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I was tricked into reading this - my copy had a quote on the cover by Tad Williams. I adore Tad Williams' work and the premise sounded neat (Orcs as you've never seen them! or something to that effect), so I bought the book.

First problem: The writing style drove me up the wall. It felt juvenile, with lots of telling rather than showing, and generally the writing seemed clunky and lacked polish. Oddly enough, the writing for the dream sequences were an exception; they were well-written, conveyed the mood properly, and generally worked well. Unfortunately, they were a small fraction of the book.

Second problem: false advertising. The cover promised a new take on orcs, but apparently the author had never heard of Thrall and the Warcraft universe. Sorry, but the idea of orcs that have a conscience, have nobility, escape from serfdom - this has been *done*, and frankly done much better.

Third problem: cardboard cut-out evil villain for the sake of being evil, complete with unicorn horn dildo for impaling ... yeah, nevermind. If it weren't for the completely unnecessary sex scenes with extreme (though implied) violence, I might have suggested that this book was targeted at teens, who might be more tolerant of this schlock.

Fourth problem: The last 2-3 pages introduce a completely gratuitous "explanation" that doesn't fit with the depiction of the characters at all, and ends in a big "To Be Continued." As if.

I will admit that after forcing myself to read the first half of this book (I ran out of the backs of cereal boxes), I did find myself moderately invested in the characters and their quest. This made the cop-out ending even more disappointing than it would have been if I hadn't cared at all.