Synopsis:
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.
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.
Review:
“You know how to break the cycle of hatred?” I asked.
“Love,” said Gomst, all quiet-like.
“The way to break the cycle is to kill every single one of the bastards that fucked you over,” I said.
This book is literally everything. Literally everything. I loved it! And if you are a fantasy lover than you need to buy this book and read it because it is bloody everything and more. I have never read anything this brilliant and brutally dark in my entire life that filled me with such happiness. I would actually compare this book to Game of Thrones though I found this book superior.
Yes that’s right this book is dark and brutal and based around Jorg who is a psychopath ultimately set on revenge and is only fourteen years old. A character that is as dark my heart and I just cannot handle his arrogant, haughty brilliance and I would be surprised if anyone could physically hate him as a character.
Jorg has the aspects and characteristics of a villain and yet his path is on seeking revenge against the wrongs that were carried out on him in his youth. Jorg has a cunning, witty and brilliant man that observed his knowledge from books and listening to tales from other men, and uses his knowledge to his advantage and is as sympathetic as a pile of dirt. *swoon*
Packed with adventure, murder, mayhem with the hint of fantasy eloping every page, Prince of Thorns is a book not to be missed. You emerge yourself in Jorg’s journey, his goals and your heart pains at his past.
Besides the amazingness of the story and the dark characters you will find that the writing is phenomenal and delightfully unique. The sentence structure was short and to the point and Lawrence didn’t spend a great deal of time over describing the world and characters, he just provided enough details to set your imagination wild and draw you into this gloomy and wicked story. All of the characters we encounter on Jorg’s journey are written smoothly into the story with minimal details which is fantasy considering that most fantasy books spend at least 4 paragraphs describing the character and their history rather than the conversation or encounter they are having. Summing it up Lawrence has a knack to ensure that every word on that page is beautiful, twisted and cunning. If I were ever to aspire to be a writer, Mark Lawrence would be the author to look up to.
Stephen King is the prince of horror but Mark Lawrence is the emperor of fantasy.
Rating: 5/5
ISBN: 9781937007478
Publisher: Ace Books