Prince of Thorns

The first in The Broken Empire trilogy by Mark Lawrence. The series is as follows:
 * Prince of Thorns
 * King of Thorns
 * Emperor of Thorns

""You got responsibilities when you're a leader. You got a responsibility not to kill too many of your men. Or who're you going to lead?""
 * Abusive Parents: Jorg father is a cold, cruel, callous, calculating bastard, who uses his own son for his ends
 * A Child Shall Lead Them:
 * After the End: The early mentions of Christ and Plutarch indicate that the story is set in our world. Later on it becomes clear that the events happen after the present time period.
 * Anyone Can Die
 * The Archer: The Nuban.
 * Artifact of Doom:
 * Ax Crazy: Jorg, who says this gem:


 * Brainwashed and Crazy:
 * The Brute: Brother Rike.
 * Cold-Blooded Torture
 * Combat Pragmatist: Jorg. He has no honor when it comes to that kind of thing, or at all really.
 * Dead Little Brother: Little William to Jorg.
 * Establishing Character Moment: Jorg kills one of his fellow bandits out of annoyance.
 * Evil Uncle:
 * The Evil Prince: Jorg is a crown prince.
 * Evil Versus Evil
 * Fat Bastard: Burlow.
 * Freudian Excuse: Jorg went bad when he had to watch his little brother get murdered and their mother raped and murdered.
 * Gone Horribly Right:
 * Homage: Jorg was partially inspired by Alex from Clockwork Orange, however, he is far from being a Captain Ersatz or an Expy.
 * I'm a Humanitarian:
 * Improbable Age: Jorg is very precocious.
 * Jerkass: Jorg can be very inconsiderate toward his fellows even when he isn't murdering them.
 * The Lancer: Sir Makin to Jorg.
 * Lost Technology: There is still some left around.
 * Magnetic Villain Protagonist: Jorg. He also somehow manages to keep people following him even despite his Ax Crazy Jerkass behavior.
 * Mutants
 * The Necromancer: There are some living in the tunnels below Castle Red.
 * Neglectful Precursors:
 * Man Behind the Man: Some magic users act that way.
 * Rape, Pillage and Burn: Jorg's band's favorite pastime.
 * Rebel Prince: Jorg, who ran away and became a bandit. He was initially thinking of avenging his mother and brother.
 * Scary Black Man: Played with the Nuban. While he can be intimidating, he is feared and despised out of racism. Otherwise, he also acts as a limited conscience for Jorg, so he is also a very Downplayed Magical Negro.
 * Stuff Blowing Up:
 * Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Nearly at the start of the novel, a ghost tries to haunt Jorg; instead of fleeing, Jorg allows the spectre to see into his mind... and the ghost runs away, since our protagonist can offer worse thoughts than the ghost itself.
 * Young and in Charge: Jorg became the leader of a group of bandits as a preteen, a few years before the start of the story.
 * Villain Protagonist: Jorg.
 * X Meets Y: Clockwork Orange meets The Black Company