Monday, July 2, 2012

King of Thorns-Mark Lawrence

King of Thorns


Mark Lawrence

Ace, Aug 7 2012, $25.95

ISBN: 9781937007478



Nine years ago, Count Renar's soldiers murdered his mother and his brother while hanging Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath on briar patch thorns to watch them die. Raging with vengeance and an obsession to one day take back his family’s throne from his traitorous uncle and from there the empire by the time he turns twenty, Jorg achieves his first objective five years after the betrayal (see Prince of Thorns).



Now eighteen King Jorg’s rage remains strong on his wedding day to Princess Miana. Jorg’s has made many enemies due to the atrocities he committed over the decade. These include the woman he loves and his maternal Aunt Katherine ap Scorron; the Prince of Arrows, the only person he fears, leads his adversaries with a force much stronger than his. Still Jorg’s hope lies with weapons that the masses would say are magic but he believes are man-made artifacts from the ancients he found in the bowels of his castle.



The second brilliant Broken Empire dark gritty fantasy shows how much the obsessed protagonist has matured deploying smarter tactics, but remains steadfast fueled by his anger in his pursuit of becoming the emperor; the child of thorns is the adult still feeling those thorns. Rotating perspective between his wedding day and four years ago when he took the throne from his uncle with extracts from Aunt Katherine’s journal, fans obtain a complete picture of a man who has no remorse over the means he uses to accomplish his end. Action-packed throughout with a surprising spin, Mark Lawrence’s thriller is excellent because of the insightful look into the dead soul of a man whose bloodless heart is filled with intense ire.



Harriet Klausner



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