Synopsis:
The boy who would be King has gained the throne…
Prince Honorious Jorg Ancrath vowed when he was nine to avenge his slaughtered mother and brother—and punish his father for not doing so. When he was fifteen, he began to fulfill that vow. Now he is eighteen—and he must hold on by strength of arms to what he took by torture and treachery.
King Jorg is a man haunted: by the ghost of a young boy, by a mysterious copper box, by his desire for the woman who rides with his enemy. Plagued by nightmares of the atrocities he committed, and of the atrocities committed against him when he was a child, he is filled with rage. And even as his need for revenge continues to consume him, twenty thousand men march toward the gates of his castle. His enemy is far stronger than him. Jorg knows that he cannot win a fair fight.
But he has found, in a chamber hidden beneath the castle, ancient and long-lost artifacts. Some might call them magic. Jorg is not certain—all he knows is that the secrets they hold can be put to terrible use in the coming battle…
Review:
“We’re not memories, Katherine, we’re dreams. All of us. Each part of us a dream, a nightmare of blood and vomit and boredom and fear. And when we wake up–we die.”
I honestly don’t even know how to express the brutal power of this book without gushing at its brilliance. For starters, I am never one to include quotes in my reviews, I normally never find them interesting enough, but upon finishing King of Thorns I have an abundance of quotes that have clung to my soul. Mark Lawrence does have a fanatical way with words.
“Fifteen! I’d hardly be fifteen and rousting villages. By the time fifteen came around, I’d be King!”
Prince Jorg of Ancrath defeated his uncle’s forces and claimed the kingdom as his own, becoming the King he always claimed to be. Orrin of Arrow is Jorg’s new target as Orrin rivals for control for the empire and also takes Katherine’s hand in marriage. Conquering what Jorg craves most. Orrin is Jorg’s equal in more ways than one though you find him without the cunning wits that our lovable Jorg has. The Prince of Arrow or Orrin, intends to unite the empire under his rule, and takes the war to Jorg’s castle.
I should warn you though this is written from three different point of views. The first POV in Jorg desperately trying to defend his kingdom from a massive army that has severely out numbered. The Second POV is Jorg in the past trying to locate the origins of a mysterious box and the third POV is journal entries of Katherine Scorron, a flame that never died out.
There is honestly no shame is saying that Jorg is my favourite character of all time and there will never been any one else that could come close to replacing him. Pretty much, Jorg isn’t a nice character and I doubt that others would enjoy his brutality as much as I do. He is a madman fuelled by determination. Destructive at his own hand. Murderer and will not bat an eyelid at the prospect of torturing you. Summing it up his an asshole, but a fucking smart, witty and switched on asshole. And he isn’t even yet a man, but a child of 14 years of with a castle to his name. Though he is the character to rip your eyes from your skull without reason, I find him delightful and remarkable. You justify his actions page after page and he lures you in with wise words and charming retaught. You will most likely find yourself physically and emotionally fond of Jorg and I am not sure I am ready to read Emperor of Thorns because I don’t want this whirlwind of an adventure to end.
Saying all that thought I found the start of King of Thorns to drag a fair amount, the brutality, violence, wit and whoring were kept to a minimum and I wouldn’t lie to say that the inconsistency annoyed me. Though the second half of the book picked right back up where Prince of Thorns left off and I was drawn back into the daunting magic of this medieval world.
“You can cut seven shades from a man. Scarlet arterial blood, purple from the veins, bile like fresh-cut grass, browns from the gut, but it all dries to somewhere between rust and tar.”
Also the tension between Katherine and Jorg is intense and I love it! She loathes him while his obsession grows for her and I am so invested in their relationship, though I think it will be the death of one of them for sure. None of their interactions in the real world have been pleasant including their last interaction when he smashed a vase of her head. Though in Jorg’s defence she was trying to stab him. Katherine’s journals that are spread throughout the book are delightful and highlights the brutality of Jorg and what other’s think of his adventure and habits. Meanwhile the quote below sums up how strong and fulfilling his admiration is for her:
“In memory I study the light on her face, beneath the glow-bulbs of the Tall Castle, beneath the cemetery trees. I envy those patches of sunlight, sliding over her hair, moving unopposed the length of her body, across her cheekbones. I remember everything. I recall the pattern of her breath. In the heat of Drane’s kitchen I remember a single bead of sweat and the slow roll of it, down her neck, along the tendon, across her throat. I’ve killed men and forgotten them. Mislaid the act of taking a life. But that drop of sweat is a diamond in my mind’s eye.”
Bloody amazing right. And it begs the question to how much you can lust after a fictional character if this is response to a woman he is fond of. The hubby needs to lift his game is all I’m saying.
“Memory is all we are. Moments and feelings, captured in amber, strung on filaments of reason. Take a man’s memories and you take all of him. Chip away a memory at a time and you destroy him as surely as if you hammered nail after nail through his skull.”
Again Mark Lawrence is literally a god of words and I have never come anyone with such intense writing and it blows my mind. The characters are wonderful and twist a knife at your heart. The world is phenomenal and I cannot beg you enough that this series is ground breaking and will set the tone for all future writers.
Rating: 4.5/5
ISBN: 9781937007478
Publisher: Ace Books