James Barclay

Denser1976 · Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 1:40 pm Post subject: Orcs....by Stan Nicholls

A must read:

Orcs, the omnibus edition
Stan Nicholls

Orcs, the omnibus edition, contains all the four stories written by Stan Nicholls about his beloved Orcs.

In the first part of the omnibus, called Bodyguard of Lightning, we get introduced to the characters of the books. Stryke, captain of the orcish warband The Wolverines, is the main character. He's the leader of the group. For those of you who have read the Sharpe books by Bernard Cornwall, Stryke can be compared with Richard Sharpe. He's a great fighter and although he needs both his wits and strength to keep his command his men love him. Next in the line of command are the sergeants Haskeer and Jup. Haskeer is the troublemaker in the Wolverines. He's always having arguments with Stryke about the things they should be doing. Besides that his favourite waste of time is making war on Jup. Jup is the stranger in the warband full of orcs, simply because he is a dwarf. Not quite a surprise, Jups favourite waste of time is making warfare on Haskeer. Last in command are the corporals Coilla and Alfray. Coilla is the only woman in the warband, but that doesn't make her less frightful. Alfray is the oldest orc of the Wolverins and their medic.

Bodyguard of Lightning is set in the world of Maras-Dantia, although this is the name the humans living there call it. For the orcs the world is called Centrasia. The world of Maras-Dantia is witness of a war between two groups of humans, called the Unis and the Manis. The orcs are fighting under the command of Jennesta, queen of the Manis. The story sets of when the Wolverines are on a secret mission to capture a message cylinder hidden in a Uni settlement. Stryke and his warband are able to defeat the Unis and get there hands on the cylinder. Unfortunately the Wolverines are attacked on there way back and they lose the cylinder to a group of kobolds. Trying to retrieve the artefact Stryke orders the Wolverines to chase the kobolds. This turns out to be a great mistake since queen Jennesta now thinks the orcs have deserted her cause and orders here general to find and destroy the Wolverines. Unknown of this threat the warband succeeds to destroy the kobolds and retrieve the cylinder. Along with recapturing the artefact the release a gremlin prisoner called Mobbs. This gremlin convinces Stryke to open the cylinder. The cylinder contains a magic artefact which according to the gremlin is a part of a tool which could set the orcs free of there alliance with the humans. Thinking they can find the other pieces of the artefact Stryke and the Wolverines abandon the service of Jennesta. This is where the real adventure starts.....

The story continues in Legion of Thunder and Warriors of the Tempest. Without giving the story away, the Wolverines have to fight and think there way trough the world of Maras-Dantia to find the other pieces of the artefact to finish their quest. During this adventure they start to find out what is really happening to their homeland.

Stan Nicholls succeeded in turning so called dumb and evil creatures into real heroes you will start to love the further you get in the books. You'll even forget you're reading about orcs, the characters become more and more humanlike throughout the book. The books are real so-called page turners, once started you won't be able to put it away. You just want to know more and more about the adventures of this brave warband of orcs. Job well done!

Pieter W. Lak
28-4-2006

Best,

Denser
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Grace · Joined: 28 May 2006 Posts: 302 Location: Bristol

Yep, I've read this, tis excellent. Anyone who hasn't should do so immediately. We had a thread about this on the old forum, I think.
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Denser1976 · Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 7:34 pm Post subject:

Mantyluoto · Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Posts: 573 Location: Somerset, UK

yup read this too and whilst i'm slightly disappointed with the ending i'm intrigued to know about the new series of Orcs!

Denser1976 · Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:10 pm Post subject:

Mantyluoto · Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Posts: 573 Location: Somerset, UK

if only i had the time and the money!!!

i've actually got the first one and when i start it, if i like it, i'll buy the rest

Lizzy · Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 12:50 pm Post subject:

Hello Denser and welcome. I enjoyed Orcs. It did change my view of them and I can see the similarity between Stryke and Sharpe
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Parmenion · Joined: 06 Oct 2006 Posts: 584

it was refreshing to see a book from the view of what the genre considers to be a bad guy.
I liked them, not read the last of the quicksilver trilogy yet, but enjoyed them too.

Denser1976 · Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 8:12 pm Post subject:

Stan visited the Netherlands 2 weeks ago. I wrote a little report and wanted it to share with you. Hope you like it. You can find it at:

http://stannicholls.web-log.nl
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Jen · Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 7:56 pm Post subject:

I've read this and I did enjoy it, but like Manty I was a bit disappointed with the end.

It's great to have something from the other perspective. I'm quite fond of Orc's now.
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Saxx · Joined: 28 Aug 2004 Posts: 71 Location: Winterfell

I have the omnibus edition, havent read it yet, Song of ice and fire is dominating my reading sessions at the moment!
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Max Power · Joined: 06 Dec 2004 Posts: 467 Location: United Kingdom