It reminded me of early Glen Cook and something else I can't quite remember bouncing around in the back of my brain. Robert E. Howard a bit, maybe.
So when's the next one come out?
0
Prince of Thorns - Mark Lawrence
Started by
Barnes
, Aug 02 2011 02:28 PM
109 replies to this topic
#101
Grack21
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Magneto Was Right
Posted 15 August 2011 - 01:58 AM
Well I thought this was wonderful. I do have a thing for getting inside the head of sick bastards though. It's why I like KJ Parker so much.
It reminded me of early Glen Cook and something else I can't quite remember bouncing around in the back of my brain. Robert E. Howard a bit, maybe.
So when's the next one come out?
It reminded me of early Glen Cook and something else I can't quite remember bouncing around in the back of my brain. Robert E. Howard a bit, maybe.
So when's the next one come out?
#102
WrathOfTinyKittens
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Snuggly, with claws
Posted 15 August 2011 - 06:49 PM
Just finished it a few days ago. I'd give it 3 stars, for a solid novel that shows definite promise of developing into an excellent series - reasoning in spoilers, just in case.
Spoiler
#103
Grack21
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Magneto Was Right
Posted 15 August 2011 - 07:11 PM
WrathOfCyvasse, on 15 August 2011 - 06:49 PM, said:
Just finished it a few days ago. I'd give it 3 stars, for a solid novel that shows definite promise of developing into an excellent series - reasoning in spoilers, just in case.
Spoiler
Spoiler
#104
WrathOfTinyKittens
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Posted 15 August 2011 - 09:20 PM
Grack21, on 15 August 2011 - 07:11 PM, said:
Spoiler
Spoiler
#105
casrot
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Posted 16 August 2011 - 11:20 PM
I am very hungry and hope to devour this book by the end of the week. Then I'll give Mr. Lawrence his Michelin star rating.
#106
casrot
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Posted 24 August 2011 - 04:57 PM
Michelin Star Guide:
One star: "very good cuisine in its category"
Two-stars: "excellent cuisine, worth a detour"
Three stars: "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey"
I'll go with two-stars, in this case, with an additional Rising Star credit.
Bravissimo, Mr. Lawrence. Encore, encore.
One star: "very good cuisine in its category"
Two-stars: "excellent cuisine, worth a detour"
Three stars: "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey"
I'll go with two-stars, in this case, with an additional Rising Star credit.
Bravissimo, Mr. Lawrence. Encore, encore.
#107
Mark Lawrence
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Posted 25 August 2011 - 09:24 AM
casrot, on 24 August 2011 - 04:57 PM, said:
Michelin Star Guide:
One star: "very good cuisine in its category"
Two-stars: "excellent cuisine, worth a detour"
Three stars: "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey"
I'll go with two-stars, in this case, with an additional Rising Star credit.
Bravissimo, Mr. Lawrence. Encore, encore.
One star: "very good cuisine in its category"
Two-stars: "excellent cuisine, worth a detour"
Three stars: "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey"
I'll go with two-stars, in this case, with an additional Rising Star credit.
Bravissimo, Mr. Lawrence. Encore, encore.
A novel rating scheme (pun intended)
It inspires me to so many food metaphors and bad puns (literally crowding in on me right now) that I'm going to eschew them all in favour of a simple, 'thanks very much, I'm very glad you liked it'
#108
aidan
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Posted 20 February 2012 - 12:29 PM
From my Review of Prince of Thorns:
You can find my full thoughts at the review. Not always an enjoyable read, but a very compelling and strong debut. Greatly looking forward to King of Thorns.
Quote
The novel begins in such a caustic, morally insensitive way that I was almost instantly reminded of Stephen Donaldson’s Lord Foul’s Bane, the first book to bring me such ire that I almost literally threw it into the fireplace. I finished Lord Foul’s Bane, on the strength of two trusted readers, but ended up hating the novel so much that I haven’t touched Donaldson since. That experience rang though my head as I began Prince of Thorns. The protagonist/narrator, Jorg, was just such a little fuck, so insensitive and hard to relate to, that I couldn’t fathom reading an entire novel centred around him.
Just like Lord Foul’s Bane, I went to some trusted readers and reviewers for an opinion more informed than the one I’d come to after reading only 12 pages. Reviewers with tastes similar to mine love the book, often citing it as one of the top Fantasy debuts of 2011. Heady words. Also scattered amongst those reviews were comparisons to some of my favourite writers: Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie, George R.R. Martin. Comparisons to Abercrombie (for unleashed violence and nihilism) and Lynch (for wit and an easy black humour) are fair, though such comparisons perhaps do Lawrence’s work a disservice by pigeonholing him into a style of Fantasy that he breaks away from with some interesting plot developments mid-way through the novel, but comparisons to GRRM are silly. There’s certainly a high level of high stakes politicking and a penchant for killing characters, similar to what you find in some of Martin’s storylines in A Song of Ice and Fire, but where the actions of GRRM’s most atrocious characters can often be justified and accepted with a certain sense of reality, Lawrence’s characters are black all the way to the pit of their core and their actions reflect this in a way that often tore me away from my sense of belief and reminded me that I was reading a piece of fiction.
[...]
[A]s the novel progresses and Lawrence delves into the past of the young prince through a series of flashbacks, the reasons for his actions and his shattered psyche become more clear and, almost without realizing it, the reader begins to see Jorg not as a sociopath without hope, but a boy damaged by a traumatic childhood experience that once forced him to become the demon he hated so as not to be overcome by the fear, anxiety and anger that fills him. By the end of the novel, Lawrence has taken the little shithead to great depths and his actions are explored thoroughly. Prince of Thorns is a dark novel and often hard to read, but by the end it’s not dark for the sake of shock value, or dark simply to allow Lawrence to explore some sick part of his soul; rather, it’s dark because exploring those lightless depths is central to the core themes of Jorg’s story.
[...]
As a character and a narrator, Jorg is compelling and likable despite his heinous acts; he’s intelligent, ruthless and sly, commanding a band of dozens of hardened bandits, criminals, murders and rapists who bend to his will; he’s fifteen years old. Too often, I was ripped out of the story because Jorg acted in a way that defied his age (which is implicitly concrete in the story, given the chain of events that leads to Jorg’s self-imposed exile). He has the mental and emotional capacity of a person much, much older than himself and there’s little reason given for why he is able to act in such a way. [...] Jorg is Doogie Howser as written by Joe Abercrombie, and it’s sometimes hard to swallow.
If the young boy is prince, then the setting is king in Prince of Thorns. [...] The way Lawrence draws a compelling post-apocalyptic wasteland full of skyscrapers-turned-castles, rogue AIs and biological warfare from a seemingly generic fantasy wold is a feat to be lauded. Most interesting is that through the end of the world, religion and myth have both persevered among society, though technology and political lines are long shattered and forgotten. From Robin Hood to Plato and Socrates, Lawrence has weaved the mythology of our world into his post-apocalyptic society with an easiness and logic that feels natural, allowing the world to seem alien and familiar at the same time.
[...]
Prince of Thorns is further bouyed by some beautiful writing. Eloquent amongst the chaos, Lawrence’s prose is simple and fast-moving, with just enough of a hint of poetry to lend and air of realism to Jorg’s narrative voice and royal upbringing. In such a grim story as Prince of Thorns, Lawrence is able to find a certain sort of beauty in his grim world.
[...]
Prince of Thorns is not an easy novel to read, despite the fast-flowing prose and short chapters. It’s caustic and hard to swallow; it won’t wish you off to sleep with pleasant dreams, nor greet you in the morning with a smile on its face and a kiss on your lips. But it will make you think and wonder, it will stick in your gut and twist itself around while you’re not reading it. I almost put Prince of Thorns down in its first few pages, but on turning its final page, I had discovered one of 2011’s finest Fantasy novels. Prince of Thorns comes with my highest recommendation, but be warned that it’s not for the weak of heart, mind or taste.
Just like Lord Foul’s Bane, I went to some trusted readers and reviewers for an opinion more informed than the one I’d come to after reading only 12 pages. Reviewers with tastes similar to mine love the book, often citing it as one of the top Fantasy debuts of 2011. Heady words. Also scattered amongst those reviews were comparisons to some of my favourite writers: Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie, George R.R. Martin. Comparisons to Abercrombie (for unleashed violence and nihilism) and Lynch (for wit and an easy black humour) are fair, though such comparisons perhaps do Lawrence’s work a disservice by pigeonholing him into a style of Fantasy that he breaks away from with some interesting plot developments mid-way through the novel, but comparisons to GRRM are silly. There’s certainly a high level of high stakes politicking and a penchant for killing characters, similar to what you find in some of Martin’s storylines in A Song of Ice and Fire, but where the actions of GRRM’s most atrocious characters can often be justified and accepted with a certain sense of reality, Lawrence’s characters are black all the way to the pit of their core and their actions reflect this in a way that often tore me away from my sense of belief and reminded me that I was reading a piece of fiction.
[...]
[A]s the novel progresses and Lawrence delves into the past of the young prince through a series of flashbacks, the reasons for his actions and his shattered psyche become more clear and, almost without realizing it, the reader begins to see Jorg not as a sociopath without hope, but a boy damaged by a traumatic childhood experience that once forced him to become the demon he hated so as not to be overcome by the fear, anxiety and anger that fills him. By the end of the novel, Lawrence has taken the little shithead to great depths and his actions are explored thoroughly. Prince of Thorns is a dark novel and often hard to read, but by the end it’s not dark for the sake of shock value, or dark simply to allow Lawrence to explore some sick part of his soul; rather, it’s dark because exploring those lightless depths is central to the core themes of Jorg’s story.
[...]
As a character and a narrator, Jorg is compelling and likable despite his heinous acts; he’s intelligent, ruthless and sly, commanding a band of dozens of hardened bandits, criminals, murders and rapists who bend to his will; he’s fifteen years old. Too often, I was ripped out of the story because Jorg acted in a way that defied his age (which is implicitly concrete in the story, given the chain of events that leads to Jorg’s self-imposed exile). He has the mental and emotional capacity of a person much, much older than himself and there’s little reason given for why he is able to act in such a way. [...] Jorg is Doogie Howser as written by Joe Abercrombie, and it’s sometimes hard to swallow.
If the young boy is prince, then the setting is king in Prince of Thorns. [...] The way Lawrence draws a compelling post-apocalyptic wasteland full of skyscrapers-turned-castles, rogue AIs and biological warfare from a seemingly generic fantasy wold is a feat to be lauded. Most interesting is that through the end of the world, religion and myth have both persevered among society, though technology and political lines are long shattered and forgotten. From Robin Hood to Plato and Socrates, Lawrence has weaved the mythology of our world into his post-apocalyptic society with an easiness and logic that feels natural, allowing the world to seem alien and familiar at the same time.
[...]
Prince of Thorns is further bouyed by some beautiful writing. Eloquent amongst the chaos, Lawrence’s prose is simple and fast-moving, with just enough of a hint of poetry to lend and air of realism to Jorg’s narrative voice and royal upbringing. In such a grim story as Prince of Thorns, Lawrence is able to find a certain sort of beauty in his grim world.
[...]
Prince of Thorns is not an easy novel to read, despite the fast-flowing prose and short chapters. It’s caustic and hard to swallow; it won’t wish you off to sleep with pleasant dreams, nor greet you in the morning with a smile on its face and a kiss on your lips. But it will make you think and wonder, it will stick in your gut and twist itself around while you’re not reading it. I almost put Prince of Thorns down in its first few pages, but on turning its final page, I had discovered one of 2011’s finest Fantasy novels. Prince of Thorns comes with my highest recommendation, but be warned that it’s not for the weak of heart, mind or taste.
You can find my full thoughts at the review. Not always an enjoyable read, but a very compelling and strong debut. Greatly looking forward to King of Thorns.
#109
Mark Lawrence
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Posted 21 February 2012 - 04:50 PM
aidan, on 20 February 2012 - 12:29 PM, said:
From my Review of Prince of Thorns:
You can find my full thoughts at the review. Not always an enjoyable read, but a very compelling and strong debut. Greatly looking forward to King of Thorns.
You can find my full thoughts at the review. Not always an enjoyable read, but a very compelling and strong debut. Greatly looking forward to King of Thorns.
Many thanks for the review, Aidan. An interesting selection of comments too. Pleasingly the chap hunting a superabundance of whores found them radiating from the background!
#110
aidan
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Noble
Posted 21 February 2012 - 05:11 PM
Mark Lawrence, on 21 February 2012 - 04:50 PM, said:
Many thanks for the review, Aidan. An interesting selection of comments too. Pleasingly the chap hunting a superabundance of whores found them radiating from the background!
Haha!
