Prince Of Fools

This first entry into the Red Queen's War trilogy is about a layabout, womanizing, alcoholic prince. He's also just funny enough not to think he's an utter bastard. Okay, he's quite funny. He's torn away from his life of being thrown from women's windows by their enraged and surprised husbands when he's magically bound to an honourable Viking warrior on a quest to save his family from the undead. So, so many undead. While this trilogy and the Broken Empire trilogy are set concurrently in the same world, the protagonist of this book, Prince Jalan, lacks the ruthless competence of the Broken Empire's Jorg, and as such, the true horror of the undead that run rampant in the world are revealed. Beyond ravenous zombies and recently reanimated corpses, far more personal and monstrous creatures appear to plague Jalan, and it becomes genuinely upsetting and emotional for reasons deeper than mere horror. Mark Lawrence is a master at drawing you inside the heads of his characters, and at times, Jalan's mind is a genuinely unsettling place to be. The prose is superb, and Lawrence has no equal when it comes to intimately personal, first-person fantasy. Read this book if: you want to see a pampered prince get chased halfway up a continent by zombies, and think you might enjoy the quips he makes along the way.

Books in The Red Queen's War Series (4)

Booklists having this book

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Other books by Lawrence, Mark

Prince Of Fools

Mark Lawrence's newest 2014 release in his new The Red Queen's War trilogy, set in the same world as his Broken Empire trilogy. This time around he focuses his efforts... Read more

Broken Empire / Red Queens War

Mark Lawrence doesn’t use an abundance of technical explanations and diagrams, but that doesn’t make his magic system any less interesting. In fact, it lets him focus on his astonishing... Read more

King Of Thorns

Emperor Of Thorns

Prince Of Fools

This first entry into the Red Queen's War trilogy is about a layabout, womanizing, alcoholic prince. He's also just funny enough not to think he's an utter bastard. Okay, he's... Read more

Red Queen's War

Mark Lawrence's newest anti-hero fantasy, with the first book out so far (2015 as of this writing). It's not as good or genre pushing as his first trilogy The Broken... Read more

The Broken Empire

If you want some seriously good fantasy (extremely gritty, grimdark fantasy), The Broken Empire Books are some of the best out there (the books top our Top 25 Best Fantasy... Read more

The Wheel Of Osheim

Felt so so about the first book, loved the second book, and I also love the final book in Lawrence's new take on an anti-hero prince. Jarl, the hero of... Read more

Red Sister

Often, novels focus on the evolution of characters from total nobodies into well-respected and lauded magicians. They shed their peasant heritage and earn a place among the elite. With Red... Read more

The Liar's Key

The Wheel Of Osheim

Grey Sister

The second novel in a brilliant fantasy trilogy from the international bestselling author of Prince of Thorns.Behind its walls, the Convent of Sweet Mercy has trained young girls to hone... Read more

Red Sister

The international bestselling author of the Broken Empire and the Red Queen’s War trilogies begins a stunning epic fantasy series about a secretive order of holy warriors... At the Convent... Read more