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Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire, Band 1)

3.6(58)
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About the book

Prince of Thorns is the first volume in a powerful new epic fantasy trilogy, original, absorbing and challenging. Before the thorns taught me their sharp lessons and bled weakness from me I had but one brother, and I loved him well. But those days are gone and what is left of them lies in my mother's tomb. Now I have many brothers, quick with knife and sword, and as evil as you please. We ride this broken empire and loot its corpse. They say these are violent times, the end of days when the dead roam and monsters haunt the night. All that's true enough, but there's something worse out there, in the dark. Much worse. From being a privileged royal child, raised by a loving mother, Jorg Ancrath has become the Prince of Thorns, a charming, immoral boy leading a grim band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities. The world is in chaos: violence is rife, nightmares everywhere. Jorg has the ability to master the living and the dead, but there is still one thing that puts a chill in him. Returning to his father's castle Jorg must confront horrors from his childhood and carve himself a future with all hands turned against him. Mark Lawrence's debut novel tells a tale of blood and treachery, magic and brotherhood and paints a compelling and brutal, and sometimes beautiful, picture of an exceptional boy on his journey toward manhood and the throne.

Editions (4)

ISBN9780007423293
PublisherHarperVoyager
Publication Date08/04/11
Pages384

Reviews & Ratings

58 ratings

10 reviews

3.6

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  • laurasophie.dse
    laurasophie.dse

    27 Followers

    3.5

    Definition of "doing all the side quests before the main"

    Uh, so Jorg raped his aunt? Let's ignore that? Anyway, Jorg was pretty much doing everything but working on his main goal - which apparently wasn't even his? Makes kinda sense tho. (And he fucking bombed Gelleth lol) At least I now understand why this series is dystopian dark fantasy - since it's basically post apocalyptic europe (with radioactive substance leaking bombs it seems)

    Feb 12, 2026

  • williambarton
    williambarton

    16 Followers

    3.5

    Ein sehr guter Einstieg in eine sehr interessante Fantasie Welt mit einigen sehr interessanten kleinen Twists und Wendungen. Dazu einen sehr tollen Haupcharakter.

    Feb 20, 2024

  • 4.0

    Having read The Book of the Ancestor series last year and absolutely l loved them, I was hesitant to read The Broken Empire. Tried was because I was lead to believe that BOA was a step up from BE. So I assumed I would be disappointed. What clicked with me and made me take the plunge was reading that Mark Lawrence based Jorg, our brutal protagonist on Alex from Anthony Burges' A Clockwork Orange. I had also heard that the reason why people didn't consider it as good as BOA was that they couldn't connect to study a horrible protagonist. It would be interesting to know, had I read Prince of Thorns without knowing this tidbit of trivia, whether I would have fallen into the trap of misunderstanding this book as others had. But I do definitely feel that this knowledge greatly enhanced my understanding and therefore enjoyment of the book. I would even go as far as saying I might even like it better than BOA, and that's saying something!

    Mar 31, 2023

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