Prince Of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
May. 24th, 2014 05:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The Blurb On The Back:
From being a privileged royal child, raised by a loving mother, Jorg Ancrath has become the Prince of Thorns, a charming, immoral boy leading a grim band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities. The world is in chaos: violence is rife, nightmares everywhere. Jorg has the ability to master the living and the dead, but there is still one thing that puts a chill in him. Returning to his father’s castle Jorg must confront horrors from his childhood and carve himself a future with all hands turned against him.
15-year-old Jorg Ancrath is a psychopath, a murderer and a rapist. He’s also the heir to the throne of Ancreth who’s been missing for the last four years – ever since his mother and younger brother were brutally murdered by the neighbouring Count Renar. For the last four years Jorg has led a band of outlaws ravaging the 100 kingdoms that make up the empire but now it’s time for him to go home and confront the one man he’s always been in awe of – his father.
Mark Lawrence’s debut fantasy novel (the first in a trilogy) is a dark, nihilistic tale that follows a teenage anti-hero. Although I don’t need my main characters to be likeable, I found this to be an uncomfortable and unsatisfying read, in part because while showing Jorg’s casual attitude towards rape and murder and the way he revels in the darkness within him, Lawrence also sets up possible excuses for it. Despite Jorg’s first person voice, the book oddly lacks atmosphere and I found many of the plot twists to be predictable. The world-building also failed to convince me with Lawrence hinting at a post-apocalyptic future that’s reverted to Medieval norms for reasons that are unclear (although I suspect it will get explained in the remaining books) and I found it dispiriting that female characters are once again relegated to mothers, spouses, virgins and whores. Ultimately, this just wasn’t a book that worked for me and I doubt that I’ll read on.
Jorg is a twisted anti-hero who embraces his inner darkness and is willing to do whatever it takes to take power. I actually didn’t have a problem with and wished that Lawrence had set that out as a fact rather than provide potential explanations for it. The problem is that because Jorg doesn’t really care for anyone other than his mother and brother (with the possible exception of Katherine, sister to his father’s new wife) he doesn’t have any relationships that would help to centre him. As a consequence all of the side characters are two-dimensional at best, which is a particular problem with the female characters who are either objects of desire or objects to be used. Ultimately I just didn’t buy into Jorg’s world and I didn’t care about his ambitions for it. As such, this book didn’t do it for me and as such I won’t be reading on.
The Verdict:
Mark Lawrence’s debut fantasy novel (the first in a trilogy) is a dark, nihilistic tale that follows a teenage anti-hero. Although I don’t need my main characters to be likeable, I found this to be an uncomfortable and unsatisfying read, in part because while showing Jorg’s casual attitude towards rape and murder and the way he revels in the darkness within him, Lawrence also sets up possible excuses for it. Despite Jorg’s first person voice, the book oddly lacks atmosphere and I found many of the plot twists to be predictable. The world-building also failed to convince me with Lawrence hinting at a post-apocalyptic future that’s reverted to Medieval norms for reasons that are unclear (although I suspect it will get explained in the remaining books) and I found it dispiriting that female characters are once again relegated to mothers, spouses, virgins and whores. Ultimately, this just wasn’t a book that worked for me and I doubt that I’ll read on.
Thanks to Harper Voyager for the review copy of this book.
From being a privileged royal child, raised by a loving mother, Jorg Ancrath has become the Prince of Thorns, a charming, immoral boy leading a grim band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities. The world is in chaos: violence is rife, nightmares everywhere. Jorg has the ability to master the living and the dead, but there is still one thing that puts a chill in him. Returning to his father’s castle Jorg must confront horrors from his childhood and carve himself a future with all hands turned against him.
15-year-old Jorg Ancrath is a psychopath, a murderer and a rapist. He’s also the heir to the throne of Ancreth who’s been missing for the last four years – ever since his mother and younger brother were brutally murdered by the neighbouring Count Renar. For the last four years Jorg has led a band of outlaws ravaging the 100 kingdoms that make up the empire but now it’s time for him to go home and confront the one man he’s always been in awe of – his father.
Mark Lawrence’s debut fantasy novel (the first in a trilogy) is a dark, nihilistic tale that follows a teenage anti-hero. Although I don’t need my main characters to be likeable, I found this to be an uncomfortable and unsatisfying read, in part because while showing Jorg’s casual attitude towards rape and murder and the way he revels in the darkness within him, Lawrence also sets up possible excuses for it. Despite Jorg’s first person voice, the book oddly lacks atmosphere and I found many of the plot twists to be predictable. The world-building also failed to convince me with Lawrence hinting at a post-apocalyptic future that’s reverted to Medieval norms for reasons that are unclear (although I suspect it will get explained in the remaining books) and I found it dispiriting that female characters are once again relegated to mothers, spouses, virgins and whores. Ultimately, this just wasn’t a book that worked for me and I doubt that I’ll read on.
Jorg is a twisted anti-hero who embraces his inner darkness and is willing to do whatever it takes to take power. I actually didn’t have a problem with and wished that Lawrence had set that out as a fact rather than provide potential explanations for it. The problem is that because Jorg doesn’t really care for anyone other than his mother and brother (with the possible exception of Katherine, sister to his father’s new wife) he doesn’t have any relationships that would help to centre him. As a consequence all of the side characters are two-dimensional at best, which is a particular problem with the female characters who are either objects of desire or objects to be used. Ultimately I just didn’t buy into Jorg’s world and I didn’t care about his ambitions for it. As such, this book didn’t do it for me and as such I won’t be reading on.
The Verdict:
Mark Lawrence’s debut fantasy novel (the first in a trilogy) is a dark, nihilistic tale that follows a teenage anti-hero. Although I don’t need my main characters to be likeable, I found this to be an uncomfortable and unsatisfying read, in part because while showing Jorg’s casual attitude towards rape and murder and the way he revels in the darkness within him, Lawrence also sets up possible excuses for it. Despite Jorg’s first person voice, the book oddly lacks atmosphere and I found many of the plot twists to be predictable. The world-building also failed to convince me with Lawrence hinting at a post-apocalyptic future that’s reverted to Medieval norms for reasons that are unclear (although I suspect it will get explained in the remaining books) and I found it dispiriting that female characters are once again relegated to mothers, spouses, virgins and whores. Ultimately, this just wasn’t a book that worked for me and I doubt that I’ll read on.
Thanks to Harper Voyager for the review copy of this book.