I wrote in my review of Prince of Thorns that it was one of the best books I rated a 3. Mostly because I don't round up if I've got something with a 3.5, but also because it felt like a little too much of what I would call "Deus ex magicka."

That said, King of Thorns is fantastic. The prose itself is exceptional, but the journey of Jorg and his memory was something that had me empathizing with a monster. Not to mention, I read this book at a time in my life that I needed it. Neil Gaiman, easily one of my favorite authors, once said:

"books can also give you knowledge about the world and your predicament, give you weapons, give you armour: real things you can take back into your prison. Skills and knowledge and tools you can use to escape for real."

I took three important things away from this book:

1. If you can empathize with a monster like Jorg Ancrath maybe you can cut yourself a break sometimes.

2. Memories, even bad ones, build and shape us and we should hold on to them and face them.

3. Sometimes, the people who do wrong to us deserve our anger and no longer deserve to be part of our lives.

If you read Prince of Thorns and maybe didn't like bits and pieces but somehow found it compelling, you owe it to yourself to read this book because it is a fantastic follow up.