The Tower of Living and Dying

Do you like your grimdark with extra grim and extra dark? Anna Smith Spark does not hold back and this, the second in her Empire of Dust trilogy is possibly grimmer and darker than her first.

Continuing the story of Thalia and Marith this one starts off pretty soon after the first book finished. Marith is following in the footsteps of his forebear Amrath, one slaughter/betrayal/invasion at a time. This seems him on the campaign from his birthplace to the titular Tower of Life and Death, the old capital of Amrath. On the way he brutally kills as many people as he can, quite often just for the hell of it.

Things aren't much better in Sorlost where the varying political betrayals seem to gradually erode the city from within.

This book is a rollercoaster of brutality. Everyone here is pretty objectionable. Everyone is morally compromised. This is about the grimest darkest thing I have read and ultimately, I loved every second of it!