The Court of Broken Knives

The Court of Broken Knives
Anna Smith Spark

Perfect for fans of Mark Lawrence and R Scott Bakker, The Court of Broken Knives is the explosive debut by one of grimdark fantasy’s most exciting new voices.They’ve finally looked at the graveyard of our Empire with open eyes. They’re fools and madmen and like the art of war. And their children go hungry while we piss gold and jewels into the dust.In the richest empire the world has ever known, the city of Sorlost has always stood, eternal and unconquered. But in a city of dreams governed by an imposturous Emperor, decadence has become the true ruler, and has blinded its inhabitants to their vulnerability. The empire is on the verge of invasion – and only one man can see it.Haunted by dreams of the empire’s demise, Orhan Emmereth has decided to act. On his orders, a company of soldiers cross the desert to reach the city. Once they enter the Palace, they have one mission: kill the Emperor, then all those who remain. Only from ashes can a new empire be built.The company is a group of good, ordinary soldiers, for whom this is a mission like any other. But the strange boy Marith who walks among them is no ordinary soldier. Marching on Sorlost, Marith thinks he is running away from the past which haunts him. But in the Golden City, his destiny awaits him – beautiful, bloody, and more terrible than anyone could have foreseen.

ANNA SMITH SPARK

The Court of Broken Knives

Book One of The Empires of Dust

Copyright (#u8c64f70a-c152-5b83-8936-3ddfdf00fa18)

HarperVoyager

an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperVoyager 2017

Copyright © Anna Smith-Spark 2017

Map by Sophie E. Tallis

Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2017

Anna Smith-Spark asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008204181

Ebook Edition © June 2017 ISBN: 9780008204174

Version: 2018-01-16

Dedication (#u8c64f70a-c152-5b83-8936-3ddfdf00fa18)

This book is dedicated to my father, who introduced me to fantasy and history and mythology, and who taught me how to write.

Table of Contents

Cover (#u646e54fb-8f63-5f55-9074-796eb06c4012)

Title Page (#u9a463dbf-fb08-5275-929a-4ef1184c1699)

Copyright (#u5717675e-ed72-536e-9e0e-68c62a107b97)

Dedication (#ufaa648ef-dc5e-5159-b804-10e29646cb9f)

Map (#u8b90cfbe-4afc-5421-a146-2f76c1fdb137)

Part One: Bronze Walls (#uf72b845b-ba9a-5595-87da-5430b156f31b)

Chapter One (#u9a9f279b-8a55-57d6-aa25-c6c757c03699)

Chapter Two (#u648e178f-9841-53bd-90b5-c4ae185c253b)

Chapter Three (#u5417cac8-bd25-5c82-a31a-05406cbfe9a0)

Chapter Four (#ubdb65243-7f80-5f93-be3d-895c5ae67b3b)

Chapter Five (#u381ec382-3ac0-5c46-9ad0-4729cc6abafb)

Chapter Six (#u4dd2b1a4-2e85-56b4-8f14-0314f7259cd1)

Chapter Seven (#u14850705-558b-54fc-aadf-5364686eb60e)

Chapter Eight (#u52b70cd4-dcd1-5f70-b7ef-2f3626d98b18)

Chapter Nine (#ua507d3f3-adb6-528a-b0e4-d4c3b09f0e87)

Chapter Ten (#u2364f433-5193-5fd3-9c0a-5dd5832b6519)

Chapter Eleven (#ub05f92fc-c056-5d28-9b59-3c7d12ecd975)

Chapter Twelve (#u11a837b1-8ea8-5d24-ac50-a2bba88fe847)

Chapter Thirteen (#u54835774-3f79-5a98-8a36-0c2542ca9f35)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)