Emperor of Thorns discussion WITH SPOILERS

[Rolynd]

So this trilogy has come to an end! There must be a few people who have finished it by now. I got the first book for free (when I bought another book) and the next two the day they came out. They've always just appealed to me, just the right amount of quirky humour to balance the darkness and Jorg has just the right amount of charisma and self-awareness to be compelling rather than repulsive.

I thought it was a wonderful way to end the trilogy, though I wouldn't say it was my favourite of the three. I'm glad mark has said there are no more Jorg stories to be had, Jorg's journey (figurative rather than literal!) has been the main theme for me so without that I dont know how you could write a book about Jorg.

I think that journey finished wonderfully. Jorg had so much blood on his hands and so many terrible deeds to look back on that he couldn't have had a traditional happy ending for himself. If he'd have just ruled wisely with Miana and his son it would have been a kind of justification for some of the things he did to get there, and Jorg knew there was no justification that could wash the stains out. He wouldn't have ever believed he deserved happiness and wouldn't have let himself have it and, to be honest, he'd be right to. Jorg has had some terrible things happen to him but that does not excuse some of the things he did. His redemption, in my eyes of course, is partly because of that recognition that he must shoulder the responsibility for his actions, regardless of any horrors in his formative years or even someone directly manipulating him through some nefarious means.

So yeah, I think Jorg had to die, but I'm glad he managed to find a way out of the thorns at last.


What did people think? Overall thoughts on the trilogy welcome.

 

[nixie]

About 3/4 way through Emperor of Thorns. I'm not as enthralled with this one still good but Jorg is a little to tame and I don't like Katherine.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I finished it. I was on the fence on the first book, liked the second, didn't like the third. I don't generally like epic and thought the first two did something to break up the tropes I struggled with, but the third was too epic for me and I really struggled. I liked the end, though, and found it refreshing.

 

[svalbard]

Finally finished the series. The first two books zipped along at a strong pace and I loved them for that. POT and KOT are in my top list of reads and I imagine they will be revisited over the next few years. The magic sort of went out of it for me in third book. I cannot put my finger on why this is so, will have think upon it and discuss with a few friends who are reading the series at the moment.

The series has left one scene indelibly scorched upon my mind and that is the one between Jorg, his father and the hound Justice. That was powerful writing and kudos to Mark for it.

 

[Mark_Lawrence]

Polling indicates that Emperor and King are joint favourites with the readers.

Mark Lawrence: Best book of the trilogy?

Emperor enjoys the highest average score of the trilogy on Goodreads and Amazon...

If you're a fan of King of Thorns you have 11 hours left to vote for it on the Gemmell Awards! (2 clicks, no registration)

THE LEGEND AWARD - The David Gemmell Legend Awards

 

[Mackattak]

I agree with what has been said previously (I have just finished reading them) that the first two books are really good. Interesting/diverse characters with strong and (just the right amount of) good backtstory.

I also want to mention the way he writes the stories by weaving the past and present together which I found well done compared to others who’ve tried it before.

My only gripe is the 3rd book, I found that the pace increased too drastically compared to the others and it rushed along too quickly, and the ending was just too easy and I haven’t got so annoyed at an ending like that since The Dark Tower (but at least this was Only 3 books).

With his ‘An afterthought’ I felt this fast past and sudden ending was confirmed by his need to explain it. If the ending was Natural he wouldn’t need to explain himself like he did and it let the trilogy down a bit for me. But hey, he’s a new author who I’m sure will go on to write great things and this will surely have taught him a lot.