Book Review: King of Thorns

Following up on Prince of Thorns, Mark Lawrence continues the story of Jorg, now king of his own land, and heir to another.

The story line in this book is split between the months following his taking the crown, and 4 years later as his little kingdom is beset by a 6 nation strong army lead by the best man to be emperor. In the same way that Jorg is not a good man, Orrin is his opposite. Just as driven, just as determined, but beloved by the people, and the best hope of the broken empire. Interspersed throughout are the pages of a diary from another character, and memories locked away by Jorg in a magical box. Because of this, I wouldn't recommend reading it while tired, it can be a little confusing switching back and forth.

The difference in tone of the book from the first one is interesting. While Prince of Thorns was a very personel level of evil and brutality, the weight of the crown makes King of Thorns a more mature book, suitable for Jorg's more mature responsibilities. He's still surrounded by his brothers from the first book (at least the ones that survived), as well as new followers, advisors, and a wife! While she isn't the love of his life, she does seem to be a match for him. I don't want to give the impression that Jorg has in some way been redeemed. he is still the evil monster he was, he's now just less selfish about it. Sort of.

King of Thorns also reveals much more of the world of the broken empire, and every tidbit is wonderful fodder for a D&D game. As I mentioned in my review of the previous book, the setting is a post apocalyptic europe. Castles are built out of parking garages and skyscrapers, and the people from before the end of the world were known as "The Builders". Fun little bits of the modern and near future world show up, like guns, and satellite imagery, and every time they do, you pause for a minute and have to reset your brain to remember that this isn't your typical fantasy world.

Book Review: Prince of Thorns

Young Prince Jorg is the heir to one of the hundred thrones of the broken empire, and he is a monster. He looks like a pretty normal 14 year old boy, but a page in, and you will have no doubt that he is a monster. There’s a pretty good reason why he’s a monster, but never doubt that he is a monster. To call him a hero is a farce. To call him an anti-hero isn't even accurate. He is the protagonist of the story. Jorg himself isn’t concerned with such titles, and focuses only on whether he is victorious or not.

This is a dark book, full of evil deeds, and it makes no apology for it. It isn't "grim-dark" like 40k. It isn't played for laughs.

For all that, Jorg does spend an awful lot of time wondering about his motivations. He has no desire to be controlled, to be used, or to be played like a pawn, and when he finds himself playing such a game, he changes the rules.

There aren’t very many characters to talk about. Since the book is written from a first person perspective, and the narrator is a psychopath, the focus is solely on Jorg, and there were a few points where I had to wonder how reliable a narrator he was.

Initially, the setting was a little odd. It didn’t have the usual fantasy tropes, and included some real world names and items, especially books. Initially I thought that it might be an alternate reality, but more and more it became clear that the story is set in a post-apocalyptic Europe. I appreciated how the author used that familiarity, and twisted it to help craft the story.

Like a more typical fantasy novel, there are monsters and magic, but like the setting itself, they take interesting turns from the expected.

At the start I did not expect to enjoy this book... but I did, and I read it in 2 sittings, and then promptly ordered the sequel.

Bits and Bobs XIII

A lot of classic fairy tales have anthropomorphic characters, something that doesn't really show up in D&D very often. The Disoriented Ranger came up with a simple 2d10 chart to roll up anthropomorphic PCs. My first roll created a large serene rabbit, neutral in alignment. I rolled up Harvey!

Rendered Press offered up a table of 20 compete meal choices from soup to coffee.

Back in July, Gorgonmilk apparently started up a community project to write up a d30 chart of unusual gems found in the eye sockets of skeletons. Somehow, I completely missed it until I saw a post over a Rendered Press with some really interesting gems for the project.

For those of us who got in on the Reaper Bones Kickstarter, and are feeling a little overwhelmed with around 250+ minis sitting around unpainted, there are solutions. Caffineforge is hosting a Monday Miniature challenge. This past week the mini of choice was the mimic. Next week, it's the Eyebeast! *cough*beholder*cough* One mini a week isn't so tough... right?

I've been a big fan of hamsters for a while now, and when Courtney Campbell put out a call for one of his posts on the Ecology of the Spelljammer Giant Space Hamster, I was there, and I wasn't alone.

1,000th Post!

Can you believe it? I'm not sure I can... I mean, one thousand posts in just over four years?!?

Rather than reminisce about my favorite posts, or the weirdness of the most popular posts I'm going to keep it simple. In celebration of this milestone, I'm going to give away a $10 gift certificate to DriveThruRPG.

How to win? Tell me which post of mine is your favorite. One random comment will win the certificate!

30 Day Challenge: Day 29 & 30

Ok, it's time to wrap this up. I've got other things I want to blog about.

29 - What number on a d20 do I always seem to roll?

Seriously?

By Gaxgy's beard I don't even know where to begin with this question, so I'm not going to.

30 - The best DM I've had?

This one is tough, but my friend Yann I think has been the best I've played with. He has an intuitive grasp of game design, is perfectly willing to ham it up, and an infectious enthusiasm. The only thing that doesn't make him the perfect DM is his severe gamer add.

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Thus ends the 30 Day Challenge...

Some of the questions were ok, most were pretty dull. I hope that my tweaking them around, giving new monsters and spells helped make them a little more interesting.

30 Day Challenge: Day 28 Character I'll never play again

There have been a number of one shot characters I'll never play again, or at least I probably won't... It's not like I'd turn down the chance to play them again. Even the dead ones.

One I probably will never bring to the table is Graywolf the Archmage, my 23rd level Rules Cyclopedia magic-user from when I was 11-13 years old.

Here are some pics from his character record book.

 

30 Day Challenge: Day 27: A Character I want to play in the future

I feel like I already answered this back on day 8+9.

Realistically, I would like to play pretty much any character in the future. I'm not that picky.

However, there is one character I'd like to get some table time with. Originally he was rolled up for a joust, and he won his first match, but the game was put on hold indefinitely.

Sir Corbus Rassent is a thug of a knight. He goes around from joust to joust winning often, and stealing/robbing when the opportunity presents itself.

Human, Neutral, Fighter 2

Str: 14
Int: 8
Wis: 7
Dex: 16
Con: 10
Cha: 13

HP: 11

Armor: Mail
Shield: Reinforced Round
Light Warhorse

Squire:
Simon Martel, T1 w/ Short sword
5 Men @ arms w/ clubs (Artus, Blaise, Gilles, Jean, and René)

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Image Source: Milvina