Weapons of Magical Destruction
category: fantasy, author:Stan Nicholls
book 1 of Orcs: Bad Bloodpublished by Gollancz,
original copyright 2008, read in September 2010
Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10
Orc stereotype: Always evil, always cruel, often stupid. Always in hordes, always slaughtered by the heroes. Never villains, just minions of the villains. Always... until...Well, Markus Heitz took The Dwarves from supporting cast to lead role. Now Nicholls has taken Orcs from minions to stars.
Actually, my memory (from just six months ago!) failed me... I was thinking that Heitz had promoted Orcs! Good grief! Am I reading too many books?! No matter, the facts may be wrong but my opinion stays the same:
Heitz took the Dwarves from supporting act to starring role. He did it with strong characters who maintained their Dwarvish natures. The Dwarves of The Dwarves could only have been Dwarves. The book took Dwarvish stereotypes, applied them to strong characters and, in part, explained why Dwarves are the way that they are seen by other races.
Nicholls takes a bunch of tough-but-loyal soldiers -- and calls them Orcs.
Sure, they're the toughest fighters around. Sure, they have hatchlings instead of children. Sure, they eat raw meat. So what? Really, they are tough-but-loyal soldiers drawn just a little bit tougher. Tougher than most, that is.
Not that it's a bad book!
I enjoyed the action. There's the occasional flash of humour. For example...
The Orcs are following a road in the hope that it will lead to where they want to go. They pass a group of strangers, exchange goodwill rather than blows. (These hero Orcs don't harm those who show no threat.) As the groups part ways the female Orc asks her leader, "Why won't you males ever ask for directions?"
These Orcs are tough and they enjoy a good fight. They support each other and they support other Orcs in need. Orcs have no magic but they defeat human magic with cold steel.
Hmmm... Humans are bad, many are evil, they treat Orcs as you would expect, given the stereotype. Some Humans do treat Orcs fairly, as equals. There are good Humans, and bad. Amongst the Orcs, there are strong Orcs and there are weak Orcs. But there are -- as far as I can tell -- no evil Orcs. Okay, I guess that's the advantage of being the heroes of this book.
So it's Orcs plus a few Humans (plus a couple of Dwarves) versus a world of cruel Humans lead by a few evil Humans. Simple schemes successfully executed, mostly supported by cold steel. Major battles, lots of blood and gore. Orcs may not win every battle -- but they always get away (after a few deaths of minor characters) to fight another day.
Okay, it's a potboiler. But it's an enjoyable potboiler. It stars the Orcs but they are not much more than tough, two-fisted fighters. Which is a pity. But it's still an enjoyable book.
There are some books which give a much better insight into Orcs. A believable insight, which explains why they are as they are. Books which set Orcs up as heroes who fight for "the other side". Those books are part of the World of Warcraft universe.
I read some of those World of Warcraft books, a couple of years ago. Before I began this book review blog. In my memory, those books would rate a seven, or possibly even an eight. Perhaps it's time to find them again, re-read them, and give them a PissWeakly review...
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