Prince of Thorns
Ratings228
Average rating3.6
Mark Lawrence’s debut novel tells a tale of blood and treachery, magic and brotherhood and paints a compelling and brutal, and sometimes beautiful, picture of an exceptional boy on his journey toward manhood and the throne.
Before the thorns taught me their sharp lessons and bled weakness from me I had but one brother, and I loved him well. But those days are gone and what is left of them lies in my mother’s tomb. Now I have many brothers, quick with knife and sword, and as evil as you please. We ride this broken empire and loot its corpse. They say these are violent times, the end of days when the dead roam and monsters haunt the night. All that’s true enough, but there’s something worse out there, in the dark. Much worse.
From being a privileged royal child, raised by a loving mother, Jorg Ancrath has become the Prince of Thorns, a charming, immoral boy leading a grim band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities. The world is in chaos: violence is rife, nightmares everywhere. Jorg has the ability to master the living and the dead, but there is still one thing that puts a chill in him. Returning to his father’s castle Jorg must confront horrors from his childhood and carve himself a future with all hands turned against him.
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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.
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I think I've figured out a plot twist that comes later in the series. That is quite disappointing, so I hope it twists again.
The story felt very bare and minimalist. I am baring in mind this is a debut so the next books will only get better. I don't feel any attachment to Jorg but in all fairness the audio for this book really emphasised how young and angst he sounds to that may be part of the problem.
I know the other books in the trilogy get longer, so I hope that they are packed with more world building and character work so I can enjoy the series more.
I heard there's a lot of controversy around this book but I guess the people talking about it read only fairy tales. Seriously, there are so many other grittier series. Even A Song of Ice & Fire has more violence in 100 pages than this one in 300.
The main character is a 14 year old boy filled with anger on a path for revenge. The age was my biggest problem. He doesn't think or act as he should. It would've been more believable if he was at least 16 and even then I'd have a problem comprehending why his brotherhood follows him. So what if he's a psychopath? He's in his early teens!
The writing gets better and better and by the end of the book it's... good. The story feels rushed but at the same time drags way too much in some places. The lack of description makes it sometimes difficult to understand and imagine the scenes.
The world setting is interesting though I really don't understand how could society return to medieval ways so much. Also, what the hell is with this “Jesu” and “fecking” thing? Seriously, does Lawrence really think people would distort those words into these forms while still reading Plato without any problems?!
All in all it's a book with great potential that wasn't achieved. But it's also authors first book and by the end of it you can see he has improved. I hope the King of Thorns will be better. The reviews suggest it will... but sadly we're living in a world where crap like Twilight and Shades of grey rule the selling charts.
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