Book #105

King's Property
by Morgan Howell

I figured, what the heck, I'm only in the middle of, what, nine or ten fantasy series? Let's see, there's Jim Hines's goblin books, the Temeraire novels, the Tawny Man trilogy, the Furies of Calderon, the Mistborn series -- and of course the Wheel of Time. That't not counting the paranormal series I'm into, including both Anita Blake and Merry Gentry, plus Rachel Morgan, Harry Dresden, Sookie Stackhouse, and Kitty Norville. Yeah, one more new series can't hurt, can it?

Of course not. So I picked up the first in the Queen of the Orcs trilogy, King's Property, by Morgan Howell. I was intrigued because I'm always intrigued by attempts to tell the other side of the classic fantasy schism; I've read several attempts to depict the world of goblins and orcs over the years, and I liked the way this one pitched it: this slave girl, Dar, becomes the Queen of the Orcs. Interesting concept, and I want to know how she'll pull it off.

So far, this one is off to a great start. This first book tells the story of Dar's kidnapping and enslavement by the army of her king; it seems the king uses orcs as shock troops, and the orcs have an odd compunction: they will only allow women to serve them food, never men. This means that the army needs to find women to serve in the orc regiments, and they do what any ruthless and amoral army would do; they steal them, brand them, and use them until they are destroyed, when they go out and find new ones.

This is a pretty brutal book, especially considering it is fantasy, and I even found it shelved in the YA section -- where it probably shouldn't be. Then again, it is simple and easy to follow, and far be it from me to say which themes are too adult for young people to read about; my book does include a bit of matricide and child abuse, after all, not to mention something about murder? Anyway, Dar at first resents the orcs and hates them for being the reason for her enslavement. Soon, though, she realizes the orcs are being used up and cast away just as much as the women are; the orcs, it turns out, are not brutal and mindless savages, but simply a different race with a different culture and different values -- ones which don't often coincide with human values. And, most important to Dar, they are willing to protect her from what she fears most; Dar, having been sexually abused by her father, absolutely refuses to do what every other slave woman does, and whore herself out to a human soldier for protection. Instead, she befriends the orcs.

It's a very interesting book, though I almost wish more time had been spent with the orcs than with the humans; the humans in the book are almost universally craptacular, whereas the orcs are very cool. But the way it was done was reasonable, too, as the orcs are not fond of humans and Dar's acceptance into their midst is -- well, let's just say, "grudging." I loved the author's creation of the orcs' culture, and I really liked how Dar learned about it and explored it -- very realistic and interesting. I even liked the language, and I, like most lifetime fantasy fans, am hard to please. But this one was nicely done, and also felt very orcy.

I enjoyed the book, and I'll finish the trilogy. Once I get through all the other series, that is.