Prince of Thorns

I am torn as to how to rate Prince of Thorns. While I enjoyed the characters, I had trouble with certain moment that can be classed as ‘edgy'. The main character is needlessly violent in situations where it made no sense. It also repeat A Song of Ice and Fire's tradition of putting children into very mature situations. Jorg is fourteen years old and yet acts, speaks and thinks as an adult.

Many noted the extreme brutality and rape being present in the first chapter. While I am opposed to using sexual assault as a way to show the gritty reality of the world, I was able to move past it here as it wasn't described in much detail. I did skimp through those parts though.

In the end Prince of Thorns is a flawed book. It left little impression on me. Even though I enjoyed the characters, Makin especially, I haven't been itching to read the two sequels and see what comes next. This may just be the genre of grimdark not being my cup of tea.

As a small disclaimer, I must say that the author himself called me a sociopath on Twitter. While I would like to say that my feelings are not at all changed, I cannot. Much of my reluctance to read King of Thorns and Emperor of Thorns may very well be due to being personally insulted by Mr. Lawrence.