The Broken Empire series by Mark Lawrence - Restarting April 8th 2017

[Tessa]

Description: " When he was nine, he watched as his mother and brother were killed before him. At thirteen, he led a band of bloodthirsty thugs. By fifteen, he intends to be king...

It's time for Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath to return to the castle he turned his back on, to take what's rightfully his. Since the day he hung pinned on the thorns of a briar patch and watched Count Renar's men slaughter his mother and young brother, Jorg has been driven to vent his rage. Life and death are no more than a game to him--and he has nothing left to lose. But treachery awaits him in his father's castle. Treachery and dark magic. No matter how fierce his will, can one young man conquer enemies with power beyond his imagining?"

I'm going to read this with Tatiana. Feel free to join us :) .

[Tati]

Excited for this one!

[Tati]

Excited for this one!

[Tessa]

I've skinned through the first chapters it's a cruel story and the main character is calculated and ruthless, yet he's also funny at times. Interesting combination. Can't wait to start reading this with you Tatiana. :)

[Tessa]

I've started this 38%
(view spoiler)[Right now I can't deal with the fact that the main character is only 14. I know he had a lot of hardship to deal with, but I still think he's far to knowledgeable for his age. Also, the throng of characters are distracting me. Way too many, too many names to remember, not so good at that right now XD. The world building is also a little confusing. They are set in a medieval theme, but they speak about buildings who once reached the sky. Is this story happening in a future after a technological apocalypses or something? (hide spoiler)]

How do you find the book so far?

[Tati]

I'm finding it a bit confusing, particularly the world building. I mean, the story doesn't take place in any familiar country or the like, but it mentions Plato, for instance.

[Tessa]

Tatiana wrote: "I'm finding it a bit confusing, particularly the world building. I mean, the story doesn't take place in any familiar country or the like, but it mentions Plato, for instance."

Yeah, and later on Nietzsche. So I'm bound to think this is happening after an apocalypse, or something...

[Tati]

Really? That just seems a bit crazy... I'm at 22% and I don't really see how the story would fit after an apocalypse...

[Tessa]

Tatiana wrote: "Really? That just seems a bit crazy... I'm at 22% and I don't really see how the story would fit after an apocalypse..."
Me neither. I'm 50% in and I'm still confused as hell. The story keeps going from a time frame to another: once he's 11, then 4 again in his mother's arms, but wait, he's actually in a dream, under the spell of a dream witch that is a male. Gah... so freaking confusing. This is game of thrones with far less description...

[Tati]

I hate it when the world building doesn't make sense...

[Tessa]

65% in:
Yes, it was an apocalypse. They are talking about the day when so many died that they ended up forcing the door of the underworld and it has been left ajar ever since. So forth, the Necromancers gained endless power. Also, Jorg's solution to fight the necromancer seems stupid to me: "we cut them down and when they rise again we do it again and again until they rise no more." - or something like that
*snorts*
Really, that's your solution to fight with the undead? I thought he was smart...

[Tati]

I didn't read your post, as it's quite spoilery and I'm not there yet


I'n at 47% now, and, while it did get better, I'm still not sure if I will like it enough to keep reading...

His father seems to be pretty cruel and un-fatherly, right?

[Tessa]

Tatiana wrote: "I didn't read your post, as it's quite spoilery and I'm not there yet


I'n at 47% now, and, while it did get better, I'm still not sure if I will like it enough to keep reading...

His father seem..."
Yeah, his father's a jerk. Where do you think Jorg got his "sensitivity" from? Really, I don't like Jorg at all. It's like I'm reading a book about a tyrant trying to get the throne from another tyrant. Yey... Can you feel the love? @.@

[Tessa]

80% in:
(view spoiler)[OMG, his father stabbed him. He just stabbed him, like it was nothing. No one said anything... Guess he lost his birth right long time ago, donno why he went there with no protection. (hide spoiler)]

[Tati]

What I still don't get is why (view spoiler)[ Jorg left the castle to join those criminals... Was it all because his father wouldn't avenge his mother and William? (hide spoiler)]

[Tessa]

He joined them for various reasons:
(view spoiler)[- he didn't feel safe besides his father [after all, his father failed to protect his mother and brother];
- he wasn't confident he'll get the throne if he remained by his father's side [he felt distrustful of him, and for good reasons, so he wanted to have his own "army", his own men who would follow him];
- he wanted to avenge his mother and he knew his father would not go to kill his brother for a wife [donno why, but that's what he says later on]. (hide spoiler)]

I also finished this and here are my final thoughts:
(view spoiler)[Jorg remained a very unlikable character until the end. The time skip at the end of the book seemed very rushed to me and brought no advantages to this story. An affirmation about how black his soul actually is is not needed, we've saw it during the book, we are convinced.
The only reason why I managed to finish this book was because it was action packed and the story moved quite fast. But the action was not done well, way too rush, way to little description to make me understand what's going on most of the time.
Jorg enters the category: do whatever because you're the main character and there's no way the author is going to kill you "for real". During this book we have Jorg being stupid all the time, getting in to all sorts of impossible fights and getting out because he has one power or another, one ghost or another helping him here and there. Wow, for a bloodthirsty kid who wants to become king he sure acts like a child and has fits and tantrums just like a child through the book. It was hard for me to feel any sympathy for him.
This book wasn't that bad, it had it's good parts, did make me laugh quite a lot [not sure if intended or not, but I did laugh], but the world building was crappy and the main character is a prick.
Dropped series and probably dropped author. (hide spoiler)]

[Tati]

Whew, finally finished! This was one of the rare books where I keep glancing at how long i stil have to read before I finish and cringe. If it weren't for the challenge, I would've dropped it. I'm not going to finish this series, that's for sure.

I couldn't like Jorg, I didn't really understand the world building and some scenes just had me downright confused...

[Tessa]

"I'm not going to finish this series, that's for sure."
Me either. It's in the dropped series list. I kept reading because I was hoping for a little development, but Jorg remain the same vicious and snotty brat from the beginning to the end.

If you hated it so much you should have dropped it. I wouldn't have mind nor could I have blamed you for it.

[Sarah Elizabeth]

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Date Changed. Restarting April 8th 2017. Happy Reading ☺

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[Gillian]

1/4 (view spoiler)[ This is so not what i was expecting from Mark Lawrence. At times I think what the hell is going on in this book its just all killing anyone who gets in Jorgs way. He is as bad if not worse than the people who killed his mother and brother. (hide spoiler)]

[Gillian]

2/4 I keep wanting to like Jorg but I can't bring myself to like a boy with so much hate that he has become evil.

[Gillian]

3/4 (view spoiler)[ What a rotten father. Ok we know Jorg is evil but thats no reason to want to kill him so your new baby will inherit the throne. After all Jorg takes after his father in so many ways. (hide spoiler)]

[Gillian]

Over all this was a confusing at times but interesting book. I think I will need to do a reread to fully get a handle on the story as it is very complicated.

[Gillian]

King of Thorns
Chapter 2 (view spoiler)[ Heaven help the poor girl who has to marry Jorg (hide spoiler)]

[Gillian]

King of Thorns
Chapter 25: (view spoiler)[I hope Colin lives he has the prophecy on his side. (hide spoiler)]

[Gillian]

King of Thorns
Chapter 41: (view spoiler)[ What a good idea to got to his grandfathers under a false identity. I hope this side of the family is nice Jorg needs some good people in his life. (hide spoiler)]

[Gillian]

King of Thorns
Finished: How is it that by the end of the book I feel I want to like Jorg that can't be a sane thought as Jorg is a monster.

[Gillian]

Emperor of Thorns

1/4 (view spoiler)[ Oh wow those rotten priests they should be hung drawn and quartered (hide spoiler)]

[Gillian]

Emperor of Thorns
2/4 (view spoiler)[ I really like Miana she is the perfect wife for Jorg even if they don't love each other I think if Kathryn had never been in the picture things may have been different for them. (hide spoiler)]

[Gillian]

Emperor of Thorns
3/4 (view spoiler)[ How is Jorg going to get enough votes to become Emperor it appears he will have the least amount so far. I'm confident he will come up with an insane plan that will have lots of blood shed lol (hide spoiler)]

[Gillian]

Emperor of Thorns
Finished: (view spoiler)[ Who writes an insane book like this by the end I didn't know what to think anymore. How can all this be happening if he died in the thorns with his brother. Was it all a dream like vision that he had as he was dying or is there another explanation? (hide spoiler)]