Prince of Thorns (Broken Empire, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Feb 18, 2015 Shannon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: surprised-i-didn-t-hate-it, male-protagonist, novels, 2016, fantasy, male-author, epic-fantasy, adult, disturbing, trilogies

I'll be honest, this was a bit of a random pick for me. The multiple 1-star reviews from my friends were concerning, but when I actually went and read their reviews I realized a lot of people gave up on this because the main character rapes two girls in the second chapter. I totally understand not wanting to read this based on that because I have things that bother me enough to ruin an entire book too.

The reason why I could look past him raping those two girls was because of two things: it's not I'll be honest, this was a bit of a random pick for me. The multiple 1-star reviews from my friends were concerning, but when I actually went and read their reviews I realized a lot of people gave up on this because the main character rapes two girls in the second chapter. I totally understand not wanting to read this based on that because I have things that bother me enough to ruin an entire book too.

The reason why I could look past him raping those two girls was because of two things: it's not described with anything more than five vague sentences, and it's made clear from the first chapter that you're not supposed to like the main character, Jorg. He kills people for slight offenses, burns down villages, pushes people off cliffs, and is just awful all around. Another thing that saved this book for me was that it was in first person POV, (yes, I know, I can hear the groans now) but it's done so well. I think it would be difficult to understand just how much of a psychopath Jorg is if you didn't have a chance to view him from the driver's seat. That's what made this work for me because while he's a terrible person he also makes no apologies for his behavior.

The story is also pretty fascinating and super easy to read. There aren't really any crazy made-up fantasy terms and the plot is pretty straight-forward. Only two things were lacking from this for me: not really knowing what anyone looks like aside from the occasional mention of missing teeth, how fat and/or big someone is, or the Nuban's dark skin, ((view spoiler)) and that the ending felt really rushed, especially since this book isn't that long for fantasy so I felt it would've benefited from being fleshed out more.

I completely understand not wanting to read this book or even hating it because of the way the main character acts, but you're really not supposed to be rooting for him (well, I suppose you could if you enjoy watching the world burn.) There are plenty of unanswered questions, really big ones too, that make me want to read the other two books in this trilogy, and I'll be glad to do so and perhaps convince others to give this series another shot. ...more

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Jun 27, 2020 Kay rated it did not like it

Shelves: never-ever-reading

Book starring a serial rapist written by a real-life sexual predator! Fuck this!

...more

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Aug 15, 2011 Roshio rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, post-apocalyptic

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Aug 22, 2011 Midu Hadi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: magick, sad-ones, series, serial-killers-and-other-murderers, series-completed, military-and-the-ilk, swords-and-sorcery, historical, fantasy, abuse

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