BOOK REVIEW: Road Brothers by Mark Lawrence ★★★★★

A volume of short stories by the bestselling author of THE BROKEN EMPIRE series, Mark Lawrence.
This is a collection of fourteen stories of murder, mayhem, pathos, and philosophy, all set in the world of the Broken Empire.
Within these pages, you will find tales of men such as Red Kent, Sir Makin, Rike, Burlow and the Nuban, telling of their origins and the events that forged them. There is Jorg himself, striding the page as a child of six, as a teenage wanderer and as a young king. And then there is a tale about Prince Jalan Kendeth – liar, cheat, womaniser and coward.
To the new reader, welcome to a lawless world where wit and sword are the most useful weapons, and danger lurks as much in candle-lit palaces as in dark alleys and dense woodland. To those who have already journeyed with Jorg, we hope you will enjoy renewing old acquaintances with your favourite characters.

Ever wondered how the characters in Lawrence’s Broken Empire and the Red Queen’s War series came to be? Well, look no further. Road Brothers is a collection of character origins, raids and troubles with the additional insight of different cultures before the start of the main series.

"A kiss had woken me and I'd found, as we so often do, that the world had moved on without me. And that's the riddle of existence for you. When to move and when to stay.

I’ve only read The Prince of Thorns, so most of the stories had some spoiler content relating to the other series. Nonetheless, I enjoyed them all. And Road Brothers delivered. Each story was unique, albeit grim at times, but it offered a variety of mischief, philosophy, murder and sometimes sadness. The added footnote from the author was a bonus because I liked that he explained certain characters motivation. I’ll review each story separately.

Dwell too long and we become the prisoner of our dreams, or someone else's. Move too fast, live without pause, and you'll miss it all, your whole life a blur of doing.

A Rescue - 4/5

“I spent a year hunting down the men who burned my home. I followed them across three nations.”

Sir Makin’s backstory and his unwavering loyalty to the traumatised Prince Jorg. A great start to the collection as it sets the tone for what’s to come. I like the sense of rescue the title depicts. Sir Makin rescues Jorg from a burning room and in a way, Makin leans to free himself from the hurt of losing his family. I really hope nothing happens to him when I continue reading the rest of the series. 

Sleeping Beauty - 2/5

A kiss woke me. A cool kiss pulled me from the hot depths of my dreaming.

And this was the only one I did not like, but that doesn’t mean I absolutely hate it. It was just hard to follow because of the erratic pacing from the past event leading to the present event. This short story comes before or after certain events in King of Thorns so that might be the reason why I didn’t get it. Probably halfway in I sort of understood what happened. 

Bad Seed - 3/5

“I’m a bad seed. You learned that the day you came against me.”

Sort of reeling from the confusion of the previous one. Alann Oak killed the bully Darin Reed at the age of ten. As the years roll by, Alan has a family, but is somewhat haunted and cursed by Darin. When Alann’s family dies in a fire, he becomes Red Kent, a man who was always supposed to become a killer. This had a good delivery, good pacing and a nice introduction to his time in the brotherhood. 

The Nature of the Beast - 5/5

“You’ll learn to care. It might take a lifetime but you’ll learn. You’ll find someone you can call brother and mean it… you will fail him. And then my blood will take him from you.”

This one was grim. Sabitha is a witch who reluctantly stitches up Rike’s wounds as her village is under attack by his raiders. This one had put me on the edge of my seat. I was hooked with the building climax. It’s an excellent story about siblings’ bond and fierceness of protection. If you know anything about Rike then he is an utter arsehole who doesn’t spare anyone. But be warned, Lawrence gives a major spoiler in this footnote for the Emperor of Thorns regarding this story about Rike. 

The Weight of Command - 3/5

Jorg stood up from Lord Hetton’s chair. “Well done, Brother Barlow. You stepped into the lion’s den. None of us could ask more from a leader.”

Not one of my favourites but it was okay. You do see the friction between Jorg and Brother Barlow disagreeing on more than one occasion. It is about taken on the responsibility, as the title suggests from those who lead and those who follow. Well written, but I was more interested in Sim. 

Select Mode - 4/5

They call me a monster and if it were untrue the weight of my crimes would pin me to the ground.

The Nuban has been, hand’s down, my favourite character from the first book. we follow Jorg and the Nuban, captured by Selector John, who is taken to a not so easy journey to ‘the arch’ to be judged and selected to be part of a group. This had some sci-fi/future references to our modern technology (which is the book’s historic technology) from Jorg observing technology through new eyes.


Mercy - 5/5

“Serve revenge hot or cold, it will never sate you. It’s a hunger that only grows the more you feed it.”

I love revenge stories! Sir Makin teams up with Sister Ellen (from the Book of the Ancestor trilogy) to track down Gorlan, the last of the men who killed his family. This one gets a 5 star because of the witty dialogue, the seamless ease between the two killers and one man’s snatched hope of coming out alive. After reading the Red Queen’s War I will give Book of Ancestor a read.

A Good Name - 5/5

“Now you know why I’m sitting with you Firestone.”Snaga stood, brushing the dust from his robes. “I saw the killer in you.”

Yes! The Nuban’s origin story. He was once called Harrac, then Firestone, who had enough of Broken Bowls (the son of the leader) orders, beats him up but has to go to the king in Ibowen for his crime (I guess). When he gets there, he befriends a Viking guardsman called Snaga.

I like the parallel between a young Jorg and a young Nuban who weren’t that different at all because of the hate taking orders. This gets a 5 star because its different from the rest, has a sense of tribalism, a longing to go back to your roots and the loyalty of friendship. 

Choices - 3/5

“They say knowledge is power. But I know everything and have no power.”

Jane and Gorgoth track down their sister and their two nephews to some poisonous pit. I can only give this a 3 star because I don’t know what was going on, but that’s only because I haven’t read the other two books. just like Select Mode, you see old tech and nuclear radiation poisoning affecting the body of anyone coming in contact with it. This had a good pace with steady combat sequence.

No Other Troy - 5/5

“It makes me look weak. And when you look week the wolves come prowling.”

Jorg, the classic anti-hero who wants to invade the City of Towers, a walled city on the Orlanth border. Mimicking the old Trojan Horse story of the Greeks, Jorg does a similar tactic to get in much against Sir Makin’s advice. He’s sneaky, manipulative and like promised, achieves his goal. He also has a burning desire for his Aunt Katherine (through marriage) who is under house arrest by Lord Alstan. I loved everything about it, the pace, the build-up, the dream sequence with Katherine very much hating him for besmirching her good name.

The Secret - 4/5

“Every good story tells at least one lie and holds a secret at its heart.”

Oh, the twist in this had me reeling in my seat. Sweet and innocent at first, Princess Dara is having a midnight rendezvous with a handsome storyteller Guise in her bedchamber. He tells her the story of Brother Sim a lethal assassin.

I heartedly enjoyed this one. Much like Mercy, this one had me hooked from the start. We learn much more about Brother Sim about his secret, his capabilities as an assassin. Jorg surely knows how to pick them. 

Escape - 5/5

“Sometimes the heart speaks to the hand,” Othello said. “If Gromtal had not called the boy ‘just a slave’ I think we would all be walking back to our horses together.”

At the end of A Good Name, the Nuban was known as Kashta. Now he serves as a guard to Count Merren, he’s simply named Othello. He oversees the training of a slave River-Stone, whom he forms a bond with as the slave is a reminder his former self. But River-Stone decides on the last minute to run away, leaving Kashta no choice but to track him down with Mai T’uii, a faraway eastern guard.

This one, by far, has had more sorrow than the rest. Kashta has come to the point where he’s had enough and wants to go back to his roots because it took one man to show him that he was too accustomed to being chained to a life he was half living. This had action, sadness and realisation. I think it’s one of my favourites. Plus I want to know if Mai T’uii is mentioned in the other books because honestly, he was a badass. 

Know Thyself - 3/5

“Those two devils? You’ll need the patience of an angel there, father. And a stout cane.”

This was a nice story from a young father Gomst’s perspective, overseeing a young Jorg and Willam’s education and discipline commissioned by the King of Ancarth. I like how Father Gomst wins the boys over into not killing their father. You can see from even a young age; the boys don’t take lightly to authority. 

Three is the Charm - 5/5

And that was how I lost two bets, a game of cards, and three hundred more in crown gold between morning and a night. Still… it wasn’t a bad day.

From the Red Queen’s War trilogy, we meet Prince Jalan Kendeth, much like Prince Jorg, yet different in many ways. Both lie and cheat, but for different reasons; Jorg is ambitious and wants an empire, Jalan is a womanizer who lives in the moment. They are two princes from different trilogies who live in the broken empire.

Unlike the others, this one did have a comical side to it. Jalan is in a race against to win a number of tasks from the Hellfire Club, which include bedding three members of the royal family, and elephant seal a wooden leg etc. It was chaotic, funny with a little twist and a tone quite different (but good) from the rest of the entries. It was an engaging read.

Summary

Judgment has always left a sour taste."

Road Brothers lived up to the hype. If anyone is in love with Lawrence’s Broken Empire world, then you’d be mad to miss this. He marvellously integrated much loved minor characters in his series to expand the book world with another two sets of trilogies I look forward to reading in 2020. After reading this collection I have more of an understanding about these road brothers that I probably wouldn’t have had I not read this. I can say that at least 10 out of the 14 stories were above a 4-star rating, which means I’d most likely re-read this collection once I’ve completed my goals to finish his series.

I mean, what a way to end my reading collection of 2019.

Overall Rating: 5/5
Publishers: Voyager
Publication date: November 2nd 2017
Genre: Dark Fantasy/ Short Stories/Anthology