Review: Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence (The Broken Empire, Book 3)

Synopsis: 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.
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 plans to change that. He’s uncovered 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. (from the online description)

Review: The last in the Broken Empire trilogy, we’ve followed Jorg down a dark and bloody path. Here, we see the end.

Jorg has never hidden his ambition or his desire to rule over all. In this book, he sets out to use all his cunning and ruthlessness to achieve it. But the Dead King – the Dead King is coming.

As with the previous, we see the split time – following Jorg via the present and the past. Lawrence uses a deft hand, taking the reader from the past to the present, interweaving the stories.

The ending – no spoilers – but many people didn’t like it. However, I found it perfect for the story. It ended the journey in the only way it could, with redemption. This story, ultimately, was about redemption, about taking the sorry and death and suffering of the past and making it matter.

This is a fantastic series, worth reading. It is bloody and dark, to be sure, but that is what makes it the story that it is.

Bookmarks: 4 of 5

Awards: None

ISBN: 978-0-425-25654-1
Year Published: 2013
Date Finished: 6-7-2018
Pages: 399