Fantasy Book Club discussion

Post here when you have finished reading.

I thought this was an excellently written book and the concept was different. The hero being a bit - hmmmm cold/calculating/terrifying. :) I still found myself liking the main character though. Looking forward to the next book.

I didn't so much like the main character at the end of the book. Instead, it was more like coming to an understanding. It seems far fetched for what amounts to little more than a boy to be a hardened sociopathic killer, but as the story progresses you see that his teenage years weren't exactly spent stabling horses or caring for a sick uncle.

All in all, really truly enjoyed this book. Possibly the best thing I've read all year. Took me by surprise and carried itself well all the way to the end. Can't wait for the rest of the trilogy to come out.

I really liked the book. The opening was sort of a baptism by fire, and if you can stomach that, you'll love the rest. The violence didn't bother me per se, but I was worried that Jorg was going to be too unlikeable to root for. I don't know that I liked him exactly, but I began to appreciate his determination. I really think he's created a rich world here with lots left to explore. I can't wait for the next installment.

Well I can't say I really LIKED the main character Jorg, but I did find myself fascinated by him on occasion and rooting for him on others. He also made me want to lock him up in a prison somewhere, but the story was good.

I LOVED it. The book fits into many genres, a fantasy a mystery a coming of age story. It's dynamite

I finished it.

well, I came today to write a review, to find that there is a " ask the Author" thread, so naturally I decided to overwhelm him with my questions first :D
you'd better go ask your questions before I drive him away, I could be very persistent ;)

anyway, here are my thoughts minus my speculations

i like it, very much, more than I could admit, considering the book is about a murderer, torturer, repast and a psychopath who is not even 14 years old, I suspected him to be Schizophrenic and to some extent I was right, due to the fact that Corion was inside his head all this time

when I started to read, I had a constant case of goosebumps, and i felt nauseated most of the time, it took me a while to overcome the feeling and enjoy the book, don't get me wrong, I think it's the mark of a good writer to evoke such feelings in the reader, yet keep him going on.
there are things I'd like to discuss with you guys, but I think I'll wait for Mark to answer my questions first

Jasmine wrote: "well, I came today to write a review, to find that there is a " ask the Author" thread, so naturally I decided to overwhelm him with my questions first :D
you'd better go ask your questions befo..."

Jasmine, that was a great way to say all the things that happened to me while reading it too.

David wrote: "I didn't so much like the main character at the end of the book. Instead, it was more like coming to an understanding. "

Agreed. I have a better understanding of Jorg, but I don't believe I have the whole picture ... yet.

Not so much an enjoyable read, but definitely a compelling one.

Selena wrote: "Well I can't say I really LIKED the main character Jorg, but I did find myself fascinated by him on occasion and rooting for him on others. He also made me want to lock him up in a prison somewhere..."

I identified with the angel most, at least as far as my feelings toward Jorg. Guess it's the mother in me. :)

Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "Post here when you have finished reading."

Done ... about an hour ago. :)

I finished it yesterday. I just found it very average at best. I thought Jorg was an interesting character, but the plot just didn't do much for me.

I read this book as soon as it came out. I was very impressed by it, especially by the quality of the prose and the...maybe starkness is the term?...of the main character. I was tempted to give it 5 stars in my review, but I ended up giving it only 4 pending the release of the second book in the trilogy. This was certainly a stellar effort for a first published book, in any case.

You can see my review here:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Finished this book yesterday. It was very dark and depressing but at the same time i liked it. A really great debut book! I rated it 4 stars

I finished the book a few weeks ago and loved it! This is my review for it.

A dark and violent book by Mark Lawrence. Unlike most books in the fantasy genre it is face paced. This is normally a good thing but when you have something that moves fast some of the world building that's so essential in fantasy novels is missed. Overall, it was a good book though, well written and entertaining. I can't wait for the next book in the Broken Empire series.

Jon wrote: "Not so much an enjoyable read, but definitely a compelling one"

Compelling is definitely the word for this book. I agree with many of the other posts, I'm still not a fan of Jorg, but I can understand why he does what he does.

One of the things I liked best about this story was the slow reveal that Jorg's world is our world (or some variant of it) in the future. I was slightly irritated at the beginning with the mention of Sun Tzu and other historical figures/books from our history (in my mind, I was saying, why are so many things from this world the same as our world), but when I realized that our time (or some time slightly more advanced than us) was the time of the Builders, I was impressed and a little giddy.

Now I'm off to visit the author's thread...

>17 I agree. I was puzzled at first by the scattered references to persons/events from our history, but once the slow reveal became clear I really enjoyed it. It added a dimension to the story that I think opens up all kinds of possibilities.

I thought this was decent genre fantasy that tries to break some of the traditional moulds.

Some quite nice writing and decent characters. The plot was immediatley engaging and moved along at a good pace. I found the conclusion satisfying in that it didn't leave me hanging (while leaving plenty of scope for a sequel).

I've written a review with some more specific likes/points for improvement.

Just finished it. Its not ground breaking or anything, but I liked it. I wasn't immediately hooked but the start did leave me curious. Our curiosity is satisfied but I still find it very difficult to believe any one could be that psychopathic at that age. And true we're given reasons, but its still just a touch far from reality. I'll pick up the next one though, I want to see if there'll be any salvation/redemption for the Jorg.

Oh and I wasn't a big fan of the love at first sight sort part. We're never really told what it is about Katherine that left him so enamoured.

I have to say I was not a huge fan of this book. I don't know. Maybe my expectations were too high. I always pictured myself to really appreciate a book that was written by the "bad guys" point of view, as there are obviously not many books written that way.

However, I did finish the book, and I am not the type of person to finish a book if I get too bored. There are just too many other books out there waiting to be read. :)

I rated this book 2 stars for "It was ok."

Was anyone else surprised at how well Prince of Thorns was written despite this being his first novel? Kudos to Mr. Lawrence.

John wrote: "Was anyone else surprised at how well Prince of Thorns was written despite this being his first novel? Kudos to Mr. Lawrence."

I can't say I was *surprised*, but I do agree that it was well written. In some places the prose is very nice indeed. :)

I was BLOWN AWAY by the dialogue. It was like reading poetry only it was very brutal poetry.
Deb

Debbie wrote: "I was BLOWN AWAY by the dialogue. It was like reading poetry only it was very brutal poetry.
Deb"

Oddly enough, Mark also writes poetry. ;) I think it shows in his prose. :)

I read it, and... well, I was not impressed, at all. There was a lot of sections that stretched my believability - fantasy or not, you can push to a point, and it's hard. The psychopathic behaviour, the 6' at 14 and clever, cunning, malicious, and a string of excellent luck (because that's what it is) just pulled me too far. The character's "flaw" (his psychopathy) isn't portrayed as a flaw, but an asset, and I can't otherwise see that the character has any flaws, which makes it less pleasurable for me.

I liked the writing style and the idea that it's our world but in the future, however on the whole this reminded me very much of Sir Apropos of Nothing (which I didn't enjoy either). It was an interesting read, but I'm not blown away, intrigued, or compelled to pick up anything further with this character.

Darcey wrote: "I read it, and... well, I was not impressed, at all. There was a lot of sections that stretched my believability - fantasy or not, you can push to a point, and it's hard. The psychopathic behaviour..."

speaking of luck...he was very lucky ...I mean he managed to defeat the antagonist with a horse kick !!

I got the impression that his awesome luck wasn't luck so much as it was that behind the scenes magician dude tweaking things in his favour. I'm not sure if that's better or worse though lol.

Julia wrote: "it's weird how you guys complain about height and luck and stuff and swallow dragons and magic swords and all the rest of fantasy! My friend was 6'3" at 14. It's not the strangest thing in the worl..."

please don't be angry :)...I loved the book as well, and I was thinking of something similar to what you said...so what if he was lucky? I'd say... as long as he survived to tell the tale and didn't start making up stories about his strength and resolve , I'm ok with it :)

Julia wrote: "it's weird how you guys complain about height and luck and stuff and swallow dragons and magic swords and all the rest of fantasy! My friend was 6'3" at 14. It's not the strangest thing in the worl..."

I think there are certainly good points to the book - the writing was well-done, but the character just was not compelling, particularly when it was set up as a future Earth analogue. To contrast - I really enjoyed The Name of the Wind because the character - while clever, brilliant, and lucky - has flaws that actually get him into trouble and put him off in a worse situation. He makes out well - sometimes.

With Jorg, I don't see how his flaws were actually treated as flaws, but more like "Look at how crazy I am, and now how useful it is and how it makes me a better person, and I am better than all of you!" Anything he could be called on (being awkwardly tall as a teen, mistaken for an adult, being bugnuts, etc) is either "an asset disguised as a flaw" or not really addressed. Even with fantasy settings, if your world doesn't work -- it's not always engaging and enthralling. That's what I ran into with this: the world was a future analogue of ours, but other things... just didn't match up for me to make it a read I'd recommend to others.

It's really all about personal taste as to who "swallows" what you know.
First I LOVED it, thought it was an AMAZING not only debut but a great Hard Fantasy, that's something that has to be said Hard Fantasy, there's no kittens and puppies and even though there are very pretty words, as I loved Mark's prose, let's face it this was dog eat dog novel. I never really saw that Jorg didn't know about his flaws, but at his ripe old age he acted like the kid he was, he acted. I'm really looking forward to the second, and I'm wondering will he grow up as well as older, will this novel be as dark or even following the "rules" of trilogies be even darker than the first. I'm very excited to see where Mark takes us on our next adventure with Jorg. And I love the discussion going on here too.

Darcey wrote: "With Jorg, I don't see how his flaws were actually treated as flaws, but more like "Look at how crazy I am, and now how useful it is and how it makes me a better person, and I am better than all of you!"

Well, yes...I mean, it's a first person account being narrated by a teenage sociopath. Of COURSE he's going to think that he's better than everyone else. What would you expect?

I didn't really get one of the parts of the book. Did he kill Katherine or no? When he awakes from his wound he is all weak and than he knocks down an urn and it breaks and he feels better. Or was this a reference to him stabbing HER and finally "ridding himself of being in love"? IIRC, later on in the book it says that he left her sprawled on the floor of the room or something like that but I didn't get that from the passage when I first read it. I read it back several times and still not sure what happened. I think the 2 chapters before that were a little boring IMHO so I wasn't paying attention as much as I should've been and probably missed something that would make the scene much more clear.

He hit her over the head with the vase and knocked her out.

I finished last night and I loved it. I thought Jorg a believable character. I do seem to like sociopaths, personality flaw perhaps.

I loved this book--I read it when it came out as well as the 2nd. I am now on the 3rd, but really, really regret that I didn't do a re-read before starting it. So much so that I may stop and do one.

I'm starting book 3 today.