Review of Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire)

I wasn't expecting much of this book. I guess the only thing I expected was a good anti-hero that was almost a villain. I got what I wanted. Except I wasn't as hooked in him as I thought I'd be. I mean, to Jorg violence is so common that it looses its impact. I mean there is the grotesque impact, but there's not the psychological aspect, there is not psychological violence. This is not a complaint. Jorg would be a villain if he behaved even if slightly badder. So I liked Jorg, I found the book very original and the writing is good. I thought this book needed concentration to be understood, because of the way Mark Lawrence's writing works. But this is minor. I found the idea of *spoiler* this world being our world in the future to be fantastic and very well implemented. Other idea I liked was of forces moving the world from the shadows. The world-bulding is superb. Jorg is also a splendid main character to read. I got to say, in addition, that the action scenes were a surprise. I usually don't comprehend what's happening, but they were perfect and perfectly understandable in this book. Another surprise was how high the fantasy was. I thought this was a low fantasy book, and it almost is, but it reminded me of Narnia. This is a compliment, there is some sort of charisma and "magic" behind the magical part of this book. I mean there's adventure and an adventurous tone in parts of it.
My problem with this book is that because of all the good reviews, I was expecting the book to be good and I don't think it was. Yes, it is a redeeming point the fact that it is original, but there's very little purpose to the things that happen. It is also very predictable. But my main complain is the fact that Jorg only wins by luck. There is always a Deus Ex Machina happening to save him, be it a person or a horse. And this is not an issue in itself, but it happens so often that it amounts to lazyness. Especially on what was supposed to be a climax *spoiler* when Jorg killed Corion. I guess Mark tried to break a cliche about the character having merit on his victories, but it was badly implemented and broke the moment. I also thought it to be pretty simple, even if the way it is written makes it appear it is not.