Orcs by Stan Nicholls

The volume is a compendium of three books of the Orcs: First Blood series. It includes Bodyguard of Lightning, Legion of Thunder, and Warriors of the Tempest. The story is set in Maras-Dantia, populated by various races who do not get along well with each other. There is an ongoing struggle between two religious factions, the Unis and Manis, and involves various races. Apparently, according to the elder races, Maras-Dantia is losing its magic and killing the land because of the invasion and abuse of the humans. The Manis, who have humans among its followers, believe this as well and are seeking to restore some of the power lost because of the human settlements.

This edition also features a short story called The Taking which tells about Coilla's first day with the Wolverines and a short interview of the author.

Bodyguard of Lightning

In the first book, the members of the orc warband, the Wolverines, are introduced. Touted as the best orcs in Queen Jennesta's army, they were sent on a mission to recover an artifact in a human settlement. The leader Stryke and his colleagues Alfray, Jup, Haskeer, Coilla and others, were successful in retrieving the artifact. But because they did not return on time, Queen Jennesta thought she was betrayed. What's more, the warband was set upon by a band of kobolds on their way back who ran off with the artifact. This theft convinced Stryke that the artifact means a great deal to the queen and must hold some power. 

Legion of Thunder

By now they already have an idea what the artifact might be but the Wolverines now have to decide what to do with that knowledge. Still uncertain but feeling they have no choice, the group decides to search for more Instrumentalities or stars. Stryke also believes that they can use the stars to bargain with Jennesta or use it for something else.

Queen Jennesta is just one of their worries however. Setting off on this new mission also puts them against whoever owns the other stars.

Warriors of the Tempest

The adventures of Stryke and the Wolverines have stirred the minds of their fellow orcs in Jennesta's army as well as their newfound enemies. They now have to complete all the five instrumentalities to see what will happen. It is not yet clear what the artifacts can do but Stryke and the others can't turn back now even when the odds are against them.

***

The choice of orcs as the lead characters is a welcome change. I'm quite fond of the orcs myself from some games and dismayed that other media like books always give them the role of enemies. This series is consistent in showing how the orcs think about and interact with humans. I was apprehensive that later on they would welcome a human into their ranks or a human would ally with the Wolverines and join their adventures but thankfully that did not happen.

Most of the orcs are likable and Stryke has just enough brains and bravery to make him a good lead character. Queen Jennesta on the other hand is too cruel and extremely evil. Therefore it makes her role less effective, boring and predictable. She isn't a contemplative type as well so her actions are just evil for evil's sake.

The author uses some names that are quite similar to some real-world myths and religions. Some of his metaphors seem out of place as well, like the use of ninepins (bowling) to describe something in the third book.

Each book provides very little clue to the instrumentalities. There is just enough information for the story to move on. Readers are as much in the dark as the Wolverines on what to do until the final scene in the third book.

The strong point of the series is its action scenes. It has some good one-on-one combats and large-scale fights that were delivered quite well by the author. There are very few casualties in the Wolverines in all their fights however, but I think this just adds to their reputation as the best fighters among all the races of the fantasy genre. 

Despite having interesting protagonists, the direction of the story seems predictable even in the first book. The only thing that kept me going is to discover what the instrumentalities were for, so I guess the author's tactic in not giving too much away succeeded.

Rating: 7 out of 10