Book Review: "Emperor of Thorns" by Mark Lawrence

Mark Lawrence brings to a thrilling close his epic trilogy of a boy who would be king, a king who would desire an empire—and an empire on the edge of destruction…

King Jorg Ancrath is twenty now—and king of seven nations. 

His goal—revenge against his father—has not yet been realized, and the demons that haunt him have only grown stronger. Yet no matter how tortured his path, he intends to take the next step in his upward climb.

For there is only one power worth wielding…absolute power. 

Jorg would be emperor. It is a position not to be gained by the sword but rather by vote. And never in living memory has anyone secured a majority of the vote, leaving the Broken Empire long without a leader. Jorg has plans to change that—one way or the other. He’s uncovered even more of the lost technology of the land, and he won’t hesitate to use it.

But he soon finds an adversary standing in his way, a necromancer unlike any he has ever faced—a figure hated and feared even more than himself: the Dead King.

The boy who would rule all may have finally met his match... - from Amazon.com

The much awaited third, and final, book of the Broken Empire series came out this month, and as soon as I could, I started reading it. I guess in some ways I had lucked out, that I had only just started the series earlier this year, and thus did not have to wait overly long periods of time for the next installment. Mark Lawrence has done a wonderful job of telling the story of a boy, growing into a man, in a dark futuristic world that was nearly destroyed by nuclear war. Jorg has pushed on, overcoming some of his 'demons' and showing a dark side of human nature in order to get done what he wants done: becoming Emperor of the Hundred Lands. There was an afterword where Lawrence remarks about this being the final book in the series, and though I understand his thoughts on the matter, I am still a little disappointed that there more than likely will not be any more to read of Jorg Ancrath. But who knows, maybe some short story will show in an anthology ... Either way, Thank you Mr. Lawrence for three great stories!