The Tower of Living and Dying is
the sequel to Anna Smith Spark's debut novel, The Court of Broken Knives. I adored The Court of Broken Knives, but I also
thought the book's pacing was a bit uneven. The Tower of Living
and Dying, however, is an improvement over its predecessor.
This sequel ironed out the pacing issue from the previous book, and
it also expanded the story's scope and its characters. The Tower of
Living and Dying is one of the finest grimdark novels I have ever
read.
Synopsis:
Marith, king destroyer, bent his will
on a dark conquest to bring the world down to its knees. A darkness,
promised by Marith's ancestry, consumed him while he unleashed
wholesale destruction on the world. Only his queen, Thalia, the light
of Sorlost, could bring out the last shred of humanity in him. But is
she enough? Or will Thalia join Marith to embrace their dark
destinies?
My thoughts on this book:
The Tower of Living and Dying is
as beautifully written as its predecessor. One cannot fail to notice
the book's lyrical prose, it is exquisite and poetic, rendering a
mythical atmosphere into a story as dark as it is tragic. The writings also
vividly portrayed a cast of strangely sympathetic characters despite
all their flaws. This book reminded me of the Skaldic poems and epics
of old, as if it is meant to be read out loud, by a bard at a campfire.
This is a character-driven book, where
much of the story revolved around the development of its characters.
The main protagonist(s), arguably, were Mariah and Thalia. It is very
interesting to read about their relationships, about how, Thalia was
the last foothold, preventing Marith from giving in and become that which he always feared to be. A reader cannot help but to hope
that somehow Thalia's influence on Marith can be his redemption. The book
also explored Thalia's inner struggles and conflicts, and it
successfully created a tension where the readers were constantly
worrying if Thalia might give in and join Marith on his dark path.
The third POV character in this book
was Orhan. In the previous book, we saw him rise to the height of political power at Sorlost. In this book, Orhan's rivals returned to challenge him, and forcing him to play a deadly game where the winner takes all and the loser dies.
I won't spoil Orhan's role in this book, but it suffices to say, even
though his story arc was mostly about court intrigues, but it was
suspenseful and the stakes were high. Furthermore, his story arc also
explored the consequences of Thalia's exodus from Sorlost, and
towards the conclusion the book began to merge Orhan's story together
with that of Marith and Thalia's. It would be very interesting to see how the
story will unfold in the next book.
Next, we also have POV characters such
as Tobias and Landra. Tobias was a washed up mercenary, while Landra
was a disfigured lady who lost everything. Both of them had one thing
in common – they wanted revenge against Marith. I liked both of
these characters despite their many flaws, because I could
sympathize with, and understand their motives for desiring revenge.
Tobias and Landra may not be heroes, but neither were they villains.
As a reader, I felt torn by these characters, because I liked and understood them, I wanted all of them to live and
succeed, yet they were on a collision course to destroy each other. This is a story where its
characterizations successfully moved beyond the typical "hero vs villain" settings.
The last page in the book shocked
me. It was a cliffhanger, but it was also a fitting conclusion to the saga's middle book. I closed this book
and felt a burning desire to read the next one. Unfortunately, Anna Smith Spark is still working on the
third book, and I can only hope its release will be imminent. I dearly wish to resume the dark and twisted tale of Marith and Thalia. In the meantime, The Tower of Living and Dying is
exemplary of the grimdark subgenre. The first book was good, but this
one is even better. I highly recommend this trilogy.
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