Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Court of Broken Knives | 2017 | Anna Smith Spark | Buy |
| 2 | The Tower of Living and Dying | 2018 | Anna Smith Spark | Buy |
| 3 | The House of Sacrifice | 2019 | Anna Smith Spark | Buy |
The Empires of Dust trilogy by Anna Smith Spark is a grimdark fantasy series that begins with The Court of Broken Knives (2017). The books follow a group of mercenaries and a would-be conqueror through a crumbling empire, told in Smith Spark’s distinctive lyrical yet brutal prose style. She has been called “the queen of grimdark” for the way she blends poetic language with graphic depictions of violence and war.
The trilogy moves through The Tower of Living and Dying and concludes with The House of Sacrifice. The story is less about heroism than about the cost of ambition and the cycles of violence that define empires. Readers who enjoy Joe Abercrombie, Mark Lawrence, or R. Scott Bakker will find familiar territory here, though Smith Spark’s writing voice is distinctly her own.