Legion Of Thunder: 2 (Orcs) Book

Legion of Thunder continues Stan Nicholls's "Orcs: First Blood" trilogy, which began in 1999 with Bodyguard of Lightning. The neat premise is that tough orc soldiers--the villainous cannon fodder in generic fantasylands ever since Tolkien-- appear as heroes. Humans, if not exactly evil, are unwanted immigrants whose presence poisons this otherworld's wellsprings of magic. Book one saw orc commander Stryke's warband the Wolverines forced into conflict with practically everyone, leading to a quest for (as ever) five magic artifacts, and ending in multiple cliffhangers. Headlong action continues through Legion of Thunder, with the separated Wolverines splitting further to tackle impossible-seeming challenges while repeatedly threatened by minions of evil queen Jennesta, assorted bounty hunters, slave traders, kobolds, goblins, imps, sea-dwelling "nyadds", sorcerous automata, and religious fanatics with a fondness for smiting the heathen. Much vicious skirmishing ensues. Meanwhile Stryke continues to have strange--prophetic?--dreams of an orc utopia. A mysteriously appearing and disappearing personage called Serapheim hopes to direct events for reasons of his own. And the magical "instrumentalities" so far collected are singing a seductive mindsong to which it may be unwise to listen. By the end of the novel the surviving Wolverines have an army or two hotly pursuing them. Can they possibly survive for book three? Fast-moving, gory fantasy adventure, with flashes of black comedy. --David LangfordRead More