Book Review: "King of Thorns" by Mark Lawrence

In Book One of the Broken Empire, Mark Lawrence brought to life the “morbidly gripping”* (Publishers Weekly) story of a boy in search of power and vengeance. Now, in King of Thorns, that boy’s journey into manhood takes him to the dark depths waiting within his soul…
The boy who would be King has gained the throne... 

Prince Honorious Jorg Ancrath vowed when he was nine to avenge his slaughtered mother and brother—and punish his father for not doing so. When he was fifteen, he began to fulfill that vow. Now he is eighteen—and he must hold on by strength of arms to what he took by torture and treachery. 

King Jorg is a man haunted: by the ghost of a young boy, by a mysterious copper box, by his desire for the woman who rides with his enemy. Plagued by nightmares of the atrocities he committed, and of the atrocities committed against him when he was a child, he is filled with rage. And even as his need for revenge continues to consume him, twenty thousand men march toward the gates of his castle. His enemy is far stronger than him. Jorg knows that he cannot win a fair fight. 

But he has found, in a chamber hidden beneath the castle, ancient and long-lost artifacts. Some might call them magic. Jorg is not certain—all he knows is that the secrets they hold can be put to terrible use in the coming battle... - from Amazon.com

This is the second book in The Broken Empire series, and continues the story of Jorg. It is now four years later than the first book, and finds Jorg getting married. On his actual wedding day, he is also under attack from the Prince of Arrow. Most of the book covers events that happened four years prior, where the first book left off. These events not only build a more defined character in Jorg, but many events that lead up to the current time.

I enjoyed reading this book a bit more than the first one, I think because things were explained in additional detail. Events take place in a post-apocalyptic world, with portions of what I consider our technological age (and a bit further than us) that still exist and can be used. Lawrence has added in what I consider to be mutations, in that "magic" can be used. Otherwise, it is a return to the medieval times as far as armor and weapons. Jorg is a character I have enjoyed learning of, through the past events of his life that made him the ruthless and bloody leader he is. Looking forward to the next installment in the series!