I finished The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe yesterday. This book beat Prince of Thorns to win the 2012 Morningstar award. I liked it quite a lot, but I think PoT was the standout book in the shortlist. I'd have placed Heir of Night second. It's a more traditional youngish girl and boy coming into their power sort of story, but with an interesting setting.
I've read the whole shortlist for that year, and my rankings would be as follows:
1. Prince of Thorns - Mark Lawrence
2. The Heir of Night - Helen Lowe (actual winner)
3. Songs of the Earth - Elspeth Cooper
4. Among Thieves - Douglas Hulick
5. The Unremembered - Peter Orullian
I sort of started a similar exercise with the 2013 shortlist, but other things got in the way, and so far I've only read two of the five (Malice and Throne of the Crescent Moon). It's a lot easier to do the Morningstar than it is the Legend, since the Morningstar is almost always going to be book 1 in the series.
I am now reading Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie.