This book continued the story in the way I expected based on the way the first book ended. I’m still enjoying the story, but I thought this book got seriously bogged down in the middle with too much romantic obsession. The romance itself isn’t so bad; it’s believable and a bit touching. What frustrated me was the way it took over the main character’s thoughts, becoming a monotonous and repetitively angsty obsession. There’s also a bit of a love triangle going on which certainly didn’t improve matters. Because of this, I found this book much easier to put down than the first book and harder to pick back up.

Eventually the romance took a back seat again and we got back to the meat of the story. I enjoyed the story itself a great deal. Events progressed quickly and there were things that happened at the end of this book that I hadn’t expected to see addressed until the final book. The ending made it clear that there’s still more story to tell, though, and it left me curious to see what would happen next. I plan to start the final book today. ( )

Befriending the Orcs proved Dar's salvation when her family surrendered her to serve the king's army. Now the army's leaders have betrayed the Orcs, and their - and Dar's - only hope is escape. She must lead them through hostile territory back to the Orcs' mountains. Even if they survive the trip, Dar's welcome is uncertain, for although her Orc comrades are loyal, sons don't decide things, mothers do - and the Orc mothers may not be pleased to meet her.

Less than pleased to find a washavoki among their sons, the mothers charge her with a task - rescue their queen from the human king. For Dar to survive she'll have to defeat the very dark wizard that betrayed her and the Orcs at the start of their forced march home.

Tense, thrilling, and hard to put down. ( )

D: OK, no one is going to be surprised by the conclusion of this novel given that the title of the series is "Queen of the Orcs." That being said, the story takes a satisfyingly crooked path to its ordained conclusion, and I really enjoyed reading a story where the ending was "fated", but the journey was not. Also, I found this book's pro-female theme of sexuality and empowerment to be very refreshing. ( )

I quite liked the first book, but this second in the series didn't work for me. The clunky way she tells the story felt less fable like and more like bad writing. I actually started skimming. Nothing unpredictable or unexpected happened, and there was little poetry in the story. While the male Orcs felt like a different race of beings altogether, the female Orcs just felt like not very nice women. We did get to (briefly) meet the Queen of the Orcs, but the reversal of role wasn't as interesting, and the Orc women were far less pleasant than their poor subservient sons, showing once again, that unbalanced power corrupts. ( )

http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.asp?book=1149 ( )