I blame the internet. Earlier this year I was telling my roommate about a run of books I was in that were great, but sad. She’s dubbed my year as “The Depression Readings”. I mean, to a certain extent this is fair. I have read Burial Rites, The Black Country, Tell the Wolves I’m Home and The Age of Miracles in a 6 week period. That’s a lot of heavy reading, emotionally.
So, at some point she decided that it was her mission to bring some light-hearted reading into my summer and began emailing me with lists from various websites about Summer Books. While on the search she came across an article on Buzzfeed which talked about Prince of Thorns (either this one or this one, I think) and decided to read The Broken Empire series herself. Well, she did, and has now forced them on me. I’m not complaining, but I like to mention to her that these books seem more in line with the “Depression Readings” I was doing before and less to do with her goal of light, happy reads. Oh well.
Prince of Thorns focuses on Jorg, who is quite simply, a bit of a dick. He’s young, he’s tough, he’s got a score (or three) to settle, and he’s leading a bunch of ‘brothers’ around the Broken Empire causing all kinds of mischief. And that’s before he decides to return home after a four year absence. You see, Jorg left home at age 10 (!) following witnessing his mother and brother’s deaths while he was trapped in a bush of terrible thorns which dug into his flesh. He is scarred both outwardly and inwardly, and decides the life of a road assassin is his best choice to avenge these deaths.
Jorg is a bastard of a character, but his saving grace, and what keeps this book in your hand and not back on the bookshelf, is that he’ completely understandable. He’s killed a seemingly innocent bystander? No worries, he’ll explain it in due course and have you on his side, or at least resigned that this was the only possible solution given the world and fight Jorg is in for his life. He’s decided he’ll be king by his 15th birthday, and it’s going to involve a lot of fighting and death.
I say read this book, but don’t get too attached to any of the characters and don’t expect there to be any redeeming qualities in Jorg. You’ll love him while you hate him.
All my various reviews and musings can be found here.
P.S. The above link is for the Kindle edition.
*GASP*
Three stars? Why don’t you cut me, that would be kinder.
I adore Jorg. I don’t even think he explains his actions, nor does he redeem his actions in any way. He’s unrepentant. It’s what makes him so great. He’s got some big goals (king, revenge) and will succeed at any cost. Literally ANY COST. Personally I found it refreshing after all of the “tortured heroes” or “bad guys who have a code.” I adore Mark Lawrence and devoured this whole trilogy.
But it definitely belongs in your depression reading series :) If you’re looking for something amazing but a bit lighter check out the Stormlight series. They’re MAMMOTH (so you’ll save a few $$$ as you won’t need to buy anything new for ages while you plow through the first 2 installments) but they’re delightful and lighter.
Or the Black Prism books (Brent Weeks) are really fun fantasy novels that would be a great pairing with a beach and a mojito.
I know, I know. Three stars seems cruel, but here’s why I landed there:
1. World-Building. If my roommate hadn’t told me about the fact that this was supposed to be in our distant future and that we’re the builders I wouldn’t have had a clue. I love Mark Lawrence’s style, but much of this novel may well have been taking place in a setting bubble for as much as I grasped from the page.
2. Bad guy outta nowhere with 10% more book to read. We learn a LOT about what/who has been motivating Jorg in the tail end of the book (and then go on a glorious rampage) but it came out of left field, to me. I had to put the book down and walk away to make sense of what I had just read, and then go back in a day later. (Trying to be spoiler free, as I always try to write spoiler free reviews, but I think you know who/what I mean).
I promise, it has nothing to do with Jorg, he alone would’ve gotten this a 4 star rating, but the two points above knocked it down. I’m extremely hopeful about King of Thorns which I’ll be picking up later today.
And confession time – it also might be a little lower since fantasy is completely out of my wheelhouse. Of the 30 books I’ve read so far this year, it the only fantasy, and I think in my previous two cannonballs my only fantasy reads were Gaiman’s Neverwhere and The Ocean at the End of the Lane unless I’m forgetting something. But thanks for the recommendations, I’m always on the lookout.
I hear you. I picked up a chic lit novel based on strong recommendations from Mrs. Julien. It probably IS a great book but I couldn’t get into it because it’s not my genre.
I do think that Prince of Thorns is definitely in the deep end of the fantasy pool, I would only recommend it to somebody who was a card-carrying fantasy reader. Brent Weeks is far more accessible and likely to offer the sort of stories that even non-fantasy readers would enjoy.
I’ll say this, if this book didn’t grab you, subsequent books probably won’t either. I’ll be curious to see what you have to say. Unless you give it 3 stars again in which case I’ll avoid your review because…you know…scars.