Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire, Book 1) | 
I love me some grimdark fantasy. And this one here? Alllllll the trigger warnings. Prince Jorg is a true sociopath and anti-hero, but it‘s satisfying to see him kick through every chivalric convention in search of vengeance. As long as he doesn‘t hurt any dogs, I‘ll keep reading.
pickThis is a great start to a new to me series.
This story is written in the first-person, which is something of a challenge for any author in terms of the complex narratives associated with fantasy.
It doesn't pull any punches when it comes to involving the young hero in trauma.
A distinctive reading experience.
#fantasy #epicfantasy
Anti-heroes are my favorite character trope! And the one that started it all was Jorg from Prince of Thorns!
@lirahlu @Sleepswithbooks @KateReadsYA @RosaS
#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView
HOORAY! 10th Anniversary Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. Signed/Numbered SE Hardcover arrived today! It‘s stunning! All the stars.
pick🎧 Nine year old prince Jorg sees horrors committed to his mom & brother but can‘t help due to “thorns”. He then watches his father not retaliate for economical reasons.
Prince Jorg leaves, joins a band of shady miscreants vowing to return with a vengeance. He thinks about & commits horrible crimes and by 13 he‘s the head of the criminals & his story takes a return.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👇🏻
pickThis was pretty grimdark but I knew that going in based on the fact that it's a Mark Lawrence book. I think the truly horrifying thing is that the main character is only 14 and yet this is a world with petty kings and border squabbles. The thing I found the most interesting is that it seems to be traditional fantasy setting and yet it is also a far future of the world we know. Will continue the trilogy.
#BuriedAliveChallenge
#CalibreRoulette
#BookReport
This week I managed to finish two of the three books I needed to finish before the end of the year. Both took me a bit longer than usual to finish but were worth every second.
#WeeklyForecast
My only goal this week is to finish the tagged as it's the last I need to finish for my 2020 challenges. I have no clue what I'm going to read after it though because I feel like there's pressure to find a perfect first book of the new year.
I just love this part in the book where they spent so much time and energy into the previous fight, then the next baddies approaches and just ends it in a few lines. “I‘m not interested”
Fangirl moment 😁
One of my fave authors wishing me a happy birthday 🎉🎉
pick3.9 🌟
This book surprises me, yes it's all about revenge but it is also more. Well this book doesn't offer much in terms of plot story with Jorg's principle for killing any hurdles. But seriously, Jorg's character come with layers, I despise him and love him at the same time, one minute he's showing passion and mercy, and the next he's a killing machine. There are more to the story than just revenge, and it's a very strong beginning.
“There is no evil, Makin,” I said. “There‘s the love of things, power, comfort, sex, and there‘s what men are willing to do to satisfy those lusts.”
"Your choices are keys to doors I cannot see beyond.”
"You have a dark hand on your shoulder. A hole in your mind. A hole. In your memories."
It has been mentioned twice that Jorg has a dark hand playing his heart. I wonder the lack of explanation about magic in this book is due to Jorg's lack of belief with magic.
"Luckily for you, I want to win the Hundred War, reunite the Broken Empire, and be Emperor."
And here I thought you're just messing around people for revenge and humiliating daddy in the process.
"You‘ll have Gelleth. I will give you the Castle Red. I‘ll give you the head of the Lord Gellethar. Then you‘ll give the heathen to me.”
And you‘ll call me “son.”
Almost 50% of the book. Ohmy, the length of Jorg will do to win his throne back is magnificent.
“You know how to break the cycle of hatred?” I asked.
“Love,” said Gomst, all quiet-like.
“The way to break the cycle is to kill every single one of the bastards that fucked you over,” I said.
"Every last one of them. Kill them all. Kill their mothers, kill their brothers, kill their children, kill their dog.”
"Ravens. Always the ravens."
It starts bloody, and it will get bloodier ?
#firstline #fantasy #tsundoku
I had trouble figuring out how to pronounce Jorg's name when I was about 50 or more pages into Prince of Thorns. This Q&A interview on Goodreads helped on the pronunciation. I'm really glad (some) authors explain how to pronounce a character's name #BrokenEmpireseries
pickBlack as pitch with humor to match, I really enjoyed this. There‘s a knack to writing antiheroes and Lawrence just gets it - like, the MC is immoral, violent, and breathtakingly ruthless but I still want him to win. Now on to the second book because I need to see how his arc progresses! A ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read
pickA delightfully disgusting tale of an anti Robin Hood, his not so merry men, as they pillage, plunder, and murder their way to fame.
Jorg is out for revenge against the man who murdered his mother and brother. A true psychopath, we see how his experiences as a child shaped him to be the scoundrel he is today Necromancers and ghosts too!
Points off for lack of direction and plot armor. 15/20! See my YouTube video. https://youtu.be/FXSIoQp2zj0
I got my review up and tagged some people who showed interest in it. Let me know if you‘re not ok with tagging and I‘ll remove it. Hope y‘all get a chance to watch and let me know what you think!
The Broken Empire - Prince of Thorns https://youtu.be/FXSIoQp2zj0
Karkar, TrishB, Jovy, phantomx, OnlyYoo, Enchanted_Bibliophile, Lesanne, MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm, MsMelissaWell I got today left in tomorrow but that‘ll be all she wrote for my vacation. So today, I‘m using my time wisely. I‘m gonna lock myself in and do nothing but read all day. Let‘s see how long I can take it until my ADHD kicks in and it‘s time for me to leave the room 😇😂 get some tea and grimdark !!
I‘m not gonna lie this Jorg guy kinda nasty lol 😂 I think I‘m gonna enjoy this
Welllllll I finally got through First Law 1-3 and man things got wild. Saw a bit coming honestly and the series has flaws but awesome characters. Stay tuned for my review tomorrow or Sunday.
Now, I‘m starting this!! I‘ve heard the protagonist is a nasty guy? Like how nasty are we talking? Glokta nasty? Joffrey nasty? Bring on the Grimdark !! #Fantasy #Grimdark #PrinceOfThorns #BrokenEmpire #Reading #Book #Tea
Seven books that will remain in our minds, because they touched us so much, changed us.
#7books7days
Day 5!
And I'll tag @LibrarianRyan to join the fun!
pickI‘m totally berating myself for allowing this book to sit on my TBR for so long! Jorg is probably the worst anti-hero I‘ve encountered but God I love him. Can‘t even say why, which is a testament to Lawrence‘s writing skills. There are bits that may be offensive, so not certain this is for everybody. But it‘s my kind of epic fantasy. 🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡
#MountTBR2020
#Booked2020 #bookshowingahatorheadcovering
#PopSugar2020 A book with a three-word title
pickI was hesitant to pick up this book, but I ended up really enjoying that it doesn't play by any of the rules. Very original.
#ChillingPhotoChallenge #Grim
But so very good.
#TeamStoker +1pt
@TheReadingMermaid
If you were wondering what all I read last week, I made a video of it -> https://youtu.be/K9mGhYRT1T8
Just finished Prince of Thorns, at 14 hours of reading in #24in48 !
“Memories are dangerous things. You turn them over and over, until you know every touch and corner, but still you'll find an edge to cut you.“
Too true 🤔
Just finished book 3 for #24in48 !
Starting up Prince of Thorns next for the #24in48 !! The ending of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer left me wanting more, but I'm leaving the sequel for another day ! Prince of Thorns is a bit shorter, and I've been excited about it for some time !
Also, here's a pop art of my 24in48 progress, just because 🎉
pickI needed the change of pace into something very dark and violent. I like that the anti-hero was unapologetically bad. Jorge is no bad boy with a heart of gold; he‘s straight up evil. Looking forward to continuing the journey.
pickHOLY MOLY!! This book was just what I needed to get out my reading funk. Oh so dark and gritty and foul and just evil on every page. Prince Jorg is one angry child and I‘m here for the whole adventure. This boy wants death and will spare no cost to have it done, friend or foe he does not care! Time to start book 2 as I have not had enough of this world yet! My May reading started off strong!
Umm excuse me Mr. Mark Lawrence but who gave you permission to write such a compelling story right from the first paragraph. I totally understand why people praise his work, I am 80 pages into this book and hot dang is it amazing. This Prince Jorg is so blood thirsty it‘s insane and I am loving it (kid is 13 wtf?!?) seriously this book is something else and I can‘t put it down. This kid wants to cause death so bad.
"Let a man play chess and tell him that every pawn is his friend, let him think both bishops holy, let him remember happy days in the shadows of his castles, let him love his queen, and watch him lose them all"
so-soBy far my least favorite book this year. I didn‘t mind the violence so much, but the majority of characters and world weren‘t very well-developed, there were essentially zero significant female characters, and the writing was incredibly subpar overall. I‘m going to give the second book a try because it‘s much more highly rated, but I won‘t force myself through it if it‘s much like book one.
Struggling through this. Finally made it past page 100 after a week of not wanting to pick it up again. I‘m not always a fan of first person, and the writing doesn‘t feel cohesive, especially with all the flashbacks. However, my hold for the second book in the trilogy came in, and I really want to see how much better it (hopefully) gets.
I‘ve seen a lot of mixed reviews for this, but the second one has a strong rating on Goodreads, so I‘m going to try it! And by book light for now, since my husband goes to bed around 8:30 😂 Much too early when there are pages to be read and never enough hours in the day! 🙃📖
