Morgan Howell

Queen of the Orcs — (2007) Publisher: Born into hardship, Dar learns to rely on herself alone. When her family betrays her, Dar is conscripted into King Kregant’s army and its brutal campaign to conquer a neighboring country. Now she is bound as a slave to a dreaded regiment of orcs, creatures legendary for their savagery and battle prowess. Rather than cower, Dar rises to the challenge. She learns the unique culture and language of the orcs, survives treachery from both allies and enemies, and struggles to understand a mystical gift that brings her dark, prophetic visions. As the war escalates–amid nightmarish combat and shattering loss–Dar must seize a single chance at freedom.

King's Property: Really good with a little bit too much luck

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 and her ability to avoid the many pitfalls and almost unavoidable problems of being a woman in a depraved, male dominated environment make this story what it is.

I think that this series is going to be worth reading because there is a lot that is yet to develop. I am excited to see how Dar grows into her role as an Orc Mother. I also really like the fact that Morgan Howell gave us a male character who was not a rapist/child molestor. I was beginning to think that there was an agenda that included painting men as all being the same (I found out later that Morgan Howell is a man!).

Good book, interesting characters... now let's see if it keeps going. —John Hulet

Clan Daughter: Weak follow-up to a less than stellar beginning

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 develops a little political manuevering as the current mother orcs don't really like Weasel and manipulate her to try and free the reigning queen who is being held captive by the humans. If you want more details of the "dramatic ending," read it because if you find this description interesting, you will like the book.

This is very weak fantasy on the whole. Given the number of authors who are cranking stuff out, the only merit I found was a unique idea for an Orc culture that was not based completely on conflict and brutality. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars, which was a C grade. Take that for what it's worth.
—John Hulet