Customer Reviews

King of Thorns (The Broken Empire, Book 2)

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

One of my favourite books of 2011 was Mark Lawrence's debut novel Prince of Thorns. While hotly debated and often maligned for it supposed misogyny, I found Lawrence's story of this black-hearted prince and the forces that made him who he was and which manipulate his actions still fascinating. Not only did Lawrence tell a fantastic story, he also told it in wonderful prose. Unsurprisingly, I was looking forward to reading King of Thorns, which however I didn't get to read until this past week. Discussing this second book in the series will inevitably lead to spoilers for the first, so if you haven't read Prince of Thorns yet and want to remain unspoiled, best click away now!

King of Thorns returns us to the post-apocalyptic version of our earth; an earth so far into the future that it is hard to discern the number of years that have elapsed since our time beyond 'a lot'. The world-building in the book is great. While the world and map as we know it is clearly reflected in the different peoples and the names of cities, nothing can be seen as a one-to-one translation. Even the Roma church - descended from modern day Catholicism - is but a distorted image of its origins, something which surprised me as religions tend to be rather intransigent in their tenets it seems. Lawrence shows us more of the mysterious Builders and their ancient technologies and structures that are still dotted around the world, much of which remains hidden from general view. Their technology was so advanced that it seems like magic and it remains unclear what happened to this civilisation and how the resurgence of true magic came about. We do seem to get a hint of an explanation for the return of magic. Apparently humanity thinned the veil too much through some of its technology and magic came back to our world. It would be interesting to learn more about the Empire's history.

Like Prince of Thorns, the story is told in two timelines set years apart. One of these is set four years earlier and follows almost immediately on the ending of the last book, the other describes one day in the present. I like this set up, with short chapters and several chapters in one timeline before returning to the other one. I did miss the typographical signifier used in my copy of Prince of Thorns, in which both timelines had their own fonts, which allowed you to see at a glance in which timeline you were when you came back to the book. The timelines are interspersed with fragments of Katherine's diary. I liked how these provided a view of what happened beyond Jorg's purview, even if only fragmentary, and what we get serves more to seed the clues for the eventual denouement of the book's plot than to really illuminate what's going on at the Tall Castle.

Lawrence's development of Jorg is fantastic. In my Prince of Thorns review I said that there was always a sort of hope for Jorg's redemption and while that hope is still there, redemption isn't what this book is about. In King of Thorns remembrance is the name of the game, as Jorg struggles to remember what happened in those months after he took Renar and through remembering all of his history to understand what haunts him. This places all of Jorg's kinder actions - taking Gog to a fire-sorcerer to save him from his own fires, his care for some of his brothers, and the importance he places on meeting his mother's family - ever in a wavering light; does Jorg do and feel this because he isn't the black-hearted bastard he seems to be or because he's exactly the calculating psychopath many see him as? To be honest, I don't think Jorg himself even knows, but I'm inclined to believe the former. The fact that seemingly decent men such as Coddin and the people of Renar follow him so loyally into battle can't just be from fear of reprisal?

One of the elements that garnered Lawrence a lot of criticism for Prince of Thorns was his perceived treatment of women. In King of Thorns he makes good on that criticism by including two wonderful female characters in the book in the form of Katherine and Miana. Katherine comes across as a woman who takes her destiny in her own hands, while Miana is a little firebrand. I love how she surprises Jorg at every turn and how strong she is despite her tender years. I also like that Jorg seems to want to do right by her, even going so far as to fake taking her virginity. Beyond these two, there are only a few other female characters in the book, most notably Chella, the necromancer from the previous book who makes a return appearance. Mostly, Jorg spends the book in the company of his Brothers and other soldiering men. Some of my favourites here were Makin (again), Gog, Gorgoth, Sim and Red Kent. But once again Lawrence proves no-one is safe and he had me pretty upset at least two deaths that occur in the book.

Lawrence ends King of Thorns on a reveal that left me reeling, but one that had been set up so cleverly, that I actually heard some of the pieces click in place. This tight plotting combined with some gorgeous writing - Lawrence lets Jorg see beauty in the most unexpected of things - makes for a fantastic middle book to the Broken Empire trilogy. As I said at the start of my review, I only got to read the book quite long after its publication, but there is a definite silver lining to this--the final book in the trilogy Emperor of Thorns, will be out next month, which means I'll be able to return to Jorg and the Broken Empire very, very soon.

This book was provided for review by the author.

This was a fantastic, well-written book. It shows the depth and progression of Jorg as he takes up his role of King. The only downside was that, at times, the narrative was a bit harder to follow than in Prince of Thorns, as one of main premises of the book was that Jorg had lost a part of his memory. However, saying that, it was still a fantastic read and if you enjoyed Prince of Thorns, this is a fantastic continuation of the story.

Book 2 in the Broken empire trilogy significantly expands on the characters and setting laid down brilliantly in book 1, Prince of Thorns.
We see the main character, Jorg, becoming not just a leader of men, but a ruler of people and of lands, and all that goes with this. Understanding what it means to rule.
Forging alliances, and tempering his killer urges into something more honed, and deadly.
He explores the world around him as few others do, and harnesses now not just the wills of men, but the magic and forgotten technology that inhabit his world. And use them to his own ends.
He will do absolutely what is necessary to achieve victory, namely unite the empire once more, and take the empire throne, and will sacrifice everyone and everything to this end.
But that is the world he lives in. He's a product of his environment, but isn't willing simply to be a pawn in a game of empire.
He wants to be the one moving the pieces.

King of Thorns continues the story of Honorous Jorg Ancrath, now ruling the Renar Highlands, taken from his uncle at the end of Prince of Thorns. It is now four or so years after the events of Prince and all is not well.

The Prince of Arrow and his army are at the gates and ready to take Jorg's castle and lands. The Prince of Arrow is intending to become the emperor of the 100 Kingdom's and all prophecies seem to say he will be successful in his quest.

As before the main story is set in two timelines - "now" and "four years earlier". The events of the two timelines work well to take the story along at a good pace, events in the past being revealed, often, just as they become relevent to events "now".

Added to these timelines we also get scraps from the journal of Katherine Ap Scorron, Jorg's aunt, the one woman he really seems bothered about #and that may well be an understatement!#. Also, part of Jorg's tale from "4 years ago" led to events that were to drive him to insanity. The only cure for this was to visit a man who put all these events in a box "NEVER to be opened". These events trickle out slowly through the tale so you seem to have four storylines going on but it is done in such a masterful way that I at no time thought "what the hell is going on here"

Many middle books in trilogies are travel books and this is no different. The "4 years ago" section covers a lot of ground from the lands of ice to the Mediterranean like land of his Grandfather. The difference is that many middle books can be the weaker of the three. This is certainly not the case here, not by a long way. The land of this series is obviously future Earth. You can tell by just looking at the map. The place names are often very similar to the world we know now as well #Barlona for example# and as before, there are hints of the science from the world before. Mark Lawrence paints a wonderful picture of his world and it is a pleasure to travel in it.

Jorg always seems to be at his best when the odds are against him and with the Prince of Arrow at his gates there seems to be no way of winning. The events at the climax of this story - I never saw them coming. The author throws such a curveball as I haven't seen in a long time. The twist is very, VERY clever.

With this book Mark Lawrence hasn't just pulled the rabbit out of the hat, he's also taught it to do tricks, learn spanish etc etc...........you get my drift. Possibly the best fantasy book I have read this year and the only reason I am giving it 4.5 stars is that on this performance Emperor of Thorns #which is now in my possession# will be even better and will earn the 5 stars.

How can someone so bad become the person you really want to win. Jorg reminded me of Elric, a troubled and reluctant hero who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. The post apocalyptic world kept you thinking about what had happened and why. A thoroughly enjoyable sequel and I cannot wait for the next instalment.

This book is a great follow up to Prince of Thorns. I cannot wait to read Emperor of Thorns. .

Amazing, simply breathtaking. Although it's confusing; the way it flicks from past to present, it sets your mind to working out the puzzles. And Jorg sure presents a lot of puzzles! It's knowing he can do something, but it's in the how that I find the most intriguing.
Can't wait for the next one!
Bring on the Dead King!

Fantastically written book with great imagination and keeps you thinking all the way through cant wait for emperor of thorns

A tough read at times, but hey, it took me 6 days to read it and I couldn't put it down.
Brilliant.

The book is great in the way that the story line goes from past to present and is well balanced in action and emotion can't wait for the third book