Prince of Thorns

By: Mark Lawrence

Narrated by: James Clamp

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Author Mark Lawrence has won over audiences everywhere with Prince of Thorns, his exciting debut novel.

Nine-year-old Prince Jorg is forced to watch as his mother and brother are slaughtered. Fleeing the palace, Jorg joins a bloodthirsty band of thugs. But he’s determined to take back what’s rightfully his, so he returns to the castle a few years later - unaware of the dark and powerful magic that awaits.

©2011 Bobalinga, Ltd. (P)2012 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

“Vivid … full of wonder. This book is brilliant.” ( Galaxy Book Reviews)

Compelling anti-hero Jorg Ancrath

I was completely absorbed in this book, and listened straight through in almost one weekend. It is an excellent start to the trilogy and confirmed my admiration for Mark Lawrence as a great fantasy writer. The plot is summarised above so will just note that it is fast moving, exciting and contains some unexpected strategies to solve problems. It is written in part with flashback chapters, but not so often as to disrupt the flow.

My greatest pleasure in this book came from the superbly created main character, Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath, and written from his first person point of view throughout. He wasn't a born psychopath, but could be mistaken for one. Circumstances have taught him survival is all, decisive fast action is paramount, whatever it takes to succeed. Compromise is never a consideration.

Without the hatred and single minded pursuit of revenge against the whole world, there would be no substance to Jorg. His childhood experience directs every aspect of his life, future plans and outlook. We are reminded of this occasionally with metaphorical reference to hooks or thorns .

Compelling reading as long as you can accept the cruel violence as part of Jorg and his place within the Broken Empire. Jorg's road brothers, very well written and individualised by the narrator, so each was easily visualised. Other unusual creatures, maybe semi human, were introduced providing speculation on their origin and how they may affect the future.

Some gloriously unbelievable deus ex machina moments - a fortuitous kick from a horse ? Please. But entirely acceptable because this is exactly that kind of book and we enjoy them with quiet smile as they leave our anti-hero, more or less in one piece, to carry on.

The audible narrator, James Clamp, was excellent. He found the perfect voice for Jorg and differentiated all the other characters well. Very happy he narrates the next book in the series King of Thorns and I plan to begin listening straight away.

Overall, quite enthralling

The story was good, what it entails is up to you to discover. I will say that the pauses in the narrator’s work were a little distracting, they pulled you out of the narrative at times. All aside though I’d recommend both the written book and the audiobook.

good start to series

a unique take on a coming-of-age story. I really enjoyed watching the characters grow not only individually but as a group. I am really looking forward to the other books in the series.

Lawrence breathes depth, fire, hate, will and stor

Ok, you're considering this purchase. If you Google'd the book, you'll see the large number of positive reviews and the collection of very negative ones. There's a reason for it. The star of our drama isn't one that you are to like. However, he is one that you know. He's inside everyone. The voice that tells you to burn it down. And then there's the story.

Absorb the beginning, question the why, ride the waves the Lawrence creates. The beautiful thing about the book is the lack of physical descriptions that Lawrence gives. He lets you in the story but only just, allowing you to paint a considerable amount of it inside your head. It works.

The story is a fantastic edition to your library with the other epic fantasies because of its depth and dissimilarities.

Narration is spot on. Just the right amount of character voice changes, the perfect amount of spite. You can tell Clamp enjoyed his roles.

Take the jump. Enjoy the fall. It's a long way down and very much worth it.

Amazing Dark Tale

Jorg is a depraved character and is amazing as the point of view for this story. I read The Red Queens War before this and it is a major shift from the lighthearted character Jalan to Jorge, but both are fascinating and deep characters.

Not for everyone, but easily one of my favs...

Would you listen to Prince of Thorns again? Why?

I have listened/read this book twice. The whispersync is awesome and IMO the only way to experience this book. James Clamp's performance totally elevates the experience of Prince of Thorns. As I read the reviews it is no surprise that there are people that did not enjoy this book as it is beyond dark and twisted. It just isn't for everyone and a lot of people won't be able to stomach a story through a sociopath's POV. But for me, I was fascinated by Jorg and wanted to see what he was capable of next. I enjoyed the writing style of the author and couldn't put this book down. I think people will believe they are comfortable with dark and gritty fantasy but this book definitely takes it to another level and it will challenge those claims. My advice would be to read the sample chapters available on Amazon. I think you will get a pretty good indication of the tone of this book. If you enjoy the sample, chances are you are going to love this book as I do.

Excellent Adult Fantasy

So good. brutal at times. but gosh was it amazing.
so good. Well worth reading. Give it a try.

Great story, narration makes it hard to follow

What didn’t you like about James Clamp’s performance?

When the book first started playing, I thought that there was something wrong with my ipod. It literally sounded like a 6 year old trying to read. The pauses were so long that I was thinking y player was skipping or that the download was corrupted. The performance did get better by about chapter 7, but still throughout the book, there were times that the transitions were lacking between characters or story lines that got very confusing. There was nothing about the performance that really brought you into the story.

Any additional comments?

If I had the time in my life, I would have much rather read this story myself.

fantastic read.

You couldn't have picked a better reader for this incredible story. Absolutely loved this book and have already recommended it to several people.

Hero or Villain?

I really enjoyed this book. The protagonist is flawed, evil, and funny. He's not all bad though. He's one of the best anti-heroes I've seen. He may just be a villain.

Aside from an awesome main character, the story is well-paced and interesting. I was never bored, and I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

The weak point of this story is it's side characters. Aside from maybe one or two, the side characters are all very one-dimensional.

The performance was well-done. The narrator had a pleasant voice, and the voices were done well enough to tell the difference between characters by their voices.