Prince of Thorns: Broken Empire, Book 1

This morbidly gripping, gritty fantasy tale is not for the squeamish. Prince Jorg was 10 years old when Count Renar's soldiers hung him on a hook-briar while his mother and brother were murdered. Vicious and desperate for revenge, he joined a bandit gang. Four years later, he's their leader and determined to end a multigenerational war by resurrecting the old empire and becoming emperor. Jorg is the epitome of the antihero, killing not just in battle but whenever he feels the need to set an example. Only toward the end of the book does a startling revelation focus his violence on clearly deserving targets. But Jorg is a product of his world, no worse than any other power there, and Lawrence increasingly makes readers believe that Jorg may indeed be able to use small savageries to end the ongoing greater ones. (Aug.)