Review:
*I received an ecopy of this via NetGalley. This has not influenced my review.*
This book was fantastic! I saw the title and the cover, and I was interested. I saw the genre was sci-fi/fantasy, and I was still interested. I started reading the blurb and saw the word ‘orc,’ and I was sold. I didn’t even finish reading the blurb before deciding I wanted this. And it did not disappoint.
The writing, the characters, the characters’ voices—that was what made it so amazing. Their voices were so strong, well-written, and different from what I normally find. Harder, raunchier, grittier. I want to say it’s exactly what you’d expect an orc to be like, but, to be honest, I don’t know anything about orcs. It was definitely not what you’d expect an elf to be like though, which only made it even more interesting.
Speaking of the creatures, as I mentioned, I didn’t actually know anything about orcs, but I love uncommon supernatural creatures, so I loved that the main character was one. The orcs were pretty cool, different from other creatures I’d read about. They even had tusks! Elves are markedly more common, but it was still cool seeing this author’s take on those too.
There wasn’t as much emotion as there normally is in the books I give 4.5 stars to, but there was enough. I felt for these characters, especially JT. They were hard and tough. They were thieves and hackers and adrenaline junkies and the type of people (or supernatural beings) who enjoyed getting each other off while driving at ungodly, one-wrong-move-and-you’re-dead speeds on the magway. They could be real jerks sometimes. But they still had real emotions. They still felt pain over past hurts. They still worried about others. They still wanted to be loved.
And the sex. There was quite a lot of it considering the length of the book, and it was not for those with delicate sensibilities. It was just as rough and hard and gritty as the rest of the book but still sexy as hell because you could tell how much the characters enjoyed it.
This book also had a really cool urban fantasy/futuristic cyberpunk mash-up. There were orcs and elves and wizards and mancers. But there were also advanced technologies, cars that drove themselves or that you drove with just your mind, virtual reality laid over the real city, technology that basically allowed telepathy (including the ability to simulate touch to another person). JT was even able to feel what the car felt, like the wind, once he connected to it.
The only negative thing I can say is that there probably could’ve been more to the plot since the book was short and the plot itself mostly just consisted of driving and fighting some baddies, plus a romance that wasn’t resolved yet. The book was more about getting to know the characters and the past relationship between JT and Austin. But this is going to be a trilogy, I believe, so maybe there’s a good reason for the plot in this one being what it was. And I was able to pretty much overlook this because of how much I liked the rest.
So overall, this book was gritty and sexually charged with unique character voices, the plot was action-packed, the orcs and elves were interesting, and the characters were all hard edges but still with enough emotion to make them seem real and to make me feel invested!
Recommended For:
Anyone who likes M/M, cyberpunk/urban fantasy mash-ups, uncommon supernatural creatures, and gritty, raunchy, hard-edged characters.
More Books in the Series:
Book Review: The Glamour Thieves (Blue Unicorn Book 1) by Don Allmon
Book Review: Apocalypse Alley (Blue Unicorn Book 2) by Don Allmon
Book Review: The Burning Magus (Blue Unicorn Book 3) by Don Allmon
I feel like I have quite a handle on the book after reading your review, and despite it being a positive review – I know this one isn’t for me. Excellent job reviewing!
I can see how this wouldn’t be for everyone. But I agree that’s the point of reviews, to help people figure out which books are right for them! Thank you!
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with orcs before – but this sounds really good! Thanks for sharing.
It was definitely interesting!
The only Orc’s I’m aware of are those from Lord of the Rings and they are not sexy at all! Still, something about this book is definitely intriguing, especially knowing it’s a trilogy! I may have to go check it out!!
Same here, and I’ve never actually read LoTR, just saw the movies many years ago, so I don’t even remember those. I liked how they were portrayed in this one though!
I don’t think I’ve ever read an orc protagonist. Especially one involved with an elf. 🙂 And cyberpunk too? Of course I’m interested. Nice that it was gritty and I love the sound of the hard edges, the adrenaline junkies. The tech sounds pretty awesome, love VR stuff. I’ll add this, I don’t get nearly enough cyberpunk…
I definitely hadn’t. It was interesting! And yeah, I thought the cyberpunk stuff was cool. We need more books with that kinda stuff. And the hard-edged, adrenaline junkies did make for different kinda characters to read about!
Oh a book featuring an orc and an elf, that sounds fun! And orc’s are rarely main character, so that’s neat one of the mc’s was an orc. Seems like the whole book is rough and gritty, but it sounds neat how the author pulls that off. It definitely sounds very unique and I am curious to hear what you think of the rest of the trilogy!
Yeah, it was so different! I’ve never seen another book with an orc MC. And I thought the author did a great job with the gritty voices!
I had been reading the vampire porn books by Laurell K Hamilton. The most uncommon supernatural creature in one of her books was a pan-were. There were many different were-animals inside of him. He was crazy too.
Also, I was reading (which someday I want to get back to reading) a martial arts fantasy book series by Kylie Chan. The main creature is a god. His daughter has powers where she grows really tall and has stars in her hair.
I actually don’t read about a lot of weres or shifters, they’re not my favorite. But that one sounds different. And huh, really tall with stars in her hair, I’ve definitely never read about that!
Count me in as the first thing I thought of when I saw Orc and Elf was Lord of the Rings. I imagine there’s fic out there like that lol I’m curious now to see how the author makes all this work!
Haha oh man, I didn’t even think of that. There prob is fanfic about orcs and elves. I thought this book made it work though!
I thought I had already left a comment for this post. Guess not lol
Anyway….I’ve been keeping track of all your sci-fi, fantasy-ish reviews. I haven’t had time to read them all yet but I’ve bought several and can’t wait to dive in.
For What It’s Worth
Lol I’ve had those moments too.
Looking forward to hearing what you think of the books you’ve read because of me!
This book sounds scary short for a fantasy sci-fi kind of novel, but it sounds like it didn’t fail to deliver from you’re saying! I am glad you fell in love instantly after discovering it, and that it was able to follow through while reading too 😀
Yeah, it is a short one, but I still enjoyed it! Thanks 🙂
I have to say the mention of an orc being in this did throw me a little. Orcs are not nice. I mean, I am slightly biased, for me, it conjures up images of LotR and the orcs in that were the bad guys. It isn’t a type of creature you often see in fiction, though. I am slightly intrigued with how they interpreted in this book. It sounds like it was an enjoyable read and going in knowing little to nothing about orcs probably helped. I often get frustrated when books are all set up in the first one and it does sound like this one was setting things up so that later books can build on the characters introduced. But hey, you enjoyed what you got and you enjoyed it a lot so that isn’t a bad thing.
Ah, but the beauty of books is that authors can create any version of supernatural beings they want! The orcs were really interesting. It would’ve been nice if there were more to the book, but yes, I did enjoy what I got 🙂
lol… an orc getting it on with an elf – Tolkien will be spinning in his grave:). This one sounds like it is loads of fun – thank you for an enjoyable review that makes it very clear what the book is about. It sounds a really lovely read in many ways – but I’m not a huge fan of books with lots of sex in them, these days.
Hahaha I didn’t think about how Tolkien would feel, but you’re probably right 😛 It was fun though! But I can see how it wouldn’t be for everyone.
I assure you, I do not have delicate sensibilities. lol. This sounds cool, especially since it seems to be a bit of a mash-up of the genres. And great characters are a must!
Lol apparently I don’t either. It was cool! I liked the genre mashup.