Previous SFF Author: Stephen Lawhead
Mark Lawrence is married with four children, one of whom is severely disabled. His day job is as a research scientist focused on various rather intractable problems in the field of artificial intelligence. He has held secret level clearance with both US and UK governments. At one point he was qualified to say ‘this isn’t rocket science … oh wait, it actually is’. Between work and caring for his disabled child, Mark spends his time writing, playing computer games, tending an allotment, brewing beer, and avoiding DIY. Find out more at Mark Lawrence’s website. Read interviews with Mark Lawrence at Civilian Reader, Fantasy Faction, and Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist.
Click here for more stories by Mark Lawrence.
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
CLASSIFICATION: Prince of Thorns is R-rated epic fantasy that combines Robert E. Howard/Glen Cook-like sword-and-sorcery action with George R. R. Martin-inspired court intrigue and a revenge-driven plot that would make Joe Abercrombie proud. Because of a young protagonist whose accomplishments defy his age and abilities, and a fantasy world that seems to be a different version of Earth, I was also reminded of Paul Hoffman’s The Left Hand of God,
Robert Thompson and Greg Hersom´s rating: 4.5 | Mark Lawrence | SFF Reviews | 17 comments |
King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
When I find myself laughing on a regular basis while reading a book that is usually a really good sign that I am enjoying it! King of Thorns, the follow up to Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, had me laughing — a lot! King of Thorns is not a fun and games fantasy romp by any means, but the humor just made a good book even better.
Honorious Jorg Ancraft is tired of being manipulated and told what he can and can’t do.
John Hulet´s rating: 4 | Mark Lawrence | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
King Jorg, at the ripe ol’ age of 20, rules over seven nations, but that’s not enough — it’s never enough. He’s now ready to make his bid for emperor of the Broken Empire which has been vacant for many generations. This is a position that is technically won by vote, but how one goes about getting those votes is the trick. Also Jorg hasn’t yet accomplished his life-goal; bloody vengeance against his father. All Jorg’s surviving enemies continue to dog his trail but now Jorg has a chink in his armor;
Greg Hersom´s rating: 5 | Mark Lawrence | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence
Prince Jalan Kendeth is the black sheep of the family. A self-confessed untrustworthy scoundrel and coward who has taken every advantage of the life of luxury that comes with being royalty, he is perfectly content with his life as it is and has no plans to change or inclination for greater things. However, when he crosses paths with a courageous Viking named Snorri, Jal discovers that he may have been destined to stand against an undead evil. Snorri is returning north to rescue his family and,
Greg Hersom and Tim Scheidler´s rating: 5 | Mark Lawrence | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Liar’s Key by Mark Lawrence
For better or for worse, The Liar’s Key (2015) — the second novel in Mark Lawrence’s RED QUEEN’S WAR series — is in large part just a second helping of the first book. Readers who enjoyed Prince of Fools will probably find a lot to enjoy this time around as well. Those who might be reading this review in the hopes that I’ll tell them that this one is so much better will probably be disappointed.
Tim Scheidler´s rating: 4 | Mark Lawrence | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Wheel of Osheim by Mark Lawrence
There were times during the course of the trilogy when I really found myself wondering where THE RED QUEEN’S WAR was going. There were certainly elements that I was sure would get resolution — the ongoing specter of magical doom and the titular monarch’s conflict with the Lady Blue being prominent amongst them — but I admit that I wondered whether the plot would coalesce around these elements or whether it would simply dangle from them. I’m happy to say that my fears were totally unwarranted.
Tim Scheidler´s rating: 5 | Mark Lawrence | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Mark Lawrence‘s previous six novels have been interesting and unique in their own ways, but have also formed part of a recognizable corner of the genre. That is, Lawrence’s name often appears alongside those of Joe Abercrombie and R. Scott Bakker on lists with titles like “So You’ve Just Finished A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE — What Next?” This isn’t to say that the books set in Lawrence’s Broken Empire aped George R.R.
Tim Scheidler, Greg Hersom and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Mark Lawrence | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Grey Sister, second novel in Mark Lawrence’s BOOK OF THE ANCESTOR series, is a good follow-up to its predecessor. It’s not a perfect novel, but on the whole it’s exciting, well-written, and very gripping.
Since the last installment in the series, two years have passed, and Nona Grey is still a novice at the convent of Sweet Mercy. Her classes — and her magical abilities — have continued apace, teaching her to be deadlier than ever, but two years have brought her no closer to avenging her friend Hessa or recovering the convent’s prized Ship Heart.
Tim Scheidler´s rating: 4 | Mark Lawrence | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Holy Sister (2019), the third and final book in Mark Lawrence‘s BOOK OF THE ANCESTOR series, is a satisfying, well-crafted ending to an inventive series. Lawrence, at this point a veteran in the trenches of Heroic Fantasy, wraps things up with what’s probably his greatest assurance of the series, and though the tropes on display will be familiar to fans of the genre (and of Lawrence’s earlier work), they add up to an engaging and often thrilling finale.
Tim Scheidler´s rating: 4 | Mark Lawrence | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence
One Word Kill (2019) is a tale of 1980s British teenagers, time travel (bonus: with branching universes), Dungeons & Dragons, and cancer. As the first book in Mark Lawrence’s IMPOSSIBLE TIMES trilogy, it sets things up nicely, and we’re all three looking forward to the next two novellas.
We know that the first-person narrator of the story has cancer ― leukaemia, to be precise ― from the very first paragraph of the story.
Terry Weyna, Kat Hooper and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Mark Lawrence | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
As Limited Wish (2019) begins, Nick Hayes, the 16-year-old math genius that we met in One Word Kill (you need to read it first) is being pursued by a pack of drunken Cambridge students bent on beating him up. It’s 1986 and Nick has just been enrolled at Cambridge, thanks to the notice of Professor Halligan, a brilliant mathematician who recognizes Nick’s potential. What Prof Halligan doesn’t know is that Nick has to invent time travel so that when he’s older he can come visit his teenage self in the late 1980s and,
Kat Hooper and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Mark Lawrence | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Dispel Illusion by Mark Lawrence
Tadiana: Kat:
Dispel Illusion (2019) is the final book in Mark Lawrence’s IMPOSSIBLE TIMES trilogy. Readers will need to finish One Word Kill and Limited Wish before beginning Dispel Illusion, so we’ll assume you’ve done that. Kindly, Mark Lawrence provides a recap of previous important events at the beginning of this book.
Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5, 4 | Mark Lawrence | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence
The Girl and the Stars (2020) is the first book in Mark Lawrence’s BOOK OF THE ICE series. It’s about a society that lives in an extremely harsh icy climate. They have a spiritual leader called “the regulator” who looks for children who are “broken” — children who are too weak or who have character traits that will not benefit the survival of their tribes when they become adults. Every few years, to cull the herd,
Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Mark Lawrence | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Girl and the Mountain by Mark Lawrence
The Girl and the Mountain (2021) is the second installment in Mark Lawrence’s BOOK OF THE ICE series. It follows The Girl and the Stars, which you need to read first. There will be a few spoilers for that book in this review.
The Girl and the Stars introduced an icy world inhabited by tribes that follow a spiritual leader who, every few years,
Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Mark Lawrence | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence
A topical, deeply thoughtful, and wonderfully written love letter to books, to libraries, to the power of storytelling, to fantasy, and to epigrams, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence will be appearing on my best of 2023 list at the end of this year. That’s not to say it’s perfect. After all, I now have to wait for book two in this new series. And, well, I don’t wanna wait. Me want. Me want now.
At nearly 600 pages,
Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Mark Lawrence | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Book That Broke the World by Mark Lawrence
It’s funny that as I was reading Mark Lawrence’s The Book That Broke the World (2024), I kept thinking how it was much more action/plot oriented than its predecessor, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, which in my head I recalled as far more character and theme-driven. Then, in preparation for writing this review, I went back and read my review of book one and saw that I’d noted how the action “quickens at a relentlessly breathless rate.” So maybe it’s a balance thing?
Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Mark Lawrence | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Book That Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence
Mark Lawrence’s first title in his LIBRARY TRILOGY, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, made my Top Ten Books list the year it came out (2023), and while its sequel, The Book That Broke the World, wasn’t as strong, I still quite enjoyed it. Now Lawrence is out with The Book That Held Her Heart,
Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Mark Lawrence | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Grimdark Magazine seeks to fill a gap in the niche market for those who enjoy “grim stories told in a dark world by morally ambiguous protagonists,” according to the editorial in the first quarterly issue. The first issue is promising, if somewhat opaque to one who is not already immersed in this relatively new subgenre.
The first story is “Shadow Hunter: A Shadows of the Apt Story” by Adrian Tchaikovsky, set in his universe in which humanoids take on the characteristics of insects. The Wasp-kinden, for example,
Our weekly exploration of free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. Here are a few stories that caught our eyes this week.
“The Secret” by Mark Lawrence (2015, $1.95 at Audible)
I haven’t read Mark Lawrence’s BROKEN EMPIRE series yet, but after reading “The Secret,” I definitely want to. This story gives some background into Brother Sim, an assassin who is part of Jorg Ancrath’s brotherhood. Brother Sim has snuck into a princess’s bedroom (invited) and is telling her the story of an assassin.
Previous SFF Author: Stephen Lawhead
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…
this sounds like a fun one