Reviews with content warning for Blood - Prince of Thorns

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Prince of Thorns, by Mark Lawrence

7 reviews

frogbone's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i think some of the reviews are missing the point on this one - the protagonist isn't just an "edgy teen," he is a full-on sociopath who happens to be a teenager. if you're not down with inhabiting the mind of a genuinely bad person in your fantasy novels (see also the works of Joe Abercrombie), you're not going to have a good time.

if you're cool with that, however, there's much here to enjoy. the writing moves at a brisk pace, the events that take place are compelling - if brutal - and i particularly liked the buried lede that the setting

Spoiler

is not a fantasy realm, but a post-apocalyptic Earth that has simply been bombed out of their ability to read thumb drives.

the ending is complete enough that this is a quality solo read, and in fact, the sequels to this book end up being a little bit listless because of the finality with which this one resolves.

Content Warnings

writingcaia's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Interesting story this one of Jorg, the Prince caught in the thorns watching the ones he loves the most die while unable to stop it.
When you meet him he is a savage, brutal, uncaring, ruthless kid, only thirteen, which kind of boggles the mind. But, I guess it is the Broken Empire and there are explanations and manipulations but there’s still a lot of violence that felt a bit too gratuitous and less mentions to rape would have tasted much better, still we end up realising everything has a reason, somewhat.
The plot is solid, sometimes leading places you would never guess, which makes it surprising and fun, but then gore, again. It’s the authors choice I guess.
The writing is pretty good, but both plot and writing in the author’s Book of the Ancestor trilogy are far superior, which is one of the reasons for my rating too.
The ending was not bad, not too much of a cliffhanger, just enough for you to know what’s what and making clear that he will be likely a bit older on the next book but his aim the same. How he will get there? Well I want to find out.

Content Warnings