Yzabel / December 13, 2014

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath at 9 was hung in briar patch to watch his mother and young brother slaughtered by Count Renar’s men. At 13, Jorg led a band of bloodthirsty thugs. By 15, he intends to be king. Life and death are a game where he thinks he has nothing left to lose. But treachery and impossibly great dark magic power await him in his father’s castle.

Review:

I thought I’d have liked this book better. I wished I had. But mostly I’ll file it in my “OK” category.

The ruthlessness of the world depicted here was quite appealing (despite being appaling, yes that’s so totally intended, and I’m not even ashamed). One may despise the protagonist and his band of “brothers” for the raping, pillaging and other acts of violence, but the fact is, the whole lot kind of fits. I also liked not being completely sure what world it was set in: alternate history? Post-apocalyptic? The “Builders’ Sun”, the books, the strange talking “spirits”… definitely hint at a more technological past, and this is something I tend to like, plain and simple.

The reasons why I didn’t warm up more to this novel were mostly:

1/ A lot of events and decisions felts seriously disjointed. The prose is easy to read, so it’s clearly not a matter of “but that’s just because your grasp on English is bad!” (it isn’t) or “stop reading at 6 am in the tramway when your brain is still all mushy” (I was off work). More than once, scenes and chapters would roll after each other in a way that made me feel something, some additional scenes, were missing. Jorg would make a decision, and I’d have to read back a few pages to see what I had missed, only to conclude that I hadn’t missed anything: his train of thought just wasn’t explained. Which would be all right, this being a first person narrative, but on the other hand, considering his decisions and actions in general, they clearly demanded more thought than mere hunches.

For instance, one specific plan rests on Jorg’s sudden understanding of something in a book whose contents don’t make sense to people in general (himself included)—the concepts are too far removed from their era’s scientific knowledge. So it struck me as really odd to see him go about how this is all technobabble one moment, to understanding-leading-to-a-plan the next.

2/ The protagonist was developed enough, but sometimes he was just too skilled, too lucky, too… everything. What should have been challenges made me think that whatever happened, he’d find a way out, and in turn, the tension eased too much. I guess I expected more cunning, and less rushing headfirst with the certainty that some deus ex machina would happen.

3/ The whole cast around Jorg, all the other characters, felt too flat. It fitted the “pawns theme” (this war’s a game, people have to be sacrificed in the end, etc.), yet it didn’t make for a pleasant reading, with everybody being disposable, from random peasants in villages to Jorg’s oldest companions. I wouldn’t have wanted Jorg to be more humane towards them; but I would have wanted them to feel more like actual characters, with lives of their own, and desires/goals that would’ve made it easier to understand their actions.

I may or may not read the next book. I haven’t decided yet.