Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire #1)by Mark Lawrence
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads
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.
Hate will keep you alive where love fails.
So, I’m not going to say anything good and I’m not going to say anything bad about this book. This was read solely for the purpose that I wanted to support Anna on her bday read and it doesn’t matter if I loved or hated this book-it wasn’t about me. Now, the reason I can say all this in such an even tone is that it’s all pretty simple: There were parts I was bored out of my mind with, and then others where I was having a really good time reading. Again, in normal Chelsea fashion, I’ll say why I think that is-I don’t like traveling books. Like…ever. So maybe that’s part of it. But it’s more than that, I think. I won’t bash. I won’t gush. But here are the finer points on each end of the spectrum:
The Good:
–Jorg
He was an asshole and, for whatever reason, I liked him about as much as Anna. He was mean, cruel, and he was despicable beyond redemption….but his foul mouth and harsh actions did nothing to deter my love for him. Whatever that’s about…
–The action scenes
Call me a sucker for a perilous situation, but it is what it is. The battles rocked.
–SOME of the flashbacks
I liked what happened in them and how they shaped him as an evil little bastard. He was always destined to be that way, I believe, but seeing all that helped me to understand, a tad.
The Bad:
–The traveling
Just….no.
–All the people I had to remember
Eh. Attention span, yeah?
–The droll, dragged out conversations at times
Sigh…see point above.
The Ugly:
–What he ate at one point in the novel…
Oh, Jorg, you sick little bastard. I about threw up…just…no. Don’t do that again lmao >.<
There was lots of ugly, but that is to be decided at your own discretion for what you, as a reader, can tolerate. I liked most of the ugly-but that’s just me.
The old Jorg would have kept him there forever. I’ve grown, but whatever monster might be in me, it was always mine, my choice, my responsibility, my evil if you will.
It’s what I am, and if you want excuses, come and take them.
Sooooo. That sums up how I decided to rate, a little, without going one way or another. I just wanted more. And maybe book two WILL have more…but for now I will just say it was a fun read with two awesome chicks and I can’t wait to do it again.
Love ya, Frenchy Bug! *Muah*
Leave a Reply