The Prince of Thorns

by Mark Lawrence

This series by Mark Lawrence changed my reading life. I read it during high school and four years later, I still think about lines from these books. This is what made me declare Mark Lawrence as my favorite author. I started reading more adult fantasy after this and picked up his other trilogy series (The Liars Key) and the only reason I haven't read the rest of he books is because I want to have the time to fully enjoy them and I'm simply not in a place, mentally, where I can appreciate these books and Lawrences story-telling skills.

These books take place in the future after humanity as we know it destroyed itself. There were the builders, and that represents us/current time in history, and how the world was broken after us and we left fragments behind and now humanity is back to medieval times. That concept is really hitting home now with the state of the world and the fact we have enough nuclear power to end life on earth. Kinda terrifying.

The main character is Jorg, a 14 year old monster of a human being on a quest to unite the broken empire under one crown. Lawrence gives small hints into Jorgs past when it aligns on his quest, and it's just a masterpiece of trauma and violence. Jorg shows the dark genus parts of humanity, but also what made him that way, and at the end, he wants to be better than whats happened to him in the past. He wants to be a better father, a better king, and get ride of people darker than him, its the classic "it takes a monster to kill a monster" problem.

Its a story about revenge but also just a small piece of the bigger story Lawrence is building with all of his series. I want to reread them because its has been so long since I've read this series but the fact that it remains one of my favorites four years later says a lot about the quality of this story. I want to reread and do an in-depth review of this book and its set-up to learn about Lawrences story-telling and writing styles, to study how the book is put together and not just its content, so stay tuned for that in-depth review.

Thank you Lawrence for this gift of a series and I cannot wait to read the rest of his works. It stands above Game of Thrones, The Hobbit, and any other classic/well-known series in my opinion.

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