Lawrence, Mark
Entry updated 7 April 2025. Tagged: Author.
(1968- ) US-born author mostly in the UK from infancy, who began to publish work of genre interest with "Climb" in O G's Speculative Fiction for 2007; most of his work has been fantasy, including the violent and dark-hued Broken Universe sequence beginning with Prince of Thorns (2011). The Ancestor sequence beginning with Red Sister (2017) takes the form of a Planetary Romance set on Abeth, whose climate is usefully various; it also serves as the venue for a following sequence, the Book of the Ice series beginning with The Girl and the Stars (2020), a Young Adult tale whose exiled protagonists are forced to flee Under the Sea beneath a polar ice cap, where the nature of the planet is unveiled pari passu with their coming of age.
Lawrence is of more specific sf interest for the Impossible Times sequence beginning with One Word Kill (2019), in which the fatally ill protagonist's attempts to escape into Virtual Realities via Role Playing Games segues, interestingly, into parlous complications involving other Dimensions and a stalker transfigured it may be into a kind of magus. [JC]
Mark Lawrence
born USA: 1 January 1968
works (selected)
series
Broken Empire
- Prince of Thorns (New York: Ace Books, 2011) [Broken Empire: hb/Jason Chan]
- King of Thorns (New York: Ace Books, 2012) [Broken Empire: hb/Jason Chan]
- Emperor of Thorns (New York: Ace Books, 2013) [Broken Empire: hb/Jason Chan]
- The Broken Empire (Battle Ground, Washington: Grim Oak Press, 2016) [coll: Broken Empire: hb/Jason Chan]
Broken Empire: The Red Queen's War
- Prince of Fools (New York: Ace Books, 2014) [Broken Empire: The Red Queen's War: hb/Jason Chan]
- The Liar's Key (New York: Ace Books, 2015) [Broken Empire: The Red Queen's War: hb/Jason Chan]
- The Wheel of Osheim (New York: Ace Books, 2016) [Broken Empire: The Red Queen's War: hb/Jason Chan]
- The Red Queen's War (Battle Ground, Washington: Grim Oak Press, 2016) [omni of the above three with an added novella: Broken Empire: The Red Queen's War: hb/Jason Chan]
The Ancestor
- Red Sister (New York: Ace Books, 2017) [The Ancestor: hb/Bastien Lecouffe Deharme]
- Grey Sister (New York: Ace Books, 2018) [The Ancestor: hb/Bastien Lecouffe Deharme]
- Holy Sister (New York: Ace Books, 2019) [The Ancestor: hb/Bastien Lecouffe Deharme]
Impossible Times
- One Word Kill (Las Vegas, Nevada: 47North, 2019) [Impossible Times: hb/Tom Sanderson]
- Limited Wish (Las Vegas, Nevada: 47North, 2019) [Impossible Times: hb/Tom Sanderson]
- Dispel Illusion (Las Vegas, Nevada: 47North, 2019) [Impossible Times: hb/Tom Sanderson]
The Book of the Ice
- The Girl and the Stars (New York: Ace Books, 2020) [Book of the Ice: hb/]
- The Girl and the Mountain (New York: Ace Books, 2021) [Book of the Ice: hb/Bastien Lecouffe Deharme]
- The Girl and the Moon (New York: Ace Books, 2022) [Book of the Ice: hb/Bastien Lecouffe Deharme]
Library Trilogy
- The Book That Wouldn't Burn (New York: Ace Books, 2023) [Library Trilogy: hb/]
- The Book That Broke the World (New York: Ace Books, 2024) [Library Trilogy: hb/]
- The Book That Held Her Heart (New York: Ace Books, 2025) [Library Trilogy: hb/]
links
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