Andrea Ratti asked Mark Lawrence:

Dear Mark, I just finished reading The Broken Empire trilogy in Italian. I usually read books in their original language, but this time I risked with my mother tongue. Are you involved in the translation process? I found the Italian titles quite disappointing. The three books are titled as: Principe/Re/Imperatore dei fulmini, that in english would have been Prince/King/Emperors of lightnings. Why lightnings?

Mark Lawrence Hi Andrea, on rare occasions a translator has contacted me to ask a question. The Italian translator did not.

I have no idea why they changed the titles but many of my foreign editions have done so. Prince of Thorns is variously sold as Prince of Evil, Darkness, Revenge, and Lightning.

I guess they change them because they think bland generic appeals to evil and darkness will make the book seem more cool and appealing. I believe that to be an incorrect assumption. Those titles have no connection with the text and to me make the book sound childish.

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