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A review by sipping_tea_with_ghosts
Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence
4.0
To paraphrase Brent Weeks, many authors these days are afraid to give their characters flaws or make them even slightly unsympathetic. If you've read Mark Lawrence's more (in)famous trilogy, The Broken Empire, you're more than aware that he's not afraid to make the narrator an utter bastard, the would-be antagonist in almost any other story. We had the sadomasochistic Jorg in that trilogy, and now we have the cowardly and selfish Jalan in this one. If the author wasn't so good at keeping you connected to the characters through the commonplace bits of development and introspection, following such people could be an unpleasant slog. The consistent first person POV / narration is strong throughout however, making you have to connect to these characters. God forbid, you might relate to them a little bit.
Anyways, Jalan ends up as a reluctant adventurer, bound by a strange curse with a northern warrior known as Snorri, basically the brawn to his occasionally present brains. The story throughout has good pacing and plenty of humor, avoiding the dire depths that some of the genre can dwell on these days. I feel like Mark balances the light-hearted humor and character banter well with the dark developments and dower atmosphere that the Grimdark genre is synonymous with. (Which fits Broken Empire more than this trilogy so far)
That being said, the story does have a little bit of padding towards the last third of the book. Important revelations are made but they're buried underneath some overly verbose sections, lacking the machine gun pace that King / Emperor of Thorns had.
Hell, the ending just kind of happens, it felt kind of slapdash on the whole wrapping up part because so much was focused on the erratic bits of fighting, the equivalent of a bunch of jump cuts in a movie.
Overall, a very promising start to what will likely be another awesome series. All I'm hoping for is an even better sequel, since the quality in King of Thorns over Prince of Thorns was such a pleasant surprise for me.
Now to answer a few questions for Broken Empire and new readers alike:
Do you need to read The Broken Empire to understand this story? No. The worldbuilding fills in everything you need to know, even if some details are found in other books from both series.
Does reading the previous trilogy enhance the experience of reading this one? Yes, in often hilarious ways once you hear familiar names. For me, I was often screaming "Oh, ______. That son of a-"
Should I finish Broken Empire if I'm already some ways in before coming to this one?
Anyways, Jalan ends up as a reluctant adventurer, bound by a strange curse with a northern warrior known as Snorri, basically the brawn to his occasionally present brains. The story throughout has good pacing and plenty of humor, avoiding the dire depths that some of the genre can dwell on these days. I feel like Mark balances the light-hearted humor and character banter well with the dark developments and dower atmosphere that the Grimdark genre is synonymous with. (Which fits Broken Empire more than this trilogy so far)
That being said, the story does have a little bit of padding towards the last third of the book. Important revelations are made but they're buried underneath some overly verbose sections, lacking the machine gun pace that King / Emperor of Thorns had.
Hell, the ending just kind of happens, it felt kind of slapdash on the whole wrapping up part because so much was focused on the erratic bits of fighting, the equivalent of a bunch of jump cuts in a movie.
Overall, a very promising start to what will likely be another awesome series. All I'm hoping for is an even better sequel, since the quality in King of Thorns over Prince of Thorns was such a pleasant surprise for me.
Now to answer a few questions for Broken Empire and new readers alike:
Do you need to read The Broken Empire to understand this story? No. The worldbuilding fills in everything you need to know, even if some details are found in other books from both series.
Does reading the previous trilogy enhance the experience of reading this one? Yes, in often hilarious ways once you hear familiar names. For me, I was often screaming "Oh, ______. That son of a-"
Should I finish Broken Empire if I'm already some ways in before coming to this one?