King of Thorns
Ratings133
Average rating4.1
The second book in the Broken Empire series, Lawrence takes his young anti-hero one step closer to his grand ambition.
To reach greatness you must step on bodies, and many brothers lie trodden in my wake. I’ve walked from pawn to player and I’ll win this game of ours, though the cost of it may drown the world in blood…
The land burns with the fires of a hundred battles as lords and petty kings fight for the Broken Empire. The long road to avenge the slaughter of his mother and brother has shown Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath the hidden hands behind this endless war. He saw the game and vowed to sweep the board. First though he must gather his own pieces, learn the rules of play, and discover how to break them.
A six nation army, twenty thousand strong, marches toward Jorg’s gates, led by a champion beloved of the people. Every decent man prays this shining hero will unite the empire and heal its wounds. Every omen says he will. Every good king knows to bend the knee in the face of overwhelming odds, if only to save their people and their lands. But King Jorg is not a good king.
Faced by an enemy many times his strength Jorg knows that he cannot win a fair fight. But playing fair was never part of Jorg’s game plan.
Series
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3 primary books6 released booksThe Broken Empire
The Broken Empire is a 6-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2011 with contributions by Mark Lawrence.
Reviews
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This one was a struggle for me I don't know whether it was because i started before X-mas and didn't get back into it later in January, I just couldn't get that flow going again
Either way I still thoroughly enjoyed it and i love the genre shift into a more post apocalyptic theme
This book has a recommendation from Conn Iggulden on its cover that says: “Excellent - on par with George R. R. Martin.”
NO, IT'S NOT!!! It has to be taken out of context or Iggulden is an idiot who never read any other fantasy. (Don't know the guy) This is relatively small story with one main character and while there are politics and violence, their presence is about the only thing the books have in common!
It's more like 3.5 but considering the improvement from the terrible Prince of Thorns it deserves 4 stars.
However, there were still things that irritated me. It feels like this whole trilogy should be just one 1000 pages long book and author or publisher decided that trilogy will make more money. For the vast majority of this book I wondered where will all of this lead.
There are two stories here. One on a wedding day 4 years after the events of Prince and one happening via flashbacks from those 4 years that fills the vast majority of the book. While reading the flashbacks I understood what was going on, but I didn't understand why should I care. It all comes together at the end but the ending is anticlimactic and I still don't see why I had to read 450 pages of almost pointless flashbacks when it could've been told on 100 pages.
I've got to say, though, that the writting really REAlly REALLY improved! Prince felt like a first draft of a young unskilled author but this time around everything was coherent and decently described.
At first the style of this book threw me off, but after a few chapters in I grasped the different timelines and started putting pieces together. I love Jorg's character and watching him transform into a different man. It was funny to read how underneath many of his choices were reasons that were good and he didn't want to admit growing soft. I wonder how much it is the box that changed Jorg or maturity. I enjoy reading about our technology slowly being incorporated into this medieval world, it brings a refreshing originality and it is almost comical to hear Jorg's thoughts on things we know so much about. I am eager to read the next book and see where Jorg's conquests take him.
