Last year I reviewed the first two volumes of Impossible Times, a contemporary urban
fantasy series by Mark Lawrence: One Word Kill (24 August) and Limited Wish (7 December). These
impressed me considerably, so I decided to explore some of his other work,
starting with Prince of Thorns, the
first of The Broken Empire trilogy
published 2012-2014. This is a more
conventional fantasy set in the usual medieval-like world plus some magic (it
gradually becomes clear that the world is our own in a far, post-apocalyptic,
future). The plot features Prince Jorg Ancrath, the heir to the throne of one
of the states which make up this land. At the start of the story he is just 13
years old but leading a group of bandits on a trail of death and destruction,
part of his long-term plan to take revenge on the ruler of a neighbouring state
who was responsible for the deaths of his mother and younger brother. Jorg is a
phenomenal fighter and leader of men, and over the next two years achieves his
ambition in dramatic style. The story is
well-written enough for me to finish it, but it did not fully engage me as much
as Lawrence's other work as it is relentlessly dark and brutal, and despite
being narrated in the first person by Jorg, he is too murderous a character for
me to empathise with.
On to the sequel, King of Thorns. I was impressed by the
high quality of writing in the first volume but I found it difficult to relate
to the ruthless brutality of the hero. Fewer reservations with the sequel, as Jorg
has grown up and matured into a more reasonable person (relatively!). The
action begins four years after the first volume, although a lot of the chapters
jump back four years to the immediate aftermath of Jorg's elevation to kingship
after a ferocious campaign. Fortunately the throwback chapters are signalled in
the heading. However, understanding the sequence of events is made harder by
the inclusion of many pages from the diary of one of the other characters
(which is one way of working in a different viewpoint) plus some magical dreams
which seem to concern events which might happen. At any rate, by the end of
this volume Jorg has overcome colossal odds to further advance his ambition, by
a mixture of forward planning, the recruitment of key allies, and his usual
ruthless ferocity; a single-minded determination which compels a certain reluctant
admiration.
The finale of The Broken
Empire trilogy is (inevitably) Emperor
of Thorns, which continues the author's practice of switching between
different timelines; one thread picks up soon after the conclusion of the
previous volume, the other looks back five years to the key events which have
shaped Jorg's life. This volume also features a third thread running in
parallel with the main one: Chella's story, giving the viewpoint of one of
Jorg's enemies, a necromancer. Jorg's violent
adventures continue as he aims to achieve the height of his ambition and
reunite the broken empire – under his leadership, of course.
All credit to the author for getting his hero into
impossible situations from which his bloody-minded ingenuity extracts him –
most of the time. At the cost of a minor spoiler, an illustration of how Jorg manages
this is given in an altercation he has with a massively muscled blacksmith. He
challenges the man to a competition, and gives him a free choice of contest. The
blacksmith chooses lifting his massive anvil over his head, something which
Jorg could never manage, and instantly agrees that there would be no rules.
Jorg waits until the man has the anvil over his head, then picks up a hammer
and brains him – no rules, right?
These books are packed full of appealing writing. To pick just
one example:
The road led like a
causeway through a sea of flooded pasture, the waters broken only by
half-drowned hedgerows. Hours later, the rain failed and the sky cracked open
along a bright fault line. The still waters all around became mirrors, every
lone tree reflected, bare fingers reaching below as well as above. So much of
the world is about surfaces, the eye deceived, with the truth in the unknown
and unknowable depths beneath.
Lawrence's writing strongly reminds me of Michael J
Sullivan's Riyria Chronicles. We are
fortunate to be able to enjoy two such excellent fantasy writers at this time,
both developing their imagined worlds over many volumes. The main point of
difference between the authors (at least, as far as I can see) is that Sullivan
writes in the third person - no choice, really, given that he has two heroes -
so there is an impersonal narrator filling in the gaps between the speech.
Lawrence writes in the first person, his hero (or occasionally other
characters) providing the narration, which I think encourages greater
involvement with the character.
One word of warning: the trilogy runs to nearly 1,600 pages,
requiring the commitment of a substantial chunk of time to read (I hate to
think how long an audio version might take).
