Prince of Thorns

Why do you think the author refrains from giving “the Nuban” a name? Does it add to or detract from the character’s role in the story?

Is Jorg a sympathetic character? Are his motivations understandable and sufficiently justifiable for his course of action?

Makin occasionally references Jorg’s willingness to use him as a “piece” in “the game.” Despite this grim but accurate view of their relationship, why is Makin Jorg’s most devoted follower?

Gog and Magog are intended to be given to the necromancers as sacrifices so that the other Leucrota will be left alone. How does this practice fit with Jorg’s philosophy of sacrifice? Is there a difference between sacrificing others for self-preservation and sacrificing them out of ambition?

Why is Jorg so attracted to Katherine? What qualities does he see in her that he considers valuable?

Does the revelation in the book’s final pages that Renar is Jorg’s uncle make Jorg’s anger more understandable?

In the book’s feudal setting, knights are elite warriors. Do the knights whom Jorg encounters—Marclos, Sir Vincent, Sir Galen, etc.—support or subvert that trope? To what effect?

Does the book provide any evidence that part of Jorg’s violence is due to the trauma of seeing his mother and brother murdered?