The protagonist is Prince Jorg, who saw his mother get raped to death and his younger brother get his head smashed in after a rival nation attacked their coach. He survived because one of the guards tossed him into a nasty briar patch that hid him, but also dug thorns into his flesh preventing him from helping his mother.
Not long after that, when he was 13 years old, Jorg got himself a band of ruthless outlaws and went charging through the countryside to get revenge. He burned, pillaged, raped, and tortured people. Completely without a conscience.
It's like Game of Thrones except he's badder than any of those characters and is an incredible strategist. His band of two dozen takes on armies due to Jorg's intelligence and battle tactics.
Another thing I loved about this book, the writing was tight. No unnecessary words or description. The flashbacks had purpose. No long analyses on why Jorg is the nasty 14 year old that he is. No worldbuilding other than a few clues about Builders. Jorg had some fantastic quotes:
“You soon learn there’s no elegance or dignity in death if you spend time in the castle kitchens. You learn how ugly it is, and how good it tastes.”
“Some men are too dull to feel what might happen. Others torture themselves with maybes and populate their dreams with horrors more terrible than their worst enemy could inflict upon them.”
“There’s something brittle in me that will break before it bends.”
Anyway, this book is crazy. There's not many like it, so it's definitely worth the read.
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