Prince of Thorns

Mark Lawrence can write. I'll give him that. There's an odd, dark poetry to what he does. At points, I found myself craving more of his prose, and at other points I found myself rolling my eyes at the melodrama. In the end, I wanted more, though. I'm moving on to Book 2 of the Broken Empire with due haste.

Jorg Ancrath, as a character, is the poster child for Grimdark Fantasy. The entire book is a revenge plot to level vengeance against the man who had his mother and brother killed. Without remorse, guilt, or pity, Jorg hacks his way through a bloody landscape backed by his band of “brothers”–mercenaries who, while interesting fodder, are expendable in Jorg's mind. Nothing will stop him from his goals, not even the only “friends” he has.

It is hard to like Jorg. He's charming in that way that serial killers can be charming. He's intelligent. He's fearless. There are aspects to his character that are mesmerizing, but in the end, it is hard to like him. Lawrence really twists the fantasy hero archetype and says, here's a guy who checks the boxes, yet he's really a madman with a goal.

If you like your books bloody, then this is the one for you. If you want subtlety, then move along.

I liked it, but it's not going to hit the list of my favorite books. I'll still read the next one in the series, and I'm looking forward to checking out Lawrence's new series that begins in April, 2017.