King's Property by Morgan Howell

King's Property is the first book in the Queen of the Orcs series, and Morgan Howell's first novel. For a story in which the author does such a good job of depicting the harsh realities of the setting, he sure lets the main character, Dar, skate out of bad situation after bad situation to a point where it's just a bit too much. The explanations for each magic escape work, but it needs to change to a point where Dar takes fewer risks, or she gets in hot water by having her gambles miss now and then.

Now, I will give the author a ton of credit. King's Property is just chock full of realism and harsh stuff. Dar comes from a horrible abusive background and when conscripted/sold into the army, it truly seems like things can't get worse. Finding unlikely allies in Orcs an... Read More

Clan Daughter by Morgan Howell

After reading King's Property, the first book in the Orc series, I could see a lot of room for improvement.

The main character, Dar, was really hard to enjoy reading about and she was just a little too lucky a little too often for my taste.

Book two... Wow, can you say "more of the same"? And 80% of the book is a boring journey which sets the stage for interspecies love and actions on the part of the Orc mothers that totally contradicts everything we have been told about them. So, was the last 20% of the book work slogging through the first 80%? Not really.

The main character, Weasel, falls in love with an Orc, has an encounter with a human turned orc mage, and manages to lead a small group of survivors from a catastrophic battle back to their home. Once they get there, the story ... Read More