For a long time, fantasy was one of my favorite categories of books. I still read them sometimes, but now I frequently find myself two chapters into the book and thinking "oh, they all go exactly like this."

"Prince of Thorns" does not go like that.

Yes, it's a fantasy world with some of the elements you'd expect and want in your fantasy book. But in this one, everything has been painted black. And then kicked in the throat.

The Empire is broken. The Prince comes from the thorns. These are weak words to describe the scene.

Quick: think of a fantasy novel hero. He or she is usually a thinker who has been drawn into action, reluctantly. He or she is struggling on the side of good in a world that has been sliding into decay, but has hopes of improving the world by righteous struggle against long odds. That's my gut reaction, anyway.

The "hero" of "Prince of Thorns" is vicious. He is nowhere near as cuddly as a grinch or a grouch. His sins are legion. His creativity is both fecund and fetid. He acts swiftly and from the gut... right from the grease of the liver itself. "Good" wouldn't stop by his house to reason with him over tea and cookies; "good" would firebomb him from a distance.

The lesser of two evils? That "lesser" part happens only rarely within these pages.

This isn't your childhood fantasy novel. This is not a black versus white world. This is a novel of anti-escapism. This is a novel with the entire wide spectrum of black. Well, maybe a little bit of really really dark gray here and there. Usually under rocks.

Yeah, and I really need to read the next book in this series, too.

I wanted this book to be good, but the idea of a “evil” protagonist, despite all the hype around its “reversal” of tropes is not actually as monumental as reviewers would have it seem. Not only are there many examples, there are many better examples. Otherwise, the book was blindingly fast-paced and confusingly plotted. The random sci-fi revelation was both unwelcome and not elaborated on. The worldbuilding and magic system is barely touched on and frankly seemed a little lazy. While I enjoy a good revenge story, this one did not make the grade…

The cover promises world building and adventures of the likes of "Game of Thrones". The book, however, does not deliver on that, at least not completely.

What I really did enjoy was the slowly unfolding specifics of the setting, especially all those "which famous person did you just mention?" and "oh, that's what they meant" moments, everything after the first third of the book in particular.

The characters, however, seemed pretty one-dimensional despite their grittiness and severe anti-heroism, with their actions being the way they are seemingly only for shock value. The plot, once you got beyond the world building parts, was also somewhat predictable.

I, however, feel compelled to read the remaining of the series, because I can see their potential.

This was an amazing debut for Lawrence and a very welcome one. I now understand why I have seen this book listed as one of the best and must-read fantasy novels of 2011. Having been a fan of dark fantasy for several years, I can readily see why people are comparing this novel to Richard Morgan’s “The Steel Remains.” It’s often difficult to pull off a likable anti-hero protagonist, but Lawrence does it extremely well. Usually, I do not like novels with such young protagonists as Jorg, so I read the book with the understanding I would have to engage in some heavy suspension of disbelief if such a young kid in an ultra-violet adult role was not going to annoy me to death. By the end of the book, I have a deeper appreciation of why the child was behaving in such an adult role; however, I am not sure that my interpretation was the author’s intent or my own overly analytical mind. Suffice it to say that when you play the Game of Throne’s there are puppets and there are masters, and there are even those that are oblivious to the hands that move the game pieces about the board.

Speaking of Game of Throne’s, it was readily apparent that Lawrence was heavily influenced by Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” due to the several times he used the “game of thrones” phrase. Sure enough, after having finished “Prince of Thorns,” I began researching Lawrence and discovered that he acknowledges Martin as an obvious influence.

“Prince of Thorns” is a book that stays with you after you set it down. As I began reading this book, I assumed it was set in a typical fantasy realm. Much to my surprise, Jesus, Plato, Nietzsche, and others were mentioned. I have not determined if this is an alternate future or post-apocalyptic world following the “Day of a Thousand Sun.” Whichever it may be, the world is set in a seemingly medieval setting that I found intriguing. One day after finishing this book, I long to have a better understanding of this world and how it came to pass.

I highly recommend the book to lovers of dark fantasy, but I must caution that it is not for the faint. This book excels in ultra-violence with an amoral, some might even say evil, teenage, anti-hero protagonist.

It is my hope that “King of Thorns” can match the first novel in the series!

This is a series I've been on the fence about trying for a while--I've heard so many good and bad things about it, especially with the main character being a hateful boy with no redeeming qualities. The part that made me decide to go ahead and plunge in is Jorg is unapologetically horrible. At no point does he try to justify his actions as anything other than the greedy, selfish actions they are. At no point does the book try to go "okay, look, he murders people...sure...but they're only BAD people so it's okay to like him" (looking at you, Dexter). No, he's awful and quite often I found myself rooting for his enemies, even though some of them were also awful people. It made for a pretty interesting reading experience, that's for sure. Anyone who does need a main character that is likable probably would want to just avoid this series completely.

I was pleasantly surprised by the setting. I had been expecting this to be the usual fantasy fare where the author had created an entirely new world for their quasi-medieval Europe story but early on it was apparent this was some kind of actual Europe setting. As I was puzzling out all the inconsistencies of this actually being Europe of the past, the hints of this being a post-apocalyptic setting started trickling in. I really enjoyed all the little details about the Builders and the different ways this was incorporated into the mythology of this new society. I don't expect I'll learn much more about what caused everything to regress beyond the few details here, but I was pretty happy with the set-up this did manage to give through ancient documents and whatnot.

I had no idea if i sould be intrigued or fasxinated by Jorg at first. He was so violent and ambitious, but still looking for his father's aprooval. Great character!
And ugh the fact the he was "possed"...i guess that played an important part too
I will start book 2 now