58 ratings | 45 reviews | avg rating:4.48

Anna Smith Spark’s Followers (949)

Anna’s Bookshelves

to-read (14)
currently-reading (0)
read (81)
did-not-finish (0)

Anna’s Friends (265)

Mark Lawrence

1,051 books | 5,000 friends

S. Scott

3,767 books | 102 friends

Thomas Ballard

180 books | 32 friends

Axl Barnes

1,386 books | 1,529 friends

Paul Sating

688 books | 743 friends

Joel Adamson

529 books | 394 friends

Boris Slocum

410 books | 1,303 friends

Mark Towse

112 books | 2,042 friends

More friends…

Anna Smith Spark

Goodreads Author

Born

January 11

Website

http://courtofbrokenknives.org/

Twitter

queenofgrimdark

Genre

Fantasy

Member Since

January 2015

edit data

'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.
...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Anna Smith Spark questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Anna Smith Spark’s books

Average rating: 3.69 · 7,270 ratings · 1,628 reviews · 29 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Court of Broken Knives (Empires of Dust, #1) 3.45 avg rating — 3,255 ratings — published 2017 — 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
	The Tower of Living and Dying (Empires of Dust, #2) 3.87 avg rating — 917 ratings — 15 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 — 573 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) 3.80 avg rating — 588 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
	In the Shadow of Their Dying by Michael R. Fletcher (Goodreads Author), Anna Smith Spark (Goodreads Author) 3.63 avg rating — 594 ratings — published 2024 — 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
	A Woman of the Sword 3.73 avg rating — 237 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) 3.94 avg rating — 195 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) 4.29 avg rating — 28 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 4.27 avg rating — 11 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
	La Corte dei Coltelli Spezzati by Anna Smith Spark (Goodreads Author), Lettere Elettriche (Editor), Raffaella Corini (Translator) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	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)

3.61 avg rating — 5,274 ratings

Sword of Bronze and Ashes (2 books)
by

Anna Smith Spark (Goodreads Author)

3.98 avg rating — 223 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

11 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

July/August '17 Group Read

Evil is a Matter of Perspective: An Anthology of Antagonists edited by Adrian Collins

6 votes, 35.3%

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

5 votes, 29.4%

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

3 votes, 17.6%

Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell

2 votes, 11.8%

The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark

1 vote, 5.9%

Age of Iron by Angus Watson

0 votes, 0.0%

The Grim Company by Luke Scull

0 votes, 0.0%

The Mountains Rise by Michael G. Manning

0 votes, 0.0%

17 total votes

1 comment

More...

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	163	Feb 22, 2017 02:41PM
Grimdark Fantasy: * Essential GD Authors and Series	3	629	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	12	Aug 08, 2019 06:36PM
The Sword and Laser: What Else Are You Reading - August 2019	104	155	Aug 31, 2019 07:31PM

More…

recent posts
Anna’s Groups

Worlds Beyond the Margins — 2100 members — last activity Apr 22, 2026 11:30PM
Celebrating Adult Fantasy, Scifi, and Horror books that promote diversity and inclusion. In all styles and formats: genre, literary, short stories, ...more

Grimdark Fantasy — 2043 members — last activity Apr 12, 2026 01:24PM
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 — 8825 members — last activity Apr 23, 2026 12:58PM
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 — 321288 members — last activity 5 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 — 1800 members — last activity Mar 01, 2026 12:47PM
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 — 2560 members — last activity Apr 23, 2026 07:53PM
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 — 1441 members — last activity Jan 04, 2026 03:59PM
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…