Emperor of Thorns: Book Review

I just finished reading Emperor of Thorns, which is the climactic novel in The Broken Empire trilogy. I pushed through all three of the books in the series, as I was rather captured by Jorg, the main character. (Even as other people are outright repulsed by him . . . I should probably mention that, lol.)

This book follows up the last book two years down the line, while also following a timeline from five years in the past. Another inserted perspective is also thrown in, similar to Katharine's from the last book, though this is executed in a different way. The second plotline serves a similar function to the secondary plotlines in the last two books: filling in the information that the main plotline requires in order to progress.

Basically, all of this funnels the story toward the climax, where Jorg looks to become the Emperor, with the added tension of the Dead King, as he approaches the capital and wants to consume the world by killing everything in it.

No Spoilers

I was really let down by this book. Not every element is bad, but as this is the ending of the series, the failure to stick the landing was enough to break the overall enjoyment. It starts with the incredibly slow story progression that I had little compulsion to push through, and it ends with the ridiculously fast and inexplicably quick climax that took about twenty pages or so to unfold. (Did I mention that it happened too fast?) There were peeks of potential there, but the execution completely shat the bed.

But let's start out with one of the positives of the story.

Jorg

The obvious positive is Jorg. This protagonist, in all his nastiness, is back in form with perhaps some moderation as he had grown up and become less wanton in his viciousness. But that does not say much. We see from the opening pages that Jorg was not wholly changed as he seemed to be throughout the second book. It really does seem like the removal of his memories tweaked him to a certain extent. With the memories back inside him, he finds that there no longer is a moral dilemma with his young wife. In the first chapter or so, she is pregnant and not even fifteen.

Later, we see a confrontation with a man who threatens his family, and we get to see his vicious and clever nature on display. It's not really a spoiler for the plot, but I still won't mention the details, if only because it happens quite aways into the book. Either way, it's the usual Jorg that you love throughout the series. And it should go without saying that the climax of the story also reflects this, and is great as well.

But this does not mean that change has not happened at all. As I implied, Jorg is less impulsive and more calculating in his cruelty. He no longer kills people for simple desires like revenge and petty disputes, which is something that is already shown/hinted at in the second book. This book simply shows that there actually has been change insofar as we are looking at his impulsivity and irrationality. We get to see some of that change throughout the second storyline, which takes place after the events of the first book and the second storyline of the second book. (I think this is only going to make sense if you've read the books, lol. The plotting of this story is not exactly linear).

There is also a scene from the second book (kinda spoiler from that book), where Jorg interferes with the execution of two women sentenced to die by the Church. This book actually gives the reader the backstory behind all of that. I remember wondering if there was something I was missing, but it's now clear that Lawrence was simply hinting at something to be revealed later. It is one of the crueler scenes that the reader is subjected to.

One final minor thing to mention is one part where Jorg is playing chess with Makin, and it opens with Jorg starting the game on the black side. I thought this was a fun way to show how Jorg just breaks conventions as he pleases.

Characters

One thing that I have realized particularly from reading and analyzing GRRM as a writer is that characters don't just exist in the abstract. Or, at least, they shouldn't just exist in that way. And it goes further than that. GRRM's influence shows that characters exist beyond even the concrete scenes that they are found in. They exist in the context of a plot. Their presence on the page distorts the very fabric of the story in which they exist.

Something that I find rather annoying is when characters are just entities that kind of sit there and do the occasional thing when prompted. At its worst, they simply have their quirks, their manner of speaking, and they have their moments in this or that scene. I think The Walking Dead is a perfect example of this. People have their favorite characters. But they are really shallow, ultimately. They have their quirks, and they have the occasional scene, but there is something missing.

My theory is that their shallowness comes from the fact that their existence barely extends into the plot itself. The cast of The Walking Dead are just rambling from one place to the next, and it is generally not determined by character choices. And that is the problem. Characters need to exist in the plot. The degree to which the character determines the plot is the degree to which they truly exist. Imagine Tywin Lannister with all his schemes, but without any impact on the direction of the plot. His impact is the primary reason people pay attention to him in the first place. People often contrast character with plot; and there is some truth to this; but the solution is finding synchrony in the manner I am talking about here.

The reason I bring this up is that I cannot escape the fact that this story is not exactly plot driven, and especially not by the characters to a significant degree. I'm not saying this in an absolute sense. Something about Jorg obviously influences his adventures, and his nature is very relevant in the climax, but this is very different from a high stakes intrigue plot with many, many decisions throughout the whole story that have a profound impact on the progression.

Jorg is great. I like the idea of Jorg. But I don't think he "exists" to the same extent as a Tywin. Having scenes with Jorg being Jorg is good, but I think things could have taken an extra step by having the story more driven by his choices, instead of him simply following the lead of a certain friend.

Worse, this final book seems to affirm some of the criticisms that I saw for the second book. He was called a Mary Sue, suggesting that he simply acquired everything he needed in really convenient ways. I slapped this critique away for the second book. Not for this one. In this case, there were so many instances where things just seemed to fall into his lap. The most egregious of them happened in the climax, so I can't mention them here. But the fact that Jorg isn't being put up against the wall and being forced to make monstruous sacrifices with lasting consequences just makes his character more hollow than it should be.

As an aside: This is why characters should never overstay their welcome. Even if a character is a fan favorite, they should not outlast their plot relevance or they will simply just be there. They won't have the impact they used to, and they will become a poor imitation of what they once were. Did you wonder why Littlefinger petered out the way he did in the GOT tv show? In part because the writers were too dumb to write a character of his intelligence, sure, but also because his impact on the plot was nothing compared to before. Apparently setting two sisters against each other is nothing like starting a story-defining war to advance his own interests.

I've only referenced Jorg up to this point. But what of the rest of the characters? Miana, Makin, Rike, Katharine . . . They're just there. They don't do anything. Swap out Rike for Fat Burlow, and Katharine for a literal potted plant, and the ending would not change. Characters truly exist to the extent that they impact the plot. Even side characters. If you can swap them out for others, then why are they there at all? Think of it like Chekov's Gun, except applied to characters.

With regards to Jorg, the problem is nowhere near as serious as The Walking Dead, I promise that. It might even be closer to Martin than TWD. But the rest of the characters are basically nothing.

Worldbuilding

The worldbuilding is more or less a spoiler for the story. We already saw the groundwork laid in the prior book, with Fexler Brews mentioning that the nature of reality itself was broken and this led to the synchronization of desire and reality, where the former could actually determine the latter. I came up with some theories about how all this worked, and I won't spoil the results here. I will say that the story did end up introducing a host of new elements to the world, and Lawrence managed to expand the scope of the magic in the world in a satisfying way, at least in terms of its potential. There are major problems still, but I will touch upon that later.

Another thing is the how the presence of the Builders was built upon. I thought all of this was perfect and an incredibly interesting way to introduce new tension into the story. Even the execution was workable for me, particularly with regard to their presence in the story. I thought Lawrence brought them into the story without completely destroying the atmosphere that was already set up in the prior stories.

The Main Threat

One of the biggest problems with the story is the main threat. You can already see the problem, right? The primary villain of the story better be compelling, because if it isn't, then the story is just going to fall flat on its face. And the story does fall flat on its face as the Dead King begins to take center stage.

Unfortunately, this is tied to how the magic system is expanded. I mentioned that the magic system was massively expanded and that it brought so much potential to the story. But holy shit was the ball dropped in terms of the execution. The fact that there are other series that take place in this universe only makes this worse, as Lawrence could have kept a tighter focus in this story and indulged in the expansion in those series.

The little groundwork laid in the prior stories was perfect on its own. There was an awesome magic system that had such a profound potential and terror tied to it, and I was so excited to see where all of it would go. There were relationships to be explored. And instead of keeping the focus to these things, the magic system was expanded, the focus on the prior groundwork was lost, and then the massive expansion was squandered, as it was something you should save for a large-scale story that has the page count to cover all that potential.

The Dead King was supposed to be this great threat, but in terms of the terror that he embodied, he was nothing compared to the prior threats in the story. What is another boring, cliché corpse king compared to a sorcerer like Sageous? I'm not kidding. A man who can erase memories and twist desires to shape the paths of people around them is a pit of infinite terror, probably the most compelling and monstruous horror that I have ever read in any fiction ever. Again, I'm not kidding. I am planning on writing a story with heavy influences taken from characters like Sageous, because of the profound philosophical implications regarding the nature of identity and the horror attached to it. That was how profound the threat was in my mind.

But no. Muh zombies, I guess.

There are apparently terrifying creatures called lichkin that pose a threat so profound that people are afraid to stand in their presence. Eyeballs! Rike is scared! I don't care.

Conclusion

Overall, I was honestly let down by this book. And as I've written this review, I find that I like it less and less. I think I will give it a 3/10.

Spoilers

Assorted

I have a scattering of thoughts that I guess are worth mentioning before I get to the main part of the spoiler commentary.

I liked the killing of Jarco. This is one of those scenes that I referenced before, where we get to see Jorg be Jorg. The suggestion that Count Renar was still alive was also great. It's just too bad the scene could have been thrown into any story context. It's just an isolated short story with no plot relevance.

I also think the flashback at the beginning of the story should be mentioned. Jorg is taken and brutally assaulted by a sweaty, fat priest who has a penchant for children. This provides the background context for his hatred of the Church and it happens shortly after he had run off with the band of raiders. I wish there were more specific references to the trauma, which I guess could also be said about the "One more, Jorg" scene, but that isn't a sharp criticism.

And the aftermath, where he kills the priest in the most horrific way imaginable, explains in part how Jorg managed to climb to the head position of the raiders he was traveling with in the beginning of this trilogy.

Introducing Chella's perspective was another interesting twist, though I preferred Katharine's diary entries that were included in the second book. For Chella's perspective, I thought the interesting twist on the dichotomy of life and death was fun to think about. Basically everything about the juxtaposition was flipped on its head for Chella, as she was wholly attached to her life (death?) as a necromancer. And when we got to see Jorg from her perspective at the end of the story, that alone made all of this worth it.

But there is also a problem. Katharine's letters were included into the story in an interesting way. Basically, Jorg came across her diary entries, and he later included them in his memoir that this story ended up being. But what happened with Chella, and how was she included in the story? It just says "Chella's story." Okay. How does he know about it?

I also liked that the Custodian was included in the story. I liked how people completely misunderstood the character and the ending implied that he was just a massive dud. But the story barely even touches upon this, let alone does anything with it. I don't mean to say that he shouldn't have been a dud, but that this should have been made plot relevant in some way. Maybe some plans depended on getting him to talk, only to have that contingency blow up in Jorg's face at the last moment when he turns out to be a simple janitor.

Ending

I

The ending is probably the biggest problem that I have with this whole story.

There is probably one thing that I do like about it. I like that Jorg was not really given a redemption arc. He did not necessarily become a better person. His arc was more believable than that. And his role in the climax was basically his nasty side serving an important purpose. This is one way in which Lawrence was able to bring Jorg's character in line with the plot, so it absolutely does have to be mentioned in the wake of my previous rant about character existing "in the plot."

I also like that Jorg becomes (is replaced) by a ghost in a machine. This was a neat explanation for how the story was written, even as he dies in the end.

II

I already brought up the fact that Jorg just has things just fall into his lap over the course of the story. In the previous story, this reflected his character, as he would take risks and stick his next out, and then eventually twist things to fit his own ends. Book two handled this the best, with Jorg using the memory box to fight his battles, basically trusting that he had the plans laid out already. But the execution completely falls apart in this story.

Continually, conveniences just happen, and then the story continues upon that necessity as if Jorg planned it all along.

The scene where Jorg kills the Pope is a perfect example, and it's also another interaction that is great as a scene, but the manner in which it fits into the surrounding context is profoundly disappointing. As with so many things, the scene kind of just happens. The Pope shows up unexpectedly, she wants to meet with Jorg, and then Jorg manages to kill her and her lackey all at once. And then Jorg only benefits from this, rather than suffering the consequences.

Later, Taproot shows up. Unexpectedly. And Jorg only benefits from this, with Taproot being the greatest boon to his efforts, over even Makin and Rike and Katharine.

Sindri also just shows up out of nowhere, during Jorg's first visit to Vyene. Unexpectedly. And Jorg only benefits from this. In many ways, including ways that are not even plot relevant.

And in retrospect, Jorg crossing paths with Marco the android was also incredibly convenient. What are the odds of that? And Jorg only benefits from that as well. What else? There are probably more things worth mentioning that I haven't thought of.

III

Dropped threads. This story is chalk full of them.

I think the most disappointing of them is Jorg's father. It's also the most deliberate. I get that subversion can be appealing, and also the desire to undercut Jorg's own selfish crusades, but this just failed to capture me. I've mentioned before that subversion for its own sake is eyeball rolling to me, so that aspect would never have worked. If the idea was to undercut Jorg's selfish desires, then a more interesting thing would have been Jorg being forced to choose between killing his father and dealing with the final threat.

And even that is not my ideal. But I'll mention that later.

And what about Katharine? She is a literal potted plant in the climax. She does nothing. What was the point of having her in the story at all? Why didn't Lawrence just kill her at the end of the second book, at the very least? The confrontation with the lichkin is the only thing, and that was hardly compelling enough to satisfy me.

What about Miana? She was this oddly preternatural child, someone who managed to hurl a rock out of a hole in a castle, and this is never expanded upon. I guess her strangely mature disposition was just a quirk. Nothing.

Kai literally claims the prologue for his place. We are introduced to his abilities, presaging the expansion of the magic system, but it goes nowhere. Kai is simply the body for the Dead King, and that was all. If Lawrence had cut Kai entirely and had the Dead King occupy Rike out of nowhere, with no explanation, no one would have batted an eye.

There is also a connection between the mathemagicians and the viewing ring. I still don't understand why, nor do I understand why the mathemagicians are even there in the first place. Aren't we introduced to some Sworn who are literally able to see into the future? Who cares about mathemagicians?

IV

William is the Dead King.

I don't reject the concept in the abstract. I liked how the groundwork was laid in the discussions about William's character, about how Jorg's brother was much more headstrong and smarter than Jorg was. Given just how exceptional Jorg was, it spoke ominously about what William could have been if he had survived. And little did we know, William in death was the thing we should have feared all along.

This had so much potential. And if their father had been involved in some way, then all the better.

But it felt like everything was squandered. I already mentioned my objections to the Dead King regarding his abilities—that the sorcerers were a more terrifying concept. Ideally, I would have preferred that Olidan lived to bring the personal connection that William should have brought, but made him a sorcerer in his own right. It would be a twist on what Corion had said, about sorcerers working behind the scenes. Olidan is the exception.

More importantly, there was more connection between Jorg and his father than between Jorg and William. The fight did not have the emotional weight that I wanted it to.

But the major thing that extends beyond either the boring zombie aspect of William's powers or the lackluster emotional weight, was the execution of the climax. Even clichés like zombies have the potential to be compelling, as the most important part of any story is the execution of the concepts being used. The Dead King could have been an extremely compelling villain, just as the Night King in GOT could have, but the way the climax unfolded brought none of that.

There was not enough build up over the long term. The loss of the sorcerer threat only frustrated me more. And then the climax happened in the space of a bare few pages. Twenty? I don't know. The Dead King literally just shows up. And he's almost upon us! And he's right outside the door! And now he's walking to the dais! And it's William! The power of Will! And he's dead.

It was the Night King all over again. Except I guess this was written first.

I would have preferred hundreds of pages of bloated anime brawling over this. There needs to be stages to the fighting. Jorg needs to rise to the challenge and still lose in those early stages. This builds up the tension. And when the final confrontation happens, the reader will actually feel the potential failure encroaching. The plot twists, like the Dead King's identity, can then be spread about over the course of these stages. Chekov's characters will also have room to go off in their character defining ways, thus justifying their inclusion in the first place.

But there is only one confrontation in this conflict. People talking about their fear of the Dead King was all the threat we felt. Apparently felt. Nothing else. Perhaps I've watched too much anime, but I genuinely do not understand why people even consider ending a story so quickly as this.

V

The ending that takes place in the afterlife was also kind of cheesy. At least to me. I always find this cheesy, however, so take this with that in mind. The idea of humanity creating the afterlife is an interesting concept, but the execution is always off to me. I don't think it has ever worked. Those scenes should have been axed entirely with nothing to replace it.

The turning of a literal wheel was also a cheap way to represent the wheel that Fexler referenced. Truly, it should have remained a metaphor and kept peripheral in the way that the Builder's influences and efforts were. Axe all of it.

Jorg dies, and then just skip to the scene with Jorg as the ghost in the machine.

Conclusion

Overall, I was honestly let down by this book. And as I've written this review, I find that I like it less and less. I think I will give it a 3/10.