Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
I first found this book a year or two ago and it left me reeling because I’d never read anything so dark and still utterly engaging. After putting it down I could not actually review it because I needed some time to process what I'd just experienced, it was that different from everything else out there.
It tells the story of young prince Jorg over two time periods. At one point he is 10 years old and has just seen his mother and younger brother brutally murdered in front of him. Trapped in a thorn bush that tears his skin to the bone he is eventually found only to discover, after a brutal and hellish recovery, that his father has sold peace to their killers. Completely and utterly betrayed he finds a new path open to him and decides to follow it to the very end.
Four years on he has amassed a band of cut throats who are his road brothers and share with him the bonds that only men who have killed together can share. They are heading back to the kingdom ruled by Jorg’s father in order to confirm his being alive and his place in the line of succession for the new Queen is ready to pop.
Through both parts of the story we hear the improbable tale of how a boy of 10 could possibly earn the respect and fear of some of the most feared killers in the land. That he does it without them knowing he is a Prince makes it even more galling but we as reader quickly learn that to challenge or question Jorg is not a smart thing to do and would most likely be the last thing you do.
I think I was initially stunned by not just the sheer audacity of Jorg and his horrific actions but by the fact that I was on his side. Knowing from Mark that he was modelled on Alex from Clockwork Orange makes a lot of sense, but I also found him and his situation reminding me of George Martin's character Sandor Clegane The Hound. There is a sense that he was very much forged by the actions of those around him, and rather than wallow in pity, he has acknowledged the way the world is and decided he is going to survive in it.
He takes umbrage at the thought that he might still be doing something as unambitious as merely rousting villages by his fifteenth birthday declaring “By the time fifteen came around I’d be king”. In a world we every breath could be your last, I found this over confidence to the point of recklessness an attractive trait. He is past mere motivation, as though his path is set, his decisions made and his fate sealed. It seems watching your brother killed whilst you are impaled on thorns and unable to help removes the chance of sympathy or mercy being shown and I was completely on board with Jorg as he moved through the world like a tornado that would destroy one house but leave the one next to it completely untouched. Did I feel sorry for those innocents that were caught in his path? Yes.
In the hands of a less skilled writer Jorg would be a horrible prick with no redeeming features and the book would be a pile of steaming poop. He is a horrible prick but, at the same time, one of my favourite characters and if you have the stomach for him I think you will grow to love him as I did.
This is a must read and the start of a fantastic series of three books called The Broken Empire series. His next series is The Red Queen’s War and the first book Prince of Fools is available and the second book is coming out very soon.
My review of Prince of Fools can be found here and I am also running a giveaway for two copies and a signed bookplate here. Giveaway ends April 15 2015.
You can follow Mark Lawrence on Twitter @Mark__Lawrence
