Boy Jorg
After perusing through my newly created book pile, it became clear that I has been sitting on a few books for quite a while, worse still there were some complete collections in there in serious need of my attention. At a glance, it was clear that the highest concentrations of unread books resided under the labels Brandon Sanderson and Mark Lawrence, these books had been patiently awaiting my attention for well over a year. As I sampled Brandon Sanderson when I read Elantris a few months back, I thought I’d read Mark Lawrence’s ‘Prince of Thorns’.
A few chapters in and I was questioning my sanity, I found myself reminiscing about the time before I’d read any Mark Lawrence, a simpler time, a time when I rarely found myself sympathising with psychotic murderers and their motley band of armour clad hooligans. It gets worse, the psychopath in question is only 13, at an age at when the depths of behaviour usually amount to raiding the fridge and fighting over the bathroom, Jorg is raping and pillaging with the best (worst?) of them, a precocious monster indeed. It doesn’t end there though, during flashback sequences, which the author uses to build the backstory, it transpires that this kind of conduct started when Jorg was ten. The day he busted his, soon to be, band of brothers out of his father’s dungeons and set out for revenge on the man responsible for the death of his mother and little brother.
The story unfolds in a world not too dissimilar from our own and is told from the first person perspective of Jorg, in an eminently readable style (it took a mere two days for me to read). First person perspective just doesn’t work if the subject is too dull, an accusation that certainly cannot be levelled at Jorg. There’s layer upon layer of hatred, shame and self-loathing sharpened on the whetstone of intense emotional damage, he’s got some serious charisma on him too.
The author does an excellent job of maintaining momentum in the story, the plot is tightly confined, the frequent flashbacks are well thought out and timed well to add to the telling rather than causing confusion.
‘Prince of Thorns’ is not a long book, it’s not epic in the grand scheme of fantasy literature. What it is, is a very well written, very enjoyable book, with a magnetic ability to drag you back to squeeze in a quick chapter here and there, when you really should be leaving to pick those kids up. Oh well, if Jorg is anything to go by, they’re old enough to take care of themselves now.