Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for the Broken Empire series starting with Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence starting February 1, 2022.

Woop woop! :D

So excited about this!!

Been wanting to reread this for awhile

oooo im ready for this :3

I read the first one and was intrigued by the setting, etc., but couldn't do much grimdark at the time. I'm hoping I can reread the first one with yall and continue the series !

Can't wait!!!

Going to try to squeeze this in. Been on my tbr forever.

Fantasy February is shaping up rather nicely. I'm in.

Lurking on my TBR. I’m in!

I'll be a couple of weeks late to this, got quite a busy week this week, so might not manage much reading and also still in the middle of another BR..

I'll be a couple of days late myself. Just finishing up my current audiobook then I'll start this one.

I'll be playing catchup on this too. I tried to shoe-horn it in and have failed.

Brother York... I am up to Ch. 7 and I do not like him or his gang one bit...

Up to Ch. 10. I understand what is driving (view spoiler)[ Prince Your, but I am having a very hard time accepting what he did in those opening chapters... The whole village had one gold ring! And they slaughtered, raped and burned all of them for just that lute... It doesn't make any sense... (hide spoiler)]

Still waiting on my library check out.. should be any day now.

Up to Ch. 15... So, this whole thing is happening on (view spoiler)[ our Earth! I know he is reading Plutarch, just mentioned the roads the Romans built, and now the text he took from his father's library... This is about our time weapons and the language is very research-like... Hmmmm... So, my guess is something has happened, some type of disaster, and the world has digressed back to medieval times...

I strongly dislike the Mage, and I really wish York had cut off his head! He keeps his murderous urges with him, but not with regular folks? Come on, at least take care of the real threats!

I liked how he won against his father's knight though:) (hide spoiler)]

I'm like 40 pages in so far today... I have to say... I think this will be my first true GrimDark? Because oh boy. Those beginnings ^^;

(view spoiler)[There is just so much rape, pillage and destruction. Even though not much is said it's disturbing enough. And I'm trying to narrow in on names and our main heroes....I guess anti-heroes?? Just like you Choko...can't say I like any of them... like at all... I know that's the point...but....

So who is this main boyo. There are a few flashbacks with his near death experience. And now maybe in the present he's 15/16, right?

What really had me going was how he talked to the priest. Like what the hell?! Confessing your devilish dreams like that. I know priests can't really react or give advice in any way. It's part of the confession. But I'd box that boy's ears. Like hell. You're a kid. If he's trying to give Daredevil vibes it's not working XP Just got a lot of teenage angst if you know what I mean? (hide spoiler)]

Choko wrote: "Up to Ch. 10. I understand what is driving [spoilers removed]"

I totalllllly agree Choko. It's unforgivable...

Teenage vibes all the way! You just want to smack him! Did you get to meet his tutor yet? I love that guy, the first character I actually like, and maybe a little the Nubian... So, since it is a grim-dark I don't expect them to survive... Just goes with the genre, you get to like someone and boom, the author takes them away from you. But I hope not...

Choko wrote: "Teenage vibes all the way! You just want to smack him! Did you get to meet his tutor yet? I love that guy, the first character I actually like, and maybe a little the Nubian... So, since it is a gr..."

Right? Ugh. This kid XD And don't tell me he can get away with all of this whiny stuff because he's a (view spoiler)[Prince (hide spoiler)]

What's his tutor's name? I don't think I've met him yet? I'm around Chapter 8. I'll have to let you know what I think!

Right right. I guess GrimDark would do a lot of character deaths and the like. We shall see. So far I'd be fairly happy if this lot finally got a taste of karma. lol

Haha! I am guessing, but just going by the way the genre goes, that these "bad guys" are probably pretty good if compared to the rest of the bad guys in the story:)))

Up to Ch 34... (view spoiler)[ They just had an encounter with a computer, which last had been active 1100 years ago... And they had no idea it was a computer. So, this is starting to shape as a speculated earlier. This is our Earth, and some event, called "The Light of the 1000 Suns"made things the way they are now. By this description I am thinking nuclear war. Also supported by the disfigured humans and weirdos...

The scene with the Necromancer/Vampire lady was pretty gruesome, and I felt terrible for the kid that was killed and his brother :(((

I have no idea where we are going with the story, which is a good thing:) (hide spoiler)]

I finished, but I will wait for you guys to chat...

Wow, Choko! Zoomed through that!! Awesome. I can't wait to start, got my book from the library yesterday. I'm in the middle of another BR so I'll be a bit late too...but I'll be here soon

Started today. Chapter 1

(view spoiler)[
Guess we are starting off with a bloody slaughter, huh?? Not holding back any punches when it comes to the intro scene of MC and the Gang!!

"Water! Water!’ It’s always water with the dying. Strange, it’s killing that gives me a thirst." - Someone's bloodthirsty!

All that slaughter and rape for a gold ring??

(hide spoiler)]"

Chapter 2 : So "Off with his head" is the vibe Jorg is on. I think he will make a spectacular king with the way he is going.. Don't know if he will have enough people to rule though!

(view spoiler)[
Gemt obviously said the wrong thing and gets his head chopped off. We are off to a bloody start and Jorg is getting more murderous with every page. I am waiting to see what made this 13-year-old the way he is. (hide spoiler)]

Choko wrote: "I finished, but I will wait for you guys to chat..."

You speedster!! O.O lol. But in all honesty it is easy to breeze through the chapters. I was curious. Is this meant to be YA? Or no?

@Fazila ~ very much agree with you on those early chapters >_<

Fazila, Ch. 1, right??!! It is just such a waste...

Ch. 2 I think he is 14 or 15 at this time... I think...

Katie K, I don't think it is YA. The main character happens to be very young, but the story isn't at all, at least in my opinion...

Thanks Choko! Yeah, maybe it's just the age of the MC that's throwing me.

This is my third read of this series (second with this group) and it feels like a comfort read, if grim, dark & ugly can be comfort food. It isn’t as epic in scope and scale as some other series out there but what to say? I love it and always shall…and this guy summarises it better than me xcuz I would produce a wall of text to say it half as well:
https://youtu.be/rPrnaYJZB_c

Katie wrote: "Thanks Choko! Yeah, maybe it's just the age of the MC that's throwing me."

@Katie
Ch 9 (view spoiler)[


I want to hug flashback Jorg and take it all away : ((
And when you compare his scenes with Lundist to that chilling confession scene with Gomst in Ch 6. And you find you can’t hate him, despite everything he has done and whatever he is going to do. Jorg needed more Lundist in his life. And Makin….

It's difficutl to read that this all happened to him so early... (hide spoiler)]

And Choko, how are you liking the Nuban? One of my fave secondary chars EVAARR and I’m trying to find this superold pencil sketch of the Nuban that I saw (prolly in 2014) and never forgot…he was kneeling and the bolt was facing right atcha and just the detail on the crossbow alone…aaaaaah, I can’t find it right now….but aaaah I shan’t give up!!! I’ll link it when I find it…

In the meanwhile, here is a placeholder:
(view spoiler)[
Whattanentrance!!! (hide spoiler)]

In my last FBR read I commented on plot and scenes and chars. I need to find that thread and see if I differ much in the kinda things I’m feeling/observing but I don’t wanna do that until I finish my reread or the data will be pre-corrupted.
This reread I’ll try to comment on technique (because I am listening to some lectures and that’s what I am training myself to observe)…when the text is good you don’t notice technique as technique you just get lost in the story but I’m gonna try to keep myself on track here.
Thru chapter 10…
MC: I love the first person choice of narrator (it wouldn’t have worked half as well with any other choice) and I ADORE this arrogant, evil little squit…so young and so old, so brutal and so tender (first time readers: this part will come) at the same time + such lightning mercurial changes. I love how he observes EVERYTHING, how he’s two steps ahead of everyone all the time and how he uses every DAMN thing. Most of all, I love how he thinks. I could listen to Mark as Jorg talk about anything FOREVER)…

Ch 1
I just rebooted the Malazan Book of the Fallen and to my surprise (I never noticed this before) both this series and GoTM open with a strong architectural visual. Really made me smile.

GoTM: “The stains of rust seemed to map blood seas on the black, pocked surface of Mock’s Vane. A century old, it squatted on the point of an old pike that had been bolted to the outer top of the Hold’s wall.”
PoT: “Ravens! Always the ravens. They settled on the gables of the church even before the injured became the dead.”

@ CHOKO:

Chapter 3
Yeah, that scene on the Lich Road where (view spoiler)[ Jorg is reading Plutarch in the rain while the rest of the much older crew are jeering at Gomst in the cage (hide spoiler)] is one of my favourites in this book.

Fazila wrote: "Started today. Chapter 1

Guess we are starting off with a bloody slaughter, huh?? "

@Fazila, hi...I notice we both observed the opening lines :D
Ah basically, yep!!! But I’m liking the short, snappy chapters and how very early the tone is set with the shock & awe opening. I found this series fairly early in my SFF reading life and am glad for it. Up until then I’d only read LoTR, Memory Sorrow & Thorn, and the first Farseer trilogy and they’re all…gentle paced and slooooow. This crisp, crackling giddap n go…it was the first time I’d experienced fantasy could ALSO be like this…I had not yet found George Martin.

I love how Lawrence keeps the surprises constantly coming in the first 1/3 of the story. The first time I read the last 3 grafs of chapter 1 I felt like I’d been walloped in the gut AND I never forgot that feeling) + alternates questions that arise in the reader’s mind (why is a member of the Imperial Guard riding with brigands, how’s a 13 year old get in charge of such a rough crew, wtF happened to this kid?) with answers without it ever feeling infodump-y…
For example, Olidan is set up in 3 grafs (2 at the end of Ch 5 and the last graf of Ch 6) and those 3 paragraphs loom so large (view spoiler)[ even tho he doesn’t even appear until almost halfway thru the book (Ch 20) and has very little page time…whatta b@stard... (hide spoiler)]

I'm trying to figure out how he does that!!!!

I’m not sure I remember this plot detail…I tend to mix up and forget a lotta things in books as time passes tho this series, I guess, less than most…
So end of Ch 4 : (view spoiler)[ I’m guessing he has a certain portion of his memory lost or blocked/bound by magic? (hide spoiler)]

And there’s also end of Ch 10 (view spoiler)[ a different sort of enchantment (the hook between his eyes) that is leading him away from Renar (the thing that pulls and he pushes back against cuz he’s just bullheaded)…I guess that char is yet to be introduced? (hide spoiler)] God, the number of ways in which this kid is broken and scarred :(

Laura Tenfingers wrote: "Wow, Choko! Zoomed through that!! Awesome. I can't wait to start, got my book from the library yesterday. I'm in the middle of another BR so I'll be a bit late too...but I'll be here soon"

Chris wrote: "I'll be a couple of days late myself. Just finishing up my current audiobook then I'll start this one."

Beena wrote: "I'll be a couple of weeks late to this, got quite a busy week this week, so might not manage much reading and also still in the middle of another BR.."

Choko wrote: "I finished, but I will wait for you guys to chat..."

Oh wow Choc. Well, hehe...I too read much of the night and now actually I am thru CH 25 ;D

And hello @Victor…been ages!

Re Post 17 again:

Yeap Choc I actually play a game with myself every time I reread this series to spot how soon I can spot the first clue

FIRST TIMERS CAREFUL!! THIS IS ENDBOOK SPOILS
(view spoiler)[ of this being our world (and actually a dystopian not a medieval), he actually comes right out and says it somewhere mid-book or rather the scene where he's planning how to take Gelleth and reads about plastic and rosiosis (heh, whatta bookstand ;P ) but every time I reread this series I spot clues (very very cunning and slight and small) earlier and earlier in the text... :D (hide spoiler)]

First off, Zaar, girl, I enjoy every time you chime in with your views ever since back in the day when you first joined our little BR's!!! I am loving it so much, you have no idea ❤️❤️❤️

Second, great observation about the opening of both Malazan and this one. It feels like it sets a very sturdy foundation for us to know what kind of world we are entering into, without too much tedious description...

Third, the Nubian is awesome!

Jorg, I always thought it was York, but there we are, haha! The evils of doing audio instead of reading the actual text... He is very compelling, but the only thing that somewhat justifies his actions, End of Book Spoiler (view spoiler)[ is the fact that he is magically compelled to take his anger and chaotic tendencies on the world, but not on his uncle... And the compulsion to keep on playing the chess game the magicians seem to be playing with one another by using others as their chess pieces, by murdering pretty much everyone... Since he is finally free of that outside influence, we should be getting the actual real Jorg in the next couple of books. Unless of course, someone else puts his hooks into him... (hide spoiler)]

I started yesterday with the audiobook. Just got through the first chapter, but it was putting my feet in the water. It's a reread for me too, so I'll ride alone with the road brothers...

Chris, we are always here to chat:)

Started last night. This is a reread for me and for full disclosure, I completely and perhaps irrationally love Jorg! Seriously cannot get enough of his psycho, murderous, heartless ways. I think this is the book that sucked me into grimdark, which is my favourite genre now, by miles.

He's 13 because in chapter 1:(view spoiler)[
When the dying old man asks him his age,

"Fifteen summers, no more. Couldn't be more..." His words came slow, from blue lips in a black face.
Out by two, I would have told him, but he'd gone past hearing.[...]
Fifteen! I'd hardly be fifteen and rousting villages.
By the time fifteen came around, I'd be King!

Favourite bit:
War, my friends, is a thing of beauty. Those as say otherwise are losing. If I'd bothered to go over to old Bovid, propped up against the fountain with his guts in his lap, he'd probably take a contrary view. But look where disagreeing got him (hide spoiler)]

Haha! Great quote! And I enjoyed the book as well.

In the beginning he says he is 13, but when he gets home, he asks for his majority gift, which is either 14 or 15, I am not sure...

Zaara wrote: "I’m not sure I remember this plot detail…I tend to mix up and forget a lotta things in books as time passes tho this series, I guess, less than most…
So end of Ch 4 :...."
I'd forgotten about that!!!

He just turned 14 in chapter 7. Drinking festival beer in the sacked village. Happy birthday, Jorg! 'Nother round, mate!

There you go, I knew he didn't stay 13:) Not that it matters much one way or another, but it's easier to swallow him having all that sex when I don't think of him as a 13 year old boy... I know,. it's me...

I forgot this one is a relatively short read (compared to other books I read later).. Had to go check if I read this before or after Malazan and it was before. So I'm pretty sure this was my first grimdark. I thought it was okay the first time; I don't think I was into the genre quite yet, and I didn't continue the series. Compared to some stuff I've read since then though... I think I'll continue this time.

The opening is super brutal, and this kid is a little shit lol

About the "twist", the first time around (view spoiler)[maybe I was just dense, but I didn't get that it was actually post modern until almost the very end xD. Now I'm catching clues from the beginning (hide spoiler)]

And for sure by Chapter 23 (somewhat whole book spoiler)(view spoiler)[ when Jorg is reading documents with words like mutagen, carcinogen... should be obvious that's a post modern world right? lol (hide spoiler)]

Zaara wrote: "I want to hug flashback Jorg and take it all away : ((
And when you compare his scenes with..."

Oh my gosh. Right? But I also wanna slap the kid in the face. lol. He's so stubborn with his vengeance and won't listen XP

Also, that nendoroid totally made me think of Attack on Titan for a second...