Reviews Elseweb: Prince of Thorns

[hawkwing_lb]

Tor.com has published my review of Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns.

Which is a dark brutal fantasy with a fourteen-year-old rapist/murderer protagonist.

Comments

[anne]

That was a good review of a book that would not be to my taste in any way. I'm very impressed.

And *what* was that woman from Voyager thinking? Sheesh.

[hawkwing_lb]

She let her defensiveness get the better of her, and thus ended up looking a tad ridiculous in public. It happens to the best of us, but you'd imagine that editors would get the "Do not respond to reviews unless they're grossly factually incorrect (or unless you feel the need to apologise for letting your unconscious prejudices show)" memo.

I tried very hard to be fair to the book and treat it on its merits, and not just on my visceral gut reaction. (Aaaaaiieeee! Getitoffme!) I'm a little surprised at the reaction I received, to be honest.

[anne]

You did a really hard thing. I'm surprised too, but I guess not everybody has gotten the "tastes differ and that's OK" memo.

[hawkwing_lb]

We're such judgy monkeys.

[anne]

Yes. All those other people should totally stop doing that.

[hawkwing_lb]

Indeed. :P

[green_knight]

That's a remarkably fair review for a book that sounds, pardon my French, utterly revolting.

This is one of the moments I despair about humanity. Why on Earth did publishers (and more than one) think the world needed another book in which women are tortured and objectified? I'm sure the book has redeeming qualities... but so have dozens of books that are unpublished or placed with smaller publishers. If this *really* is what 'the public' wants to read, I don't think much of the public.

[hawkwing_lb]

If I'm getting paid for a review, it's my job to be fair. Visceral as my dislike of it proved.

Women are nearly invisible in the book, but people are tortured and murdered left, right, top, bottom, up, down, charm, strange.

Lawrence has good writing chops, or I'd never have made it through - but GRRM is about as far into the Grim & Dark & Cynical end of the fantasy pool as I want to paddle for pleasure. Joe Abercrombie, maybe... But Lawrence is in R. Scott Bakker territory of the grotesque and the brutal.

Give me Scott Lynch or Mary Gentle or Elizabeth Bear or even Richard K. Morgan any day.