Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence is the First book in The Broken Empire Series. Young prince Jorg is deeply scarred in an assassination attempt. He is left hanging to die in a bramble of deadly thorns, after witnessing the murder of his brother and mother. His only goal in life is revenge.
The Cover: I love this cover. There is a cloaked boy leaning upon a sword, surrounded by dead bodies, with more swords jutting up all around like crosses marking graves. The title is in a large red font with that stands proud against the white background, and the author’s name sits on top in black text. You know this is a fantasy novel straight away and the book’ cover is a good representation for the story within.
The Good Stuff: This is anothergood fantasy novel by Mark Lawrence. His writing is good, he has some interesting characters, and holds a good grasp on what makes good fantasy.
The Bad Stuff: I am not a fan of first person narrative. I wish he had written this in third person. I kept getting pulled out of the story because of this. It is a personal preference for me, I want to read about a character’s story. If I had listened to the audiobook it probably wouldn’t bother me, because it would seem like someone telling their story, but when I read sentences start with ‘I’ it throws me out. The other problem I have with this story is I really don’t like the main character.
Overall, I enjoyed this read and will progress through the rest of the series. It is a good story and while I didn’t like the main character, I did enjoy the other characters and their interactions. After reading this, I will say that I much preferred his ‘Book of the Ancestor’ Series but this is only book 1 and I will see how I feel at the end of the series before passing final judgement. This one only gets a hatred-consuming, vengeance-seeking, blood-spilling, 3 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries. If you liked this post please share it with your friends on social media.