BOOK OF DUST

Anna Smith Spark borrows from history in trilogy Empire Of Dust

“Is it really worth it?” After slaying his father and rising to the throne, Marith Altresyr asks himself just that in The Tower Of Living And Dying, the second instalment in Anna Smith Spark’s Empires Of Dust trilogy.

“One of the key themes in Empires Of Dust is the emotional consequences of the pursuit of power,” says Smith Spark. “What it might be like to be in a position of great power and how this might affect someone. ‘I am destined to be king’ is such common trope in fantasy and historical fiction, and I wanted to explore that in more detail.”

Described by her agent as “a military historical fiction writer, who just happens to have dragons,” Smith Spark studied classics and history at university, which she channels into her novels. “Marith is closely modeled on Alexander the Great with bits of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane thrown in,” she says, revealing that she views Empires Of Dust almost as a biography.

“If The Court Of Broken Knives was the striving of youth then The Tower Of Living And Dying is full adulthood,” she explains. “The first book ended with Marith making some huge, life changing decisions, so this book deals with the consequences of that. The board is set, the pieces are moving. We come to it at last… as some bloke who also wrote fantasy books once said.” SJ

The Tower Of Living And Dying is published on 9 August.