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Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire, #1)
by Mark Lawrence (Goodreads Author)
by Mark Lawrence (Goodreads Author)
I got half way through 'Prince of Thorns' and could go no further. The over-the-top violence that some have written about didn't bother me or put me off the book. No, what DID put me off the book was this- I never, for even one moment, bought the 'Justin Bieber Meets Rambo' title character.
Yes, I've read ASOIAF, several times, and I'm aware that there are preteen and teen characters of derring-do in those books. The difference, and it is a fundamentally crucial one, is that George R.R. Martin can make those characters believable most of the time. From the first page, one must buy into the conceit that a adolescent has risen up through the ranks to lead a band of stone cold killers and rapists and I could not not suspend enough belief to make that work.
So, putting my head down, I plowed ahead and tried to ignore the age of the protagonist....and ran into my second problem with this book- None of the characters are more than cardboard cutouts from central casting. There is very little depth to any of them. This book clocks in at 324 pages and it makes me wonder if the book was a longer, deeper book, with richer characterization, it would have been a better read. It also makes me wonder if this book was written with an eye to selling the movie rights because, in many, many ways, the book reads like a script treatment with just a surface sheen of detail.
In the end, I stopped because I just didn't care to continue. I didn't care about any of the characters or any of the plot points. How 'Prince of Thorns' lit up so many genre reviewers' and bloggers' radars is beyond me. Methinks the P.R. department at Ace Books earned their pay on this one.
Yes, I've read ASOIAF, several times, and I'm aware that there are preteen and teen characters of derring-do in those books. The difference, and it is a fundamentally crucial one, is that George R.R. Martin can make those characters believable most of the time. From the first page, one must buy into the conceit that a adolescent has risen up through the ranks to lead a band of stone cold killers and rapists and I could not not suspend enough belief to make that work.
So, putting my head down, I plowed ahead and tried to ignore the age of the protagonist....and ran into my second problem with this book- None of the characters are more than cardboard cutouts from central casting. There is very little depth to any of them. This book clocks in at 324 pages and it makes me wonder if the book was a longer, deeper book, with richer characterization, it would have been a better read. It also makes me wonder if this book was written with an eye to selling the movie rights because, in many, many ways, the book reads like a script treatment with just a surface sheen of detail.
In the end, I stopped because I just didn't care to continue. I didn't care about any of the characters or any of the plot points. How 'Prince of Thorns' lit up so many genre reviewers' and bloggers' radars is beyond me. Methinks the P.R. department at Ace Books earned their pay on this one.
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Contrarius
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rated it 4 stars
Aug 29, 2011 10:05am
You have just illustrated one of the problems with giving up on a book before the end. If you had just finished the book, you would have found out that there's a REASON why Jorg was able to lead the band of men.
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As my review stated, I had multiple problems with the book that prevented me from getting anywhere near the end...Life is too short and there are many, many books to read.
Todd wrote: "As my review stated, I had multiple problems with the book that prevented me from getting anywhere near the end...Life is too short and there are many, many books to read."Well, this is definitely not a book for all readers. But since you mention it -- it is also consistent for the secondary characters to be "cardboard cutouts", as you put it. After all, this is a first person narrative told by a sociopath. Obviously, he is not going to care much about analyzing or empathizing with the people around him -- so he isn't going to waste his time making them seem real or rounded to the reader.
I have to agree with Contrarius. I like to read low-star reviews to see what people didn't like (I am very easy to please and like pretty much everything) but I have read multiple reviews, from people who didn't finish as well as people who did finish the book, and too many of them say Jorg's character, role, actions are not beleivable as such a young boy, but in my opinion the book does explain this very well, and it really makes both you and the character think about the entire last four years of his life. That being said, I know everyone has their own opinions, so I respect yours Todd, but personally, I can't wait for the next one.
