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niki258devil_angel's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Rape, Cannibalism, Alcohol, and Dysphoria
vakariann7's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Violence
Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Death of parent
garrettcz's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this book so much I immediately read the entire trilogy, which rarely happens for me. I Couldn’t put any of them down! This series is really great. Dark as hell, but great. Check the content warnings for sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
targrhaegar's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a very strange book. It starts very slowly and nothing much happens at first. Then the story starts to pick up around the 25% mark and it gets very interesting. I was wondering when the fantasy elements were going to appear, because there were none at the beginning of the book. Then we finally saw some magic happening and it was very fascinating, but extremely confusing.
One thing I don't understand is why in this fantasy world; with ghosts, necromancers, and such, Jesus Christ exists???? And why does Shakespeare also exist? I found that so random. I get it, this story takes place on planet Earth, but I just find it very strange that Jesus and the Catholic Chruch exist. I don't know. Like I said, I understand that this takes place on planet Earth, but whyyyyyyyyyy include real-world historical figures? It was so weird, and it took me out of the story every time they mentioned Jesus and freaking Shakespeare.
The last 25% of the book was confusing. And I mean really confusing. Don't ask me what happened because I have no idea. At least I did understand the ending.
I will continue with this series in the future, because I am interested in the story, and I do want to know how Jorg's journey will end.
One thing I don't understand is why in this fantasy world; with ghosts, necromancers, and such, Jesus Christ exists???? And why does Shakespeare also exist? I found that so random. I get it, this story takes place on planet Earth, but I just find it very strange that Jesus and the Catholic Chruch exist. I don't know. Like I said, I understand that this takes place on planet Earth, but whyyyyyyyyyy include real-world historical figures? It was so weird, and it took me out of the story every time they mentioned Jesus and freaking Shakespeare.
The last 25% of the book was confusing. And I mean really confusing. Don't ask me what happened because I have no idea. At least I did understand the ending.
I will continue with this series in the future, because I am interested in the story, and I do want to know how Jorg's journey will end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Cursing, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy
keziamichela's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This was incredibly unnerving and constantly disturbing, but there was just something about the plot and characters that had me hooked.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing and Torture
Minor: Child death and Rape
ragand's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder
ultravioletrose's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Rape, and Torture
carrionkid's review against another edition
4.0
Not gonna lie, the twist is ABSOLUTELY what sold me on this book, like it would've been so mid if it weren't for the reveal halfway through.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Rape and Pregnancy
lotharith's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Rape
thebetterstory's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
The Prince of Thorns is a well-written book about a deeply unlikeable main character that the author clearly, fully understands is so. Based on that, you probably already know if this is something you'll want to read.
The world of the setting is interesting without being bogged down by unnecessary exposition. Set in the future of our planet, it fuses fantasy with sci-fi elements while still leaning heavily into low-fantasy tropes. The book lets you know early on that something is up with its fantasy setting when the main character can reference Shakespeare and Sun Tzu from his studies, but figuring out how the ruins of our world have been built on is part of the pleasure of reading.
What isn't part of the pleasure of reading is Jorg. Jorg and his merry band open the story by setting a farming village on fire, hanging out watching the villagers they slit open die slowly, and raping their daughters. (Happily that last one isn't graphic, although expect it to get casually mentioned a few times with about the same level of interest as Jorg saying what they'd eaten for dinner that night.)
Incidentally, women in this book exist solely to be hot, raped, or die tragically. Sometimes in combination, like hot and dead, to spice things up. I came to this because I read and loved Mark Lawrence's later series, The Book of the Ancestor, which has phenomenal, mostly-female cast. The way women are treated here is like night and day, and while some of it can be chalked up to the POV character, that doesn't explain things like the utterly unnecessary, cringe-worthy scene where a pouty, giggling caricature of a sex worker who gets her jiggling ass used as a reading table and then croons over him being a prince, just so we know that Women Want Jorg. Great. There's also a weak attempt at a love-at-first-sight romance, with Jorg becoming instantaneously obsessed with his generically fiery step-aunt (who fits into the "hot" category, of course).
I can only assume that at some point between this and Book of the Ancestor that Lawrence realized his writing came across as sexist as hell and fixed it. Which is actually great! Good on him for improving.
Race is handled marginally better, in part because there are only two characters that read as non-white: Jorg's tutor from future-China, and the Nuban, from future-Africa. No, the Nuban never gets a name, and yes, he's the only one in the whole story who doesn't. They are, respectively, a Magical Asian trope and a Magical Negro trope, downplayed to fit in with the more realistic aspects of the setting. For better or worse, they're also two of the only likeable characters, just for not being inclined toward the casual murder of innocents. Both alsodie tragically for Jorg, but given the tropes you probably saw that coming.
So, all that being said, why read the book? Mostly for the strength of the writing and plot. The prose is readily readable and goes down smoothly, and the pacing snaps forward from plot point to plot point to keep you hooked. It is entertaining to see Jorg boast about how he'll accomplish this or that impossible feat and then follow along with his convoluted schemes to see how he manages it. He's a magnificent bastard to a T. And there are a few scant hints here and there in the book that he's heading towards becoming more likeable eventually, which drew me to try the next book in the series as well when I might have otherwise dropped the series here. I want more of this odd world, and I want to see if Lawrence can turn this violent, psychopathic child into someone worth caring about.
The world of the setting is interesting without being bogged down by unnecessary exposition. Set in the future of our planet, it fuses fantasy with sci-fi elements while still leaning heavily into low-fantasy tropes. The book lets you know early on that something is up with its fantasy setting when the main character can reference Shakespeare and Sun Tzu from his studies, but figuring out how the ruins of our world have been built on is part of the pleasure of reading.
What isn't part of the pleasure of reading is Jorg. Jorg and his merry band open the story by setting a farming village on fire, hanging out watching the villagers they slit open die slowly, and raping their daughters. (Happily that last one isn't graphic, although expect it to get casually mentioned a few times with about the same level of interest as Jorg saying what they'd eaten for dinner that night.)
Incidentally, women in this book exist solely to be hot, raped, or die tragically. Sometimes in combination, like hot and dead, to spice things up. I came to this because I read and loved Mark Lawrence's later series, The Book of the Ancestor, which has phenomenal, mostly-female cast. The way women are treated here is like night and day, and while some of it can be chalked up to the POV character, that doesn't explain things like the utterly unnecessary, cringe-worthy scene where a pouty, giggling caricature of a sex worker who gets her jiggling ass used as a reading table and then croons over him being a prince, just so we know that Women Want Jorg. Great. There's also a weak attempt at a love-at-first-sight romance, with Jorg becoming instantaneously obsessed with his generically fiery step-aunt (who fits into the "hot" category, of course).
I can only assume that at some point between this and Book of the Ancestor that Lawrence realized his writing came across as sexist as hell and fixed it. Which is actually great! Good on him for improving.
Race is handled marginally better, in part because there are only two characters that read as non-white: Jorg's tutor from future-China, and the Nuban, from future-Africa. No, the Nuban never gets a name, and yes, he's the only one in the whole story who doesn't. They are, respectively, a Magical Asian trope and a Magical Negro trope, downplayed to fit in with the more realistic aspects of the setting. For better or worse, they're also two of the only likeable characters, just for not being inclined toward the casual murder of innocents. Both also
So, all that being said, why read the book? Mostly for the strength of the writing and plot. The prose is readily readable and goes down smoothly, and the pacing snaps forward from plot point to plot point to keep you hooked. It is entertaining to see Jorg boast about how he'll accomplish this or that impossible feat and then follow along with his convoluted schemes to see how he manages it. He's a magnificent bastard to a T. And there are a few scant hints here and there in the book that he's heading towards becoming more likeable eventually, which drew me to try the next book in the series as well when I might have otherwise dropped the series here. I want more of this odd world, and I want to see if Lawrence can turn this violent, psychopathic child into someone worth caring about.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Gore, and Torture
Minor: Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault