King of Thorns: Book Review

I just finished reading King of Thorns, which is the second entry in The Broken Empire trilogy by Mark Lawrence. This book follows up on the first entry, continuing the plot lines with interesting point of view shifts that relate to how the original story was told. I will be spoiling the first entry of this series throughout, so click away if you want to avoid that.

We last saw Jorg, the main protagonist, manage to capture the castle of Count Renar, with Jorg proclaiming himself King of the lands of Renar. There are two following plotlines, where we see what is more-or-less the immediate aftermath of Jorg's rise to power, and then see Jorg's place four years down the line. The back of the book fills in some of the details. Jorg is now surrounded by a multi-nation army, and they are almost certain to lose. Jorg is now forced to surrender or sacrifice many as he faces down the enemy in a live or die situation.

Also, "Jorg," as I say, is actually pronounced as it is spelled. "Jorg" with the "J" like it is in "journal." I remembered reading something from Lawrence confirming that it was pronounced with a "y" sound at the beginning. I even remember him referencing that he had two audiobooks, with one asking how to pronounce it, the other not doing so. One did it right, the other did not. Yet, when I tracked down this source, the information was the exact opposite of what I remembered.

Did I mention that I have a very good memory?

Overall (No Spoilers)

I think this story is a major step up from the last one. I enjoyed the last one, and I especially liked the main character, yet this one built on much of that in a way that I found to be fascinating. You are still asking questions about Jorg's character, with Lawrence throwing in interesting curveballs that serve to open up discussion. I especially liked one aspect involving a box, particularly the way in which it's related to Jorg's character.

The worldbuilding is another thing to comment on. I thought the worldbuilding was rather similar to the first one, though I think it has less impact that the last one did. Both are rather vague about the world and about the magic systems that are relevant to the story. This adds to the intrigue of the story, and also to the threat of a certain sorcerer throughout.

At the same time, there was a point in the story where I thought one aspect of the worldbuilding could have been more prominent. My judgment did change by the end, but the worldbuilding was sidelined for much of the story.

In terms of the plot, the story seemed much better than the last, though there were faint hints of the last story there that did not resonate with me so much. I mentioned that there were two plotlines that made up this story. The first one I mentioned was similar to the last book. This book is ultimately fantasy adventure, and the first plotline is what covers that. The story is fine, overall. At the same time, I think there is an aspect about it that I'm kind of conflicted about.

However, the second plotline is near perfect. I love the way it progresses and ties back to the first plotline, and how it functions as the final climactic sequence for the whole book.

The prose is as good as ever: nothing more to comment on relative to the last book.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. I will give it an 8/10.

Spoilers

Jorg

I mentioned in the non-spoiler review that this book is split up into two storylines. The first storyline, following Jorg in the aftermath of the first book, basically fills in the gaps of the second storyline as Jorg puts up a final stand against the Prince of Arrow and his six-nation army. There is also a perspective from Katharine, as her diary entries are inserted into the story throughout. This is just more confirmation that the story we are reading is a compilation of pages that Jorg has written and put together.

I

The way the story is told, with the implication that Jorg is recalling his life and writing it down, immediately had me speculating. We already know from the previous story that there are sorcerers who can influence people's minds by erasing memories or by planting suggestions about what people should think about. They can plant dreams, etc. The connection here is rather obvious. Is Jorg trying to maintain control over himself by recording his life on the page? By writing everything down, he should be able to push back in some way against Sageous, the one known sorcerer, to some degree.

Another connection that is made in the story is when Jorg meets with the witch, who tells him that the Prince of Arrow is destined to rule the Empire. Jorg reacts negatively to this. Meanwhile, Jorg is told to write his own story. This seems to have manifested in multiple ways. First, in the manner specified above, with Jorg literally writing his story, and also in terms of what happens at the end, with Jorg having himself adopted and made the Prince of Arrow. I imagine that the literal writing will become relevant in the very end of the trilogy.

But while I was speculating at the beginning about the writing being a means of subverting the will of Sageous, we are also introduced to a box that can store memories. Quite literally, Jorg can cause himself to forget certain things, storing them away in the box. He can then reach into the box and retrieve the memory at his own whims. Jorg strategically uses the box to store away his plans during fighting so that Sageous is not able to anticipate his plans by accessing his mind. I was immediately intrigued and loved how this was used in the story.

II

The introduction of the memory box actually introduces multiple things worth mentioning. The strategic use during battle is one thing.

Another is how the box seemed to be changing Jorg. Throughout the book, we are treated to multiple scenes where Jorg seems to regret the things that he has done. He mentions to Makin that he would not nuke the city of Gelleth like he had in the past. Makin suggests that this was just the general nastiness that most men go through during their early years. Additionally, there is that scene where Jorg saves a mother and two girls from execution for heresy, and that happens in the first storyline; maybe that was the start of this change. But we also see multiple statements throughout the book with Jorg suggesting that all we are is memory. And if that is true, and if Jorg is selectively removing certain memories, then it immediately struck me that Jorg might be changing in response to that. So, this is a counter to Makin, as it suggests that Jorg's softened nature is artificially constructed. After all, I don't think I hit my nasty stage until I was in my early twenties, and Jorg is only eighteen.

There are reasons to doubt this, as well. What memories did Jorg remove? The one key memory that Jorg removed seems to be when he killed is baby brother by accident. And that one only brought him guilt. As far as we know, he did not remove memories of the thorns, and we explicitly know that he kept a certain memory of his father's discipline. You know the one. Maybe Jorg's change is real, maybe it was constructed, but the impression I got at the end was that it was the latter. Jorg became nicer because of the box, and his nasty side came back at the end, upon opening that box. The logic is a bit fuzzy, but so it goes.

The last bit about the memory box has to do with the fire that is embedded within him as a result of Gog's death, and its conflict with the necromancy that has also spread within Jorg. Through the ghost in the machine, Jorg was able to use the box to keep these two forces in check before they ripped him apart. But the story then ends with both the fire and the necromancy being taken away from him. I had hoped that Jorg would continue to accumulate all these varied abilities, but I guess we will have to see where things go from here.

III

As a segue into this new section, there is another comment that can be taken alongside the suggestion that all we are is memory. Paraphrasing, "all we are is dreams." This is a similar thought, but it communicates a subtle difference that I am hoping will be built upon in the future. I think it is meant to be a reference to Sageous and his manipulation. After all, he manipulated Katharine into thinking she was r*ped and pregnant.

And this leads to the topic of this section, which was the series of revelations regarding Katharine and Jorg's shared experiences. We start out learning from Katharine's sections that Jorg r*ped her after hitting her in the head with the vase. It's another uncomfortable revelation about how cruel Jorg can be. But then things are subverted when Jorg reveals that he hadn't done that, but Friar Glen had when he found her, knowing he could blame Jorg for it. Katharine is shown to have aborted the child, intent on rubbing it in Jorg's face, but learns that it was never his.

But there are ominous questions being asked, as well. I was wondering why and how these two characters found each other in that cemetery. Was it really a chance meeting? I thought it was contrived, but knew we had more to learn. And it is then revealed that it was Sageous. Both were lured there. Even worse, it turns out that the very thought of r*pe was implanted in Katharine, that she was never r*ped at all, not even by Friar Glen. She had essentially sterilized herself via a crude abortion for no reason.

IV

This story also creates so much more empathy for Jorg's character, as the extent of his abuse and the potential for his own goodness is revealed over the course of the story. This is only subtle, I guess. He is constantly being compared to the Prince of Arrow, who is the picture of goodness, even to a cartoonish degree—almost the antithesis of Jorg.

I think the key scene to this is a standout. I referenced it before, you know what I'm referring to, and I have to highlight it here because it's just that good. First, some background context. I. Hate. Animals. I hate pets. I hate all of them with such unfathomable depths! Cats, dogs, and other vile parasites that feed off our emotions. Yes. Even human beings. Naturally, the one animal I can tolerate is the one animal that I embody. The rest? Filthy beasts!

And this scene made me cringe. You know the one.

"One more, Jorg."

This phrase is now a pestilence in my mind, and in a way that could not bested. I have a scene I'll add to my own story because of it. Not the same, but with a similar vibe and villainy. I think it recasts our understanding of Jorg up to this point. We were led to believe that his cruelty was largely driven by the deaths of his brother and his mother, and his inability to save them—the guilt over the experience as he watched from the thorns. But this scene brings the horror back to his earlier years, all driven by his father. To be sure, it was always clear that his father was a monster. This simply makes the statements concrete. And it loads the emotions on heavy.

Six-year-old Jorg is compelled by his father to break the legs of his favorite pet dog. He douses the dog in oil, threatening to light the dog on fire if Jorg is not compliant. And Jorg complies. He breaks a leg. His dog howls in discontent. It writhes in agony. And another order: "One more, Jorg." And so Jorg does so. "One more." Until the last one. Jorg hesitates, and so his father follows through, casting his torch upon the dog and killing it in one last horrific display. Jorg is traumatized even up through the timeline of this book. I don't know why, but this one hit me. Oof.

Even as Jorg is placed in this context, we start to gain a new perspective on him:

The book starts out with Jorg finalizing his marriage to Lady Miana, who is revealed to be a twelve-year-old girl. While Jorg was fourteen in the last book, this is the storyline that takes place four years later, so he is six years her senior (and she is obviously underaged). And while this definitely gives off the usual creep factor, with Jorg potentially r*ping yet another girl, like the last book, Jorg is noticeably unsettled by this. We are initially left waiting for Jorg to consummate the marriage, as he seems to not think about that.

Part of me wonders how much of this is cultural differences. Were these kinds of marriages that uncommon? Would consummation normally follow several years down the line? Would the average noble actually be unnerved? I'm not sure. Basically, I am wondering how much Jorg would really stand out. I would have to read more about the medieval times or of periods where these marriages were common. These are just thoughts that crossed my mind. In retrospect, this ambiguity was to show how Jorg seems to have changed, but I was initially reticent about that interpretation.

There is another notable scene where Jorg is shown to have some degree of humanity, even if he consciously thinks otherwise. Basically, he gives a young girl something to help her through her last moments of life, and a toy to play with. She is guaranteed to die, but instead of death in unfathomable pain, she is given peace and even joy.

The father then works for Jorg, helping him in a later conflict. This is apparently the real reason for Jorg helping the girl, but the overall story gives the lie to that.

Finally, I think the pinnacle of all this is something counterintuitive. The worst act of Jorg throughout this entire book is when he kills his infant brother, the one who is supposed to replace him as heir to the throne. Jorg chooses to go to the bedroom. He was probably influenced by Sageous, however. I can't remember if the sorcerer admitted to this. In any case, he takes the baby up in his arms and decides not to kill him.

Only to find out that he did kill the boy with his necromancy. He is horrified by the result, both in the moment and in the aftermath, locking the memory away in the memory box. And he is only more horrified when he remembers at the end of the book, when the memories come sweeping back into him.

I bring this up now because I don't think the earlier Jorg would have cared this much. Maybe I am misreading the character. After all, the actual death of the infant happens almost in the aftermath of the first book. Even still, Jorg originally had the impression of a baby killer and much more. The fact that he reacts the way he does, the fact that it was accidental, is another sign of his character change. Or perhaps it's an example of him reaching his limits.

V

This final section on Jorg's character will be a scattering of thoughts that stood out to me while reading:

As we all know, Jorg is this preternatural kid, a schemer and a prodigy, and he is well ahead of his age. At the same time, in this book it is mentioned or hinted at that his brother was smarter and more promising that even he. We receive all this information from Jorg's perspective. We don't know how much of it is true and how much is skewed by Jorg's views, but the thought that William might have been the preferred child is interesting. I hope this will be touched upon in the next book.

There was also this section of the book in the beginning where it talked about how Jorg felt while mountain climbing. I thought this was a parallel to basically everything we know about his character. For him, climbing was basically a matter of faith. One wrong hold, one loose piece of rock, and one would plummet to their death. But Jorg would press on, all the same, basically hurling himself up the rockside without thought, without consideration for his life. And what is the plot of this novel, and of the last one? His plans over the course of his journeys rarely ever go the way he expects, but he almost aways manages to twist them to his advantage.

Finally, there is a scene involving Coddin, where the man is hit in the gut, basically guaranteeing his death over time. But Jorg doesn't allow him to have a quick death. Instead, he understands that he needs the man, and chooses to bury him alive, hoping he can be acquired later. If not, he'll have his burial. And Coddin tells him, all the while, that has come to love Jorg over time, though it is despite Jorg's character, not because of it. I thought this was the perfect way to kick off the story. At the same time, I'm also not sure I remember Coddin. This might be my fault, but I can't even remember if Coddin was in the first book and what his relevance was. There was also a small speech about doing something about his relationship with Katharine. Katharine seems to be dead, at this point, and Coddin is probably alive, so we will see what happens in the next book.

Ending

I

One prediction I had about the ending of the book was that Orrin would not turn out to be what he is portrayed as. The man seemed sincere, and he seemed like he wanted what was best for his empire, but these people are the ones we should be the most suspicious about. I also noticed the comments about Orrin overlooking the faults of his brother, and I knew that this might play into the end at some point. Yet, I did not guess that Egan would end up killing Orrin and taking his place. It was the perfect way to continue the story, with Orrin self-destructing in a certain manner, while doing it in a way that you don't really expect.

That fact that Sageous was behind all of this is just another twist that reinforces the terror that are the sorcerers.

And while we are on the topic of Sageous and sorcery, I just found the specifics to be nearly heartrending. Katharine chooses to seek out her husband in some mad chase, and she doesn't really seem to know why. This is the immediate red flag, lol. She is essentially lured there by Sageous so he can use her to provoke Egan. Egan is manipulated, in turn, to kill Orrin so he can have Katharine. What a messy and horrid situation. Orrin never had a chance. He brought everyone together, and Sageous took advantage of that, only to twist things at the last moment so he could lock down control. Indeed, it just occurred to me that the only reason Orrin was so successful was because Sageous was manipulating the people he was treating with.

At the same time, there were hints that Katharine was actually gaining some of the powers that Sageous had, and that she was training her mind to operate in the same way. Her abilities were nascent, however, and she ended up being manipulated as described above. But then it is also implied that she gets the last laugh in the final moments, as she helps make Sageous manifest before Jorg, who then rips his head off. The scene is not terribly specific about how all this went down. We just know that Jorg could sense Katharine in the background and that this influence helped bring Sageous' physical form before Jorg. Either that, or Sageous was bluffing, and he actually had appeared before Jorg.

I doubt the latter interpretation, however. We learn earlier in the story about the fall of the builders. The ghost in the machine talks about the constants of the universe being tweaked and makes references to quantum mechanics and how the wavefunction describes a superposition of states. It references the cat being both alive and dead. I remember from my brief layman forays into physics that the cat analogy was meant to be an argument against the Copenhagen interpretation of the wave function collapse, but that interpretation seems to be accurate in this universe. Absurdity became the truth. The tree had fallen and it had not fallen. All of this was topped off with the suggestion that what is has been brought closer to what we want.

I think this is meant to tie into the end of the story. The way the scene was written immediately had me thinking that Jorg and Katharine were making their desires manifest by bringing Sageous' physical form in front of Jorg against the sorcerer's will.

Which ties neatly into the last point I'll make here: sorcery is the ultimate expression of this notion that what is and what we want are being brought closer. Katharine seemed to touch upon this ability, which we know Jorg is aware of, and now Jorg could very well start to take up sorcery, himself. I asked this very question in my review of the first book.

II

When Gog died at the midpoint of the novel, I was genuinely disappointed. I was also simply taken off guard. The entire reason Jorg had taken this trip in the first place was to fix Gog, and then he is suddenly killed off. The journey ends off with Jorg benefiting from the trip in an unintentional way, which is a motif in the story at this point, but I was still left wondering why Gog had to die. I thought there had to be more for the character.

Of course, my attitude changed at the end of the book when Gog is revealed to have survived his "death" and was living within the flames. It was stated earlier that there was only one fire, and that each fire we see was part of it. And because of this, Gog is able to return at the climax of the story and help Jorg fight off the massive army of the Prince of Arrow. And then he dies again. He's gone for good, lol.

I'm more satisfied, at this point. I would have been disappointed if he did not reappear for the climax, but thankfully we got more out of him.

III

After beating back the army of Egan at the very end of the book, Jorg loses both the necromancy and the power of the flame that threatened to tear him apart. On the face of it, this was fine. He did get to use the power in the climactic finale. At the same time, I am left wondering why the abilities just went away. My expectations might have gotten in the way. I thought they would play a part throughout the story, but now we are going into the last book with little to no magic in Jorg's hands. Unless his potential knowledge of sorcery comes to the fore. As usual, we will have to see.

IV

And now Jorg is the Prince of Arrow. Defying the prophecy, at least on its face, Jorg is now poised to fulfill it as the adopted heir and Prince of Arrow. This conclusion made me laugh. I suspect that Lawrence might look over the internal conflicts and politics that might result from this, or least have those tensions resolved between the second and third books (there is another two-year time jump). I still like the twist. I certainly did not guess it.

I can't remember the specifics, but my notes mention something about two Ancraths being the antagonists in the prophecy. With this new development, it now seems clear that Jorg is not actually one of them. His father is, obviously. I guess the second one is his new wife, who undoubtedly hates Jorg for killing her newborn son and her sister. And if she thinks he r*ped her sister, then even more so.

Assorted

One thing to note is that Jorg's return home during the first plotline is skipped over, with Jorg mentioning that it was a story for another time. I think this is worth mentioning, as it might be another past storyline covered in the final novel.

Miana is another worthy thing to mention. Jorg keeps talking about how she is old for her age. Then, she somehow hurls a rock out of a window (or a hole in the wall). This all stands out rather blatantly, and Jorg just seems to look over it. Miana clearly is not who she seems to be. Maybe the necromancer woman is behind this, or the Dead King. More importantly is Jorg ignoring the obvious red flags. I thought Sageous was the man responsible for this, if not both things, but now he is dead. I have no doubt another sorcerer is involved. We already know of the math obsessed one, whatever his name was.

I've also noticed that, with exception to the sorcerers and other people on the periphery, Jorg seems to be the only one who has magical abilities. His father, the Prince of Arrow, Egan, etc., all just seem to be normal people. Maybe this is just the result of Jorg being adventurous and willing to take extreme risks. But it also might be a hint at some twist regarding Jorg's father. Maybe his father might know more than he is letting on. Did Sageous actually have much control over him?

I also found that Taproot seemed to be shoehorned into the story. In my reading, Jorg arrives at a location and just seemed to know that the man was there. The man travels all over the place, and the circumstances leading up to then made it seem like a chance encounter. A very convenient one. We also get some backstory, but that just made the shoehorned feeling worse. (Addendum: Minor spoiler for other Lawrence books. Apparently, Taproot is a recurring character in many of his stories. This is probably why it felt out of place).

We learn the Nuban's name. Kashta. It is also implied that Kashta kept this information on purpose. But other than Jorg using his name to call off the man's corpse during a fight with the necromancer woman, this seemed to be rather sudden. I think there is more to this.

I also noticed the use of the phrase "Nail of Heaven" in reference to the North Star. Obviously, I recognized this because of the use in R. Scott Bakker's book series, The Second Apocalypse. When I do a google search, only Bakker's usage comes up, so I wonder if Lawrence got it from Bakker, or if there is some common ground that I am not aware of.

Which leads me to the moment we have all been waiting for: Is this book darker than Bakker's books? His first two, at least?

Lol. No.

Conclusion

Overall, I enjoyed the story. I will give it an 8/10.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjZEsdtWUQ