I'll give this book two stars, merely for the fact that it's written excellently.

I'll reiterate what others have said - Jorg being 13-14 years old is unbelievable to the point of distraction. Even with the life events that set Jorg on his path, I don't think on its own it is enough to have made him do the evil and unforgivable things he does at his age. We get an explanation...? for what truly might be driving him, and as the reader you think, "ah! ok, I *guess* that has redeemed the past 60% of this book." But then Jorg goes out of his way to *explicitly tell the reader* "no, no - I am 100% evil and those choices were my own. I regret nothing."

My other main critique is that Jorg moves through the plot almost exclusively on luck. I have not read many fantasy books, so forgive me if main characters escaping every dire situation on sheer luck is a mandatory or desired trope in the genre, but goodness - almost every moment where Jorg was about to die or fail in some plan, he is saved by luck or a stroke of genius that is closer to straight-up divine intervention than an expression of intelligence.

I'm glad I pushed through when I wanted to DNF at 10%, because I'm trying to get more exposure to the genre, but wouldn't read again or continue with the rest of the series.

I have never given a book a 1 star rating. This one is an exception. It read like a bad fanfiction that an 11 year old boy wrote, while being mad at his parents. All characters have zero redeeming qualities and are extremely sexist. The story has no point to it. All these men do, is kill and rape. Not to mention that the main protagonist was between 10 and 14 in the book and already killed half of the worlds population just because he loves killing. I do not understand how this is a trilogy and I never want to see or hear anything about this book again. I would not be surprised if only men enjoy reading this and I hope no woman ever thought this is an okay book.

 “What's it going to take for you to open that door? Gold? Blood?"
"Your name and password."
"My name is Honorous Jorg Ancrath, my password is divine right. Now open the fecking door.”

Jorg you murderous wry little bastard I fucken love you! You’re right up there with Galharrow in my list of all-time favourite characters.

“… I leapt from the saddle. Or got as close to a leap as a man in full plate can, which is to say that I chose where I fell.”

I imagine that anti-heroes must be hard to write; like truly scary horror, or comedy movies that make you laugh right up till the end, else we’d see more of them. Either that or there’s just not as much demand for a solid anti-hero as I think – perhaps I’m just a special kind of twisted for liking them so much? 

Whatever the truth may be this is a fact, you will be hard pressed to find a better anti-hero then good ol Jorgie here. Er I mean bad ol Jorgie… He’s sarcastic, he’s intelligent, he’s murderously ambitious and motivated and he comes equipped with a serious lack of respect for the sanctity of life. Not to wax lyrically about one character but Prince of Thorns is what I’d consider to be a character driven story. It’s not that the plot isn’t interesting, it truly is, and it’s not that there aren’t other characters worthy of your admiration. It’s that if you remove Jorg from this story there wouldn’t be a story, it’s HIS story, cf: title, duh! Don’t go looking for multiple POV’s here, you won’t get them (can I get a hallelujah!?). 

Jorg ricochets through these pages leaving all manner of chaos in his wake; everything from torn and bloody bodies to rape, and yes my dear children, even a little bit of cannibalism – which, “is in fact frowned upon in most societies”. So DON’T go reading this book if you’re afraid it will offend your delicate sensibilities. If I read one more review about how such and such didn’t like this because of the violence etc. I’m going to have get medieval on someone’s ass! Clearly if you feel that way then you shouldn’t have picked it up in the first place. There are plenty of reviews stating the type of content contained within, you have been warned and I have no sympathy for any idiocy resulting from such warnings going unheeded. Okay, rant over, where was I? Oh yes…

Despite the destruction he causes and his flat-out amoral actions you can’t help but root for him through every blood torn and mud smeared chapter. Perhaps it’s his backstory, perhaps it’s the subtle nods to something deeper in Jorg’s character. Perhaps it’s the savage company he keeps or the fact that the world he inhabits is full of hard cruel characters. All I know is he’s a funny little bastard who’s not afraid to gamble it all and I would never bet against him. 

More than Jorg though I love this book for the writing and the world it depicts. It’s a nihilistic place but the Empire feels like it could still manage to be pulled back from the brink. I think that’s what I find so captivating, a world gone backward that feels like it could be brought forward again if only the right person had hold of the reigns. And whose to say Jorg isn’t the right person for the job? I love the wit and sarcasm that oozes off of every page and the atmosphere of a world so dark that hope is all it has left. Hope and a psychopath.