who thought Jorg Ancrath was maybe a little too reasonable, or that Vlad the Impaler was merely conducting practical research into an alternative to straw-based scarecrows. If that sounds like you (you weirdo) then grab this when you can - and get ready to need a hug.
I can’t overstate how much I loved the writing. It’s not flowery, or ‘purple’, but sort of…clipped, like the way a person would think these things rather than say them out loud. It felt so authentic, so visceral. I can’t remember the last time I read something and was so regularly thinking to myself, “man – what a good line” or “holy, that paragraph tho”. It’s the way it fits with the subject matter, and the terrible nasty despicable shit she’s writing about. Dark dark stuff, but not just for the sake of dark, either; she told an entertaining story here as well, and the tone fit the plot perfectly. It even manages to be humorous at times. But good lord; graphic, shocking, brutal. Makes Joe Abercrombie look like he’s telling children’s bedtime stories.
There were issues that kept it from being a perfect read. A couple of very minor plot conveniences that felt a bit off: two characters get together way too fast, for example, which at the time and given the circumstances was a little hard to believe. A certain character with a terrible drug addiction seems to be able to function somewhat normally when it’s needed, while most of the time he’s a pants-pissing mess who can’t control his emotions or bodily functions. Additionally, there are parts of the plot that didn’t end up amounting to much, although this isn’t really a plot driven book to begin with. Thankfully these issues didn’t hinder my enjoyment much.
So clearly, this isn’t the type of book that’s going to work for everyone. This is very much a character focused story, and the characters - while being interesting and pretty well written - are terrible, terrible people. The world is horrible and hopeless. The story being told is not exactly family friendly. If you aren’t someone who likes (or can stomach) stuff like ‘Prince of Nothing’ or ‘Berserk’, you’re going to have a bad time. This is for people who thought Jorg Ancrath was maybe a little too reasonable, or that Vlad the Impaler was merely conducting practical research into an alternative to straw-based scarecrows. If that sounds like you (you weirdo) then grab this when you can - and get ready to need a hug.