THE BROKEN EMPIRE TRILOGY: by, Mark Lawrence

CONSISTS OF:

~ The Prince of Thorns; (9.1/10)

~ The King of Thorns; (9.5/10)

~ The Emperor of Thorns; (9.5/10)


(MY SYNOPSIS)

This series takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth, in which, "The Day of a Thousand Suns" nearly wiped out all life. Eventually, areas were inhabitable once more, and the Humans who survived the carnage had reverted back to a "Medieval-esque" way of living. Some Humans(Such as the Ancraths, the Vyenne, etc...) live in the destroyed buildings of what was once ours, or as they call us, "the Builders".

This series is told from the point of view of one Jorg Ancrath. When we first meet him, he is a sociopath, with extreme homicidal tendencies, and a seeming flair for the theatrics. He is, by far, one of the most unlikable characters. However, as we delve deeper and deeper into his background, you understand what he really is.

When he was nine, he witnessed the brutal murders of his mother, and younger brother, William. He had been unable to do anything, as one of the bodyguards had thrown him into the bushes, in the hopes that he would survive. The bushes, were hook-thorn bushes(a mutated type of brair bushes). The thorns hooked into him, and, as Jorg struggled to try and save his family, his skin was torn apart.

Yeah... that is his background. I look at Jorg, and I see a kid, who is lashing out at the cruel world that made him. He is the living embodiment of the fact that how a person is nurtured in their youth, will have immense effects on them when they are older. Now, that doesn't excuse his horrifying deeds, but it helps you to understand him. Not empathize him, but understand him.

Okay, I guess what I liked most about the books are Jorg's progression through them. He starts of the first book as an extremely cold, cruel, and maniacal person. He will rape who wants, kill what he wants, and take what he wants, with no thoughts as to whom he is hurting. However, in the second book, you notice a quite profound effect on him; he is different. Jorg is still cruel, and ruthless, but he starts to show his feelings. There is a beautiful scene, where he is being haunted by the ghosts of people he killed, and as they are screaming at him how it was 'his fault', he is shouting back, "I didn't know", but he says in his own head, "I did know. I just didn't care back then".

His progression gets even better in the third story, where, we see him still trying to convince us he is a hardhearted bastard, yet, he keeps showing conflicted emotions for the people he is hurting. And then, my favorite scene is when he shows, for the first time in his life, the unmatched love a human being can have for someone, I won't spoil it, it's a really beautiful scene that shows how far his character has come.

Also, Mark Lawrence deserves kudos and endless praises for what he pulled off. The hardest thing you could possibly try, and by far the riskiest, is to make a character as dislikable as Jorg starts; and yet... somehow, with the unholy combination of his writing, and the charisma he gives Jorg, along with the perfect combination of twists and turns, and things you never saw coming, yet, when you look back, make sense. I don't think anyone could've pulled it off any better, nor, as successfully as he had. So, as an aspiring author, my hat is off to you!

All-in-all, the Broken Empire is probably one of my favorite series of all-time, I even give it a better rating than Game of Thrones, just because of the pure loyalty that the author shows to the story, the character, and the consistency that follows each book.

I cannot recommend this series enough! It is truly, criminally underrated! I highly encourage you to pick up the books and read them. The only one that gave me a hard time was the first book, just because I had to get adjusted, yet, even that one I blew through in a couple of days!


Anyway, I hope that this entry has helped you guys, I know that this is pretty much just a rewrite of my previous entry, but I felt my 362 Word one didn't justify why I liked the book. So, I hope you guys will pick this up, and please, help support Mark Lawrence, who deserves all the praise he gets and more!