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A review by writingcaia
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
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.
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
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Cannibalism, and Death of parent
Minor: Rape