Legion of Thunder by Stan Nicholls. Part of the Orcs omnibus.
It’s come to my attention that my “No Spoilers” policy made the last review somewhat unclear, in that I didn’t even give the main character’s name. I’ve decided to include a brief summary here in order to ease my explanations.
The Orcs series (so far) follows a warband of orcs – the Wolverines – as they struggle to survive in a world where everyone wants to kill them. Their leader, Stryke, is assisted in his role by a supporting cast of officers including my favourite character, Jup the dwarf.
The Wolverines spend most of this book attempting to resolve one of the two cliff-hangers from the end of the previous. The second cliff-hanger is resolved almost immediately, surprising nobody.
Several things bugged me about this book, the first of which I have mixed opinions on. Throughout the book, there are scenes from the perspective of Queen Jennesta, the Wolverines’ former boss, now actively hunting them down. Here we see her issuing instructions on how the wolverines are to be apprehended, among other things. The thing is, while this develops the principle antagonist of the series so far, it doesn’t actually develop the story. When whatever the queen dispatches finds the Wolverines, it’s fairly clear to them (and thus to the reader) where the threat came from.
My second issue is that almost everyone that the Wolverines have spoken to civilly ends up being killed off by one or another of these pursuing threats – as far as I can tell, simply to show that everyone who wants the Wolverines dead is a bastard. This isn’t an unreasonable course of events (they are all bastards), but it’s the fact that it has no meaning beyond this that bugs me. I get that the story feels the need to explain how these hunters are able to find the protagonists, but there are ways other than asking people nicely and then killing them.
My third issue is that you don’t lob throwing knives. Petty, I know, but it irritated me.
So, how did it compare to Bodyguard of Lightning? Favourably, I think. There’s more going on with the plot in this one, with the Wolverines attempting to resolve the events from the end of the last book rather than stumbling straight from key plot point to key plot point.
I mentioned last time that I’d like to learn more of the world. Well, this time we’re shown the races of the merz (mer-people), the nyadds (I think they’re described as slug-like at one point?), and the centaurs (horse-people… but you knew that). They’re shown throughout the book, and to me they serve to highlight the sheer diversity of races in Maras-Dantia. It’s like all of mythology’s come out to play in the world.
We also get to see a free city, with all its rules, regulations, and murderous police golems. It’s a shame that we don’t get to see more of it, to be honest, as it’s a fascinating place. Sadly the various characters only spend enough time there to wrap up the current plot thread and get on the wrong side of everybody.
This book ends on a cliffhanger too, but this time it’s more what I’d expect from the end of a book, particularly the second in a trilogy. Is this a trilogy? I haven’t looked it up, but there’s one book and a short story left in this omnibus so I’m assuming it is. Will everything be resolved by the end of the omnibus? Will the Wolverines lose more than one grunt in the next book? Will the few people not brutally murdered or out for the protagonists’ blood end up brutally murdered or out for the protagonists’ blood? Guess I’ll find out!
– Book Golem
The Arcane Library 