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A review by dustincarlferguson
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
2.0
OK! so I really tried liking this book more than I did. I really did. But the protagonist just hugely kinda turned me off. I don't know if it was mainly coming from the fact that he was just a thirteen year old kid doing all this troubling non childlike behavior (leaves home, joins a bloodthirsty mercenary band, rapes, pillages, burns) but I certainly wasn't rooting for him very much. There was a passage where he sets a Latin dictionary in the cleft of a prostitutes butt cheeks and it talks about his lust and I was just like "This is certainly not what I wanted to hear about at all."
I can understand where Lawrence is coming from as Jorg constantly iterates it is best to cut away things that can be used against you. Cut bonds with people so you do not feel the sting of loss. But he's such an unlikeable little tool because of it and he has no qualms about sacrificing or attempting to sacrifice his loyal knight captain Makin among others.
Lawrence also used a lot of quasi-Roman language and made reference to Greek or Roman scholars and used scientific terminology but it was never really explained where... exactly... or even when the setting of the book is?? Dystopian European medieval future?? what was I supposed to be pulling from this. Like I would not even remember the name of his kingdom if it wasn't listed on the back cover.
Sure Lawrence has a nice artful way of describing things but the cast of characters was largely unlikable. which I guess was the point. but only a handful really stood out to me and the protagonist was not one of the ones I was rooting for.
I can understand where Lawrence is coming from as Jorg constantly iterates it is best to cut away things that can be used against you. Cut bonds with people so you do not feel the sting of loss. But he's such an unlikeable little tool because of it and he has no qualms about sacrificing or attempting to sacrifice his loyal knight captain Makin among others.
Lawrence also used a lot of quasi-Roman language and made reference to Greek or Roman scholars and used scientific terminology but it was never really explained where... exactly... or even when the setting of the book is?? Dystopian European medieval future?? what was I supposed to be pulling from this. Like I would not even remember the name of his kingdom if it wasn't listed on the back cover.
Sure Lawrence has a nice artful way of describing things but the cast of characters was largely unlikable. which I guess was the point. but only a handful really stood out to me and the protagonist was not one of the ones I was rooting for.