• Prince of Thorns: Broken Empire 1

  • By: Mark Lawrence
  • Narrated by: Joe Jameson
  • Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (547 ratings)

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Prince of Thorns: Broken Empire 1  By  cover art

Prince of Thorns: Broken Empire 1

By: Mark Lawrence
Narrated by: Joe Jameson
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Publisher's summary

Prince of Thorns is the first volume in a powerful new epic fantasy trilogy, original, absorbing and challenging. Before the thorns taught me their sharp lessons and bled weakness from me I had but one brother, and I loved him well. But those days are gone and what is left of them lies in my mother's tomb. Now I have many brothers, quick with knife and sword, and as evil as you please. We ride this broken empire and loot its corpse. They say these are violent times, the end of days when the dead roam and monsters haunt the night.

All that's true enough, but there's something worse out there, in the dark. Much worse. From being a privileged royal child, raised by a loving mother, Jorg Ancrath has become the Prince of Thorns, a charming, immoral boy leading a grim band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities. The world is in chaos: violence is rife, nightmares everywhere. Jorg has the ability to master the living and the dead, but there is still one thing that puts a chill in him. Returning to his father's castle Jorg must confront horrors from his childhood and carve him a future with all hands turned against him. Mark Lawrence's debut novel tells a tale of blood and treachery, magic and brotherhood and paints a compelling and brutal, and sometimes beautiful, picture of an exceptional boy on his journey toward manhood and the throne.

©2012 Mark Lawrence (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Dark and relentless, Prince of Thorns will pull you under and drown you in story. A two in the morning page turner. Jaw-dropping." (Robin Hobb)
"This is a lean, cold knife-thrust of a novel, a revenge fantasy anchored on the compelling voice and savage purpose of its titular Prince. There is never a safe moment in Lawrence’s debut." (Robert Redick, author of The Red-Wolf Conspiracy)
" Prince of Thorns got hold of me from page one and didn’t let go until I finished it on my second reading session on the second day. There’s humour here, gut-wrenching realism, high adventure, something that might be magic in the story, and certainly is in the telling of it. It was almost as if the shade of David Gemmell had returned, somewhat nastier for the experience. Thoroughly recommended. Thanks Mr Lawrence." (Neal Asher)

What listeners say about Prince of Thorns: Broken Empire 1

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Dark, violent, sarcastic and unapologetic about it

Any additional comments?

Prince Jorg was faced with the murder of his mother and brother and it transformed him and his world view. He is not a “BATMAN” out to save the world, but just one more “BAD MAN” living in it but not giving in to it. Equipped with his own unique ultra-morals he makes his merry way and to hell with those living or dead who cross him.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

Captivating story with an all out brilliant storyteller! I would highly recommend this book to any and all that enjoy the fantasy /medieval genre.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Humerous kid anti-hero

Young prince travels with a gang of cutthroat mercenaries raping and pillaging through a war-torn world divided into a hundred tiny kingdoms all run by kings whose brutality is only surpassed by their cruelty and greed. So our hero is not really a likeable fellow, he is a little evil vengeful brat to be quite honest. But he is also at times a quite funny and not to mention a clever fellow. That and the fact that we are early on introduced to the event that made him such a monster helps us understand him somewhat, combined with the fact that everyone else seems like such complete bastards and we end up cheering for him anyway.
He is clearly traumatized, ensorcelled even, but he keep going. Brutally so. Now there isn’t really that much violence in this novel. Oh, they speak of violence all the time as they threaten each other or reminisce, but it is more a book about trauma and vengeful thoughts than and a true action novel. It is dark though, there is no hiding that. Dark and at times quite humorous:

“Most men have at least one redeeming feature. Finding one for Brother Rike requires a stretch. Is 'big' a redeeming feature?”

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story

Loved it, narration fantastic it came alive and I could picture the whole thing unfolding

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Gritty and Witty!

Gritty and Witty.... An excellent story, with some interesting twists... Looking forward to hearing the series...

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excepcional interpretación

Joe Jameson da a Jorg la voz que ha resonado en mi cabeza desde el día en que tomé este libro por primera vez.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Even though I have read this haunting, gory, gripping story a few times, the narration and the voices for each character made the book seem like a movie in my mind. Very easy to imagine the scenes, between the excellent written content and the flowing strong voices of the narrator. Along with being on of my favorite books, Joe Jameson is now one of my favorite narrators.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great series

Interesting main character and great narrator. Story is dark and the world has an interesting history.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Delightful story. ⭐

Craftily written and flawlessly narrated take on a story I imagined to be far darker, but again- found to be perfect in every sense of the word, with awesome world building and endearing, memorable characters. The storyline carried with it a surprising twist about halfway through and I can't wait to listen to the sequels to find out what happens. Money and recreation time well spent! - only one concern: and that was some of the gratituitous and unnecessary depictions of violence towards animals, never goes down well and for that it definitely needs to lose a star or two. 3.5 stars: ***/*.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A refreshing points of view

Highly recommended to however enjoys a dark protagonist, grim tale and unique setting.
The book sparks discussion on morality, choice and will, especially at the end. The setting is pretty interesting, not overrated and with its own spin on magic and technology, load of hints to keep you guessing.
The MC is consistent and has a charming inner monologue. I feared it might become repetitive but was wrong.

It's refreshing because the MC is evil, no redeeming value, just ambition, cruelty and a supreme will and couldn't get enough of him.
After reading too many white knight protagonist, finally somebody who sees the world from the usually opposite point of view.
A villain amongst villains.

Narrator is on top, balancing perfectly between sarcasm and depth. I feel the voice is perfect for the Prince, since it carries so much arrogance and recklessness that MAKES the character.

Great read, will for sure keep on reading more.

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