Revenge is sweet. Jorg has not only killed his uncle for the
crimes he committed, but has taken control of his lands, naming himself King of
the Renar Highlands. King is a good place to start, but if Jorg still wants to
unite the Broken Empire beneath him he has a lot of work to do. Unfortunately,
there’s another contender for the imperial throne: the charming, good-hearted
Orrin of Arrow. Nobles flock to support him, soldiers rally to his cause, and
every soothsayer and their grandmother predicts his glorious reign. The more
people who tell him to roll over, though, the more stubborn Jorg gets, and when
Arrow brings an army of 20,000 to his gates, surrender is the last thing on his
mind.
This is #2 in The Broken Empire Trilogy, and I enjoyed it
almost as much as I did Prince of Thorns.
If you are a little confused at the beginning and feel like you’ve missed
something, don’t worry. Like the first book, this one follows two timelines:
the “Wedding Day” when Jorg is fighting off Arrow’s onslaught on his castle,
and “Four Years Earlier,” which explains everything leading up to that. This
volume reaches even further than the previous novel, though, and adds two
additional storylines: pages from Katherine’s diary, and snippets of a memory
Jorg has locked away in a magical chest. I saw this as a bit of a flaw, since
the four competing timelines made it difficult to keep the stories straight or
to maintain any sort of accurate chronology in my head. Additionally, I felt
that a lot of the themes and problems in King
of Thorns came out of nowhere instead of being nicely foreshadowed in the
first book. Despite these imperfections, though, I still thoroughly enjoyed the
book. Jorg’s character arc was excellent, and after seeing his stint as King I’m
excited to see whether he will be able to grab and hold ultimate power in the
next volume.
LLK
No comments:
Post a Comment