ORCS!!!

[Toki Bloodaxe]

    Now, when I write on this forum about books that I have read, it is usually concerning tomes relating to Medieval History or novels of a historical nature. But, today, I will write of something else. All of you who only fill your minds with books of strict fact or H/A stories of romace and adventure turn back now before you are tainted. This is a story of high fantasy, one of spectacular adventure in a land blighted by evil....an epic of ORCS!
    What struck me most about this book was the cover.  It features a fantastically modelled head and face of an orc. Or, at least, I think it is an orc. I have never seen one in real life, only heard rumors of their existance high in the mountains. But, if I imagine what an orc would look like, this would be it. The cover promises a lot in the way of adventure and thrills- and "Orcs" by Stan Nicholls really delivers. The setting is a land blighted by evil, as a menacing lot of fanatical humans seek to destroy or otherwise subjugate all of the elder races of the land of Mares Dantia. These elder races consist of orcs, goblins, kobolds, trolls centaurs, dwarves and the like who live in an uneasy harmony with each other born of long-term coexistance. Now, though, the magic that has held their world together for so many ages is slowly dying out....eaten up, as it will, by the single-deity worshiping humans bent on extermination. Throw in some powerful sorcerers of both good and evil intent, mechanical humonculouses, an advancing ice-age glacial sheet and it all boiles down to a heady brew that the Orcs have to deal with if they are to survive.
    At the heart of the story is a tale of a military nature- a little like a Sergeant Rock comic in orc terms with a motly band of military heroes commanded by a super-soldier who must work hard to keep his band together while fighting various enemies. The orc band is the Wolverines- a super tough elite unit of troopers who are picked for the deadiliest missions with a low probability of sucess. They are lead by Stryke- the warband leader- tough and unmerciful, Stryke has a fearsome reputation...certainly well-earned. There is Jup- the mercenary dwarf- who fights to become part of a group that might or might not still despise him. Coilla- the deadly knife -wielding female corporal- who has to prove herself to the all-male wolverine band. Haskeer- the violent berserker orc who throws himself into the fight whole-hearted. And, Alfray-the caring medic- who patches the band back up after eacher horrific battle. These are the Wolverines- fearsome Orcs who, once given a dangerous mission, stick to it until the bitter end.
   The book is a trilogy consisting of three novels and a short story, all pertaining to a search for ancient relics by an evil sorceress. If all the relics can be found, the sorceress will reign supreme and pure evil will wash over the land. The Wolverines are given the mission of taking one of the relics and bringing it back to the sorceress. Things don't go as planned and the Wolverines set out on a prolonged mission of survival-against-all-odds in order to attain all of the relics for themselves. They encounter dragon riders, crazed cultists, homicidal bounty hunters and shape-changeing demons along the way to finally getting a shot at winning their freedom. Though the story is hardly original, it is still highly enjoyable from a pure fantasy adventure standpoint. If you are feeling a bit moribund with your reading of the seventh book in the never-ending "Sword of Everlasting Evil" series...or some such....you might want to give this book a try.
    Note to parents: "Orcs" is a violent book that contains scads of bloody imagery and loads of gruesome sword fights. There is also an evil sorceress who performs perverted sexual rituals upon her victims. I would not include this book in you 12 year old's Yultide stocking. Give them Harry Potter instead.