5/10

One of life’s greatest joys is knowing that the main character in this book is a fictional person. I have never experienced anything as obnoxious as this guy. Listening to him yap is even worse than having to wait for Simon to finish Wind and Truth.

3.65
•I liked that it's more of a grimdark fantasy series which was really refreshing to read.
•Jorg is a character that I haven't read any characters similar to before (an obvious perk,) seeing how he'll be in the next books is something I am for sure eager for.
•This may make me sound like more of a psychopath than dear Jorg but I was hoping for more blood mess in the book, it's more than other books I've read but not the as much as I had hoped for in this book/series in particular. I'm hoping for more in the next installment. (I know I'm not alone in this, I've read other comments from reviewers who've said similar.)
•There were a few moments where I was slightly confused which usually doesn't happen to me so I'm not quite sure why it did (?) maybe I've become too use to reading a large sum of books lately that don't require much thought behind them and have caused me to become slightly lazy (I know how bad that sounds.) But, yes, at times the book seemed a little jumbled. As I said though, that may be my own fault.
• & there are a few grammatical errors that threw me off a little at some points, but still, something that can be looked past.
•Even with that I will say I am definitely looking forward to the next one in the series, King of Thorns! Hopefully my confusion and unanswered questions will be settled in this next book, or at least a few of them.

I came across Prince of Thorns as I was looking for more entries into fantasy where the "hero" is not all powerful and set on a prophetic quest to save the world. When I realized that MC's can do horrible and selfish things and making me question whether or not I like them, I understood that I had found the the right book.

Jorg embodies many powerful qualities and others that bring his likeability into question, and I found myself enthralled in this world. It is Mark Lawrence's debut, but it reads well and I was able to feel the grim and blood that covered the cast of characters that I followed on the road. I still think about Jorg introducing himself to the Forest Watch and laugh at how fun that scene is.

I felt that the prose and direction of the book are fitting towards the world that Mark has created. It wallowed in the dirt and filth while shining the light on the difficulties of living as a troubled boy learning to become the man he wants to be. Jorg's supporting cast of miscreants are somehow worse than him, but carry with them a sense of comradery that comes from struggling together. I found myself caring for characters more than I intended and cheering for brutality when the company was pressed against a wall. This was the escapism into fantasy that I had been looking for and I'm happy to have found it.

I'm excited to see where the rest of the Broken Empire trilogy goes and how the fantastical world unfolds as Jorg grows and learns who he believes he is meant to be.

(3.5 stars rounded up)

Prince of Thorns sat on my shelf for 4 years. This was my, probably 3rd attempt to read it. I never got past the first couple of chapters before - but I'm glad I came back to it because I very much enjoyed it this time around.

Oh Jorg, the 14 year old edge lord with both daddy and mommy issues, what an interesting protagonist to follow. He's a terrible person but I could not help but want to see him succeed.

The bits of world building that Lawrence has sprinkled in has me hooked. I am a sucker for

Spoiler

a post apocalyptic fantasy world built on the back of the previous sins of humanity

. I can't wait to see how the setting factors into the plots of the later books.

My biggest complaint is that you can tell that this was written by a white dude. There's two non-white characters in this book, and one of them isn't even named. And I'm missing a female character to help contextualize the world. Knowing what we do about the setting, I'd think that the status of women would be different from medieval Europe, or at least worth exploring a little more. But, there's also 2 more books of world building so we'll see.

I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series and seeing what fucked up adventure Jorgy goes on next.

When I hear about a dark fantasy trilogy I get Left Hand of God flashbacks and those aren't good cuz that series wasn't good and neither is this one (probably).

Don't really know what to think of this book mainly because of the way I sped-read through it so I'm just gonna leave these two literary gems here:
"I said, getting angry now. I don't like to get angry. It makes me angry."
"They're just ways to lose the game. You lose the game, and what have you lost? You've lost the game."