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Anna Smith Spark

Goodreads Author

Born

January 11

Website

http://courtofbrokenknives.org/

Twitter

queenofgrimdark

Genre

Fantasy

Member Since

January 2015

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'Game of Literary Thrones ... the next generation hit fantasy fiction' The Sunday Times

Anna Smith Spark lives in London, UK. She loves grimdark and epic fantasy and historical military fiction. Anna has a BA in Classics, an MA in history and a PhD in English Literature. She has previously been published in the Fortean Times and the poetry website www.greatworks.org.uk. Previous jobs include petty bureaucrat, English teacher and fetish model.

Anna's favourite authors and key influences are R. Scott Bakker, Steve Erikson, M. John Harrison, Ursula Le Guin, Mary Stewart and Mary Renault. She spent several years as an obsessive D&D player. She can often be spotted at sff conventions wearing very unusual shoes.
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Combine Editions
Anna Smith Spark’s books

Average rating: 3.69 · 6,730 ratings · 1,514 reviews · 27 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Court of Broken Knives (Empires of Dust, #1) 3.45 avg rating — 3,023 ratings — published 2017 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Tower of Living and Dying (Empires of Dust, #2) 3.88 avg rating — 873 ratings — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unfettered III: New Tales By Masters of Fantasy (Unfettered, #3) by Shawn Speakman (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Tad Williams (Goodreads Author), Naomi Novik (Goodreads Author) 3.98 avg rating — 549 ratings — published 2019 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The House of Sacrifice (Empires of Dust, #3) 3.81 avg rating — 555 ratings — published 2019 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Art of War by Petros Triantafyllou (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Brian D. Anderson (Goodreads Author) (Foreword), Andrew Rowe (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 3.96 avg rating — 509 ratings — published 2018 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In the Shadow of Their Dying by Michael R. Fletcher, Anna Smith Spark (Goodreads Author) 3.63 avg rating — 510 ratings — published 2024 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Woman of the Sword 3.73 avg rating — 213 ratings — published 2023 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Sword of Bronze and Ashes (Sword of Bronze and Ashes, #1) 3.90 avg rating — 163 ratings — published 2023 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Sword of Gold and Ruin (Sword of Bronze and Ashes, #2) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 12 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Anderson Versus Death really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Anna Smith Spark…

Series by Anna Smith Spark

Empires of Dust (3 books)
by

Anna Smith Spark (Goodreads Author)

3.62 avg rating — 4,960 ratings

Sword of Bronze and Ashes (2 books)
by

Anna Smith Spark (Goodreads Author)

3.90 avg rating — 175 ratings

Quotes by Anna Smith Spark (?)

“A wise man who's ignored is about as effective as an idiot who's listened to.”
― Anna Smith Spark, The Court of Broken Knives

9 likes

“The war drums pound out a beat like that of the human heart. The terrible, awful sound of living, that one first learns to love and tremble at when floating in the womb.”
― Anna Smith Spark, The Court of Broken Knives

4 likes

“kill you. But that … The god thing dived. Blazing golden. Pure pure perfect perfect life and hope. Marith killed it down with one blow.”
― Anna Smith Spark, The Tower of Living and Dying

3 likes

See all Anna Smith Spark's quotes »

Polls

Nov-Dec Group reads vote, inspired by comments in the groups. Usually, 2 votes win for a 2-month duration. Write-in options are welcome.

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (Conan the Cimmerian, #1) by Robert E. Howard

Kull Exile of Atlantis by Robert E. Howard

~1930Robert E. Howard genuine Conan or Kull or Bran or Agnes: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, Kull: Exile of Atlantis, Bran Mak Morn: The Last King, or Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures

14 votes, 30.4%

For the Killing of Kings by Howard Andrew Jones

Upon the Flight of the Queen by Howard Andrew Jones

2019: Howard Andrew Jones's sequel to 2018's For the Killing of Kings is out this Nov. Upon the Flight of the Queen

9 votes, 19.6%

Paternus Rise of Gods (The Paternus Trilogy, #1) by Dyrk Ashton

Paternus War of Gods (The Paternus Trilogy, #3) by Dyrk Ashton

2016 Dyrk Ashton Paternus: War of Gods Paternus: Rise of Gods

9 votes, 19.6%

The Infernal Bargain and Other Stories by D.M. Ritzlin

>2015-2019 D.M. Ritzlin like The Infernal Bargain and Other Stories or Swords of Steel, Swords of Steel II, or Swords of Steel III (an omnibus edition of those 3 come out this Oct.)

5 votes, 10.9%

The Court of Broken Knives (Empires of Dust #1) by Anna Smith Spark

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

2017-2019Anna Smith Spark's grimdark series: The Court of Broken Knives, The Tower of Living and Dying, The House of Sacrifice

5 votes, 10.9%

The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories by Lord Dunsany

pre-1920 Pre-Howard Adventure or Heroic Fantasy:George MacDonald's Phantastes, Lord Dunsany's The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories, or Beowulf

2 votes, 4.3%

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (write-in)

2 votes, 4.3%

Howard Andrew Jones (write-in)

0 votes, 0.0%

46 total votes

2 comments

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Sci-fi and Heroic...: What new SF&F Books are you Looking Forward to in 2017?	64	162	Feb 22, 2017 02:41PM
Grimdark Fantasy: * Essential GD Authors and Series	3	620	Mar 21, 2017 07:21AM
Grimdark Fantasy: July/August '17 Nominations	28	123	Jun 12, 2017 01:46AM
Dragons & Jetpacks: BotM Winners for September 2018	19	81	Sep 03, 2018 09:39AM
Sword & Sorcery: ...: Seeking nominations for Sep-Oct Group Read	7	11	Aug 08, 2019 06:36PM
The Sword and Laser: What Else Are You Reading - August 2019	104	155	Aug 31, 2019 07:31PM

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recent posts
Anna’s Groups

Worlds Beyond the Margins — 1992 members — last activity 3 hours, 8 min ago
Celebrating Adult Fantasy, Scifi, and Horror books that promote diversity and inclusion. In all styles and formats: genre, literary, short stories, ...more

Grimdark Fantasy — 1955 members — last activity Oct 10, 2025 09:25AM
This is for fans of what has been coined Grimdark Fantasy. This includes books by authors such as Joe Abercrombie, Mark Lawrence, George RR Martin, Sc ...more

Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy — 8658 members — last activity 5 hours, 38 min ago
A place for those who walk the green forests of Middle Earth, cross the pale sands of Arrakis, sail the blue waters of Earthsea, slip among the shadow ...more

Goodreads Librarians Group — 296779 members — last activity 8 minutes ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more

Tomes Tomes, Fantastical Tomes — 18 members — last activity Aug 20, 2017 10:30AM
A discussion & recommendation group for readers who love fantasy/scifi tomes ie Lord of the Rings, Malazan Book of the Fallen, The Faithfull and the F ...more

The Cool Kids' Fantasy Club — 1770 members — last activity Sep 24, 2025 07:04PM
A group to chat about SFF books. Authors and readers welcome. I might post about my books and the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off too. I plan on maki ...more

Dragons & Jetpacks — 2534 members — last activity 7 hours, 49 min ago
A book group for all those who love sci-fi and fantasy. We read three books per month, one from each genre, plus a carefully curated moderators specia ...more

The Banished Lands and The Bloodsworn — 1422 members — last activity Jun 04, 2025 04:19PM
A group to discuss all books written within The Faithful and the Fallen and Of Blood and Bone, as well as The Bloodsworn, by John Gwynne. We will disc ...more

More of Anna’s groups…