La Légion du Tonnerre

Orcs: First Blood #2

by Stan Nicholls

Mon nom est Stryke. Longtemps, il fut synonyme de mort et de désolation. Fier d’être né orc, insensible à ceux qui me traitaient de boucher, j’ai mené mes guerriers à la victoire, portant haut la bannière de Jennesta lors des guerres qui déchirèrent Maras-Dentia. Et j’ai tué trop d’humains pour me souvenir de tous ! Aujourd’hui, je sais qu’il y a une autre voie. Un lieu où les orcs, les elfes, les nains et même les humains peuvent vivre en paix. En rêve, j’ai vu un monde harmonieux où tous nos enfants grandiront en sécurité. Ce songe doit devenir réalité ! Poursuivi par les sbires de Jennesta, traqué par des chasseurs de primes, maudit par toutes les races, je vaincrai quand même. Sinon, la guerre qui éclatera nous balayera tous ! Ecoutez-moi ! Dans la tourmente à venir, il faudra être avec moi ou contre moi. Et que mes adversaires tremblent, car la pitié est un luxe que je ne pourrai plus me permettre !

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, High Fantasy, Audiobook, Ebooks

Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Stan Nicholls (born 1949) is a British author and journalist, working full-time since 1981. He is the author of many novels and short stories but is best known for the internationally acclaimed Orcs: First Blood series.

Reviews

[Phil]

Nicholls picks up where the cliffhanger left off and at the end, gives us another. Obviously, Orcs is just one story broken up into three parts. Stryke's war band the Wolverines broke from Jennesta's hoard as they knew they would be killed for not arriving back in time from their original mission-- secure some artifact from a human homestead. After some trials and tribulations, they regained the original artifact, an instrumentality, and in the second installment, they start collecting more. In Legion of Thunder, they have already obtained three of the instrumentalities and seek the forth of the five from the Centaurs off to the west. To get this, they first must perform a quest for the Centaur leader...

While these are definitely not deep reads, they are fast and fun. Nicholls leaves the reader hanging about the 'stars' or instrumentalities; it seems lots of legends surround them in myth and lore, but no one really knows what they can do or how they work. One of Strykes officers went a bit crazy and ran off with three of them, but they managed to recover him and the stars eventually; he claimed they were singing to him, but does not remember much of his ordeal.

Other mysteries still abound. First, Stryke keeps having dreams about a fantastic Orc homeland and a saucy female orc there. Another player keeps dropping in as well; probably a wizard, he assumes the from of a traveling bard and pops up from time to time and possesses knowledge of the stars. The implacable, evil Queen Jennesta is determined to catch and kill Stryke and his war band and get the 'stars' for herself.

Finally, lots of action and I am looking forward to the conclusion! 3 pulpy stars.

[Daniel]

This book follows Stryke and crew in their search for the second of the instrumentalities, in their bid to return power to the lands and unseat Jennesta, the Sorceress Queen. This book finds the Orcs on the wrong side of crazed human cultists who believe Orc skin and blood are magic. They also entreat with Centaurs and fight pitched battles all through this book. It's a great read and the ending is really unbelievable, so it really got me reacquainted with these books so I can blast into the third. This is a really fn experience and I can't wait to jump into book three, which I shall do so now!

Danny

[Diletta]

Più divertente del primo volume ma ci si sta dirigendo verso un omogeneo abbozzamento di qualsiasi cosa. Tutto sta diventando, poco a poco, superficiale. La missione, i personaggi, i misteri.
Mi diverte tantissimo e allo stesso tempo mi esaspera.
Inoltre: era davvero necessario inserire tipo quindici razze diverse? Insommina.

[Wade Johnston]

3.5 stars

Very fast paced. Overall an enjoyable read. I think it's an improvement over the first book and by the end I didn't want the book to end yet. I need to stew but I'll update this review in a day or two.

[Floris Dekker]

4 sterren als in, is dit boek goed? Neuh niet perse maar ik vind 3 sterren te gemeen net zoals bij deel 1 en wie ben ik weetje.

De wereld voelt echt enorm klein what da heck. Binnen 3 dagen zijn ze van West naar Oost?! Speelt dit zich af op een soort Nederland grootte? De karakters zijn in dit deel wel wat fijner en beter maar misschien komt het omdat ik al 400 paginas over ze lees. Het is ook geen pioneer werk hoor die karakters, ze gaan niet ver en of diep. De onsterfelijk heid van deze orcs in de warband doet me denken aan de plot armor dragende dwergen van de dwergen serie. Mijn game of thrones hart vind dat niet spannend genoeg, kom op laat er een paar dramatisch sterven ofzo, kan toch niet dat zij letterlijk 10 keer vechten in dramatische omstandigheden en dat letterlijk niemand dood gaat?! De heftige sex torture scènes waren niet meer te bekennen in dit boek, misschien toch te veel kritiek na het eerste boek? Idk, anyway boek drie baby lets go!!

[Neberitos]

Sadly just as mid as the first one

[Gillis]

Wat een teleurstelling was dit boek!
Het eerste deel in de reeks was een 'ok' boek: het had een veelbelovend uitgangspunt (verhaal vanuit het gezichtspunt van de orcs verteld) maar ik bleef qua uitwerking wat op mijn honger zitten. Wat vooral aandacht trok, waren de vele, vele, vele (zeer goed geschreven) gevecht scenes. Er zijn er gewoon zoveel dat het verhaal zelf erin verdrinkt.
Ik had gehoopt dat dit vervolg een nieuwe wending zou geven aan het verhaal waardoor het wat boeiender zou worden.
Maar helaas: een nog steeds slechts vaag uitgewerkt, onduidelijke plot begeleidt je van gevecht naar gevecht. Een goede motivatie voor de vele gevechten of voor de zoektocht die de orcs ondernemen ontbreekt. Dit lijkt me een reeks voor wie van sappige vechtscenes houdt zonder daarbij veel verhaal te verwachten.
Ik heb me door het boek geworsteld en deel 3 -dat al klaar lag in de kast- gaat ongelezen naar de bibliotheek terug.

[Metello]

Prosegue il precedente, senza infamia e senza lode, l'ho trovato forse più scorrevole del precedente.

La trama va avanti, forse mi aspettavo introducesse qualche personaggio nuovo o qualche situazione degna di nota, invece prosegue liscia.

[eFTy]

Avoid. Read almsot anything else. If you want more details, see the First Blood omnibus review.

[Angelo Santoro]

Secondo libro della Trilogia "Orchi" di Stan Nicholls, "Le legioni del tuono" ... ed anche qui, come per i guardiani dei lampi, non sappiamo per che cosa stia il titolo.

La storia prosegue, con l'inserimento di diverse razze, con il prosieguo della storia da dove lo avevamo lasciato. Ma se possibile questo libro riesce ad essere anche peggiore del precedente. Non c'è alcun miglioramento psicologico dei personaggi, tutto sembra scorrere inesorabilmente e senza lasciare una vera traccia di ciò che accade.

I combattimenti sono raffazonati, scritti male e scontati - ci troviamo di fronte ad un gruppo che a quanto pare gode dei poteri dell'immortalità - la storyline sembra andare senza senso troppo velocemente, con cambi di scena repentini e che sembrano soltanto dei filler. Non si ha un contesto di world building, è tutto così mediocre e già letto.

Per non parlare del personaggio rivelazione, ennesima figura bardica dai poteri misteriosi ...

Il libro come il precedente viene letto velocemente e a questo punto ciò non è una nota a favore ... mi sarebbe piaciuto potermi soffermare a ragionare su qualcosa che mi desse da pensare, qualcosa che mi facesse socchiudere il libro e pensare: "wa ... che genialata!" ... purtroppo non è stato così.

Leggerò per completezza anche il terzo perchè son masochista ed odio lasciare le cose in sospeso.

Unica positiva di questo volume è la presenza, ad inizio libro, di un riassunto del capitolo precedente.

[Ken Finlay]

“Legion of Thunder”, second in the 'Orcs: First Blood' series, is not a standalone novel – it requires some understanding of the events which happened in 'Bodyguard of Lightning.'
It's mainly hack and slash fantasy as a small warband of Orcs fight their way free of an evil sorceress queen and towards … well, that's something they've not quite figured out.
Only that it seems to involve finding all five pieces of a legendary object some know as an Instrumentality.
What it does, how it operates, even whether it has anything to do with their predicament, is a mystery.
And their leader, Stryke, is experiencing strange dreams of a place where Orcs live in peace. It seems too real to be a dream, but Stryke has no control over them.
As an all-action read it is good but the Orcs have little to distinguish them - except for physical characteristics - from the many other races involved.
3 Stars.

[Malcolm Cox]

This book literally picks up where the previous book left off. Not a problem, except it's been four years since I read book one. Thankfully it does come with a handy summary of what came before.
I really like how these books have taken what is usually a largely underdeveloped minion character whose sole purpose in a story is to be slain by the hero in great numbers and made them into relatable characters who we want to see win.
The only issue I have is with the journeying across the landscape which seems to be a bit woolly in terms of time versus distance, but that's the power of narrativium I suppose.
The action set pieces are well laid out and described though the Orcs do largely appear to have some form of godmode cheat on.
Great fun.
Looking forward to getting answers in book 3...

[T.A.]

For some reason, I have the first two books in this series but not the last one in the trilogy and the truth is after finishing this second one I don't feel the need to rush out and buy the third one.

I remember when I bought them I was looking forward to a story from the point of view of the orcs and after finishing both books, whilst enjoyable in their own way, I don't think they delivered on that promise. They didn't feel like any orcs I've ever read about. If anything they felt like a band of mercenaries, who occasionally made reference to the fact that they were orcs and some random thing that they ridiculed about the weak humans in the story.

That said it is a good premise, it just isn't what I expected.

[MegaSolipsist]

Like the first book, this one is decently written, but nothing special. The plot was straight-forward and serviceable, Haskeer's stupidity seemed a bit flanderised, and the main character was compelling enough to stop me from giving up, but not enough to ever have me on the edge of my seat.
I think the main problem with these books is that the orc warband is just too elite. They regularly battle groups twice their size to the death without taking any casualties. I get that orcs are meant to be the best fighters, but the way it's described in this, they should have conquered the entire world decades ago.

[Camilo Guerra]

La historia avanza y es pelea ,tras pelea, tras pelea y la gran mayoria son entretenidas , vemos homunculos, seres de agua ( ¿ sirenos?) , magia oscura y mas mala leche y nuestro grupo de orcos se ve en unas muy jodidos pero tu les coges cariños a esta banda de orcos , pero hay un punto en que ves que les salen todas, eplean y pelean y nunca pierden hasta que una pelea se cobra con la vida de uno, pero es que era normal que pasara . El capitulo de Stryke con el efecto de las drogas es muy entretenido ,sangriento y bien escrito. Aguanten los orcos !!!.

[Kahn]

I honestly could't remember, as I trudged through the second of the Orcs trilogy, if I had enjoyed the first.
Apparently, having checked the review, I had.
Which came as something of a surprise, because book 2 is essentially more of the same, only without the sense of 'romp' and 'fun'.
There's more of a plot, there's more attempt at depth, we have new characters - but what we also have is a sense that there must be more to life than this.
The third one, when the time comes, should be a riot.

[Sammi]

Addictive, compelling, unpredictable. A refreshing fantasy read set in an interesting world and peopled with engaging characters. 4 / 5

Read the full review, and others, on Sammi Loves Books: https://sammicox.wordpress.com/

[MaxKender]

Anche in questo secondo episodio la lettura risulta scorrevole, rapida e divertente. Stesso stile del primo libro. Continuano le avventure e la ricerca iniziate nel primo libro. Anche in questo caso, il libro è molto carino. Non sarà un libro fenomenale, ma di sicuro non è un libro noioso.

[Farnese]

Non mi piacciono, e mai mi piaceranno, le dimensioni alternative e i multiversi inseriti con la forza. Il romanzo resta godibile e divertente, a tratti anche più del primo, ma ha cominciato a farmi interessare sempre meno.

[Govno Nichevo]

I thought that this was an okay read. Continued the story on from where the first book stopped. Lots more action, and more mysticism, as this quest story continued. Again, stopped at a convenient point in the story rather than reached a conclusion.

[Chris]

Love these books.

[Ian]

Enjoyable

[Silvia Ziviani]

Anche se per ora la saga non mi sembra particolarmente originale nella trama così come nei personaggi, apprezzo molto il ritmo scorrevole della narrazione e l'ambientazione.

[Shanna Klutts]

Better than the last one. Enjoyed the journey in this one. Better story arch than the first.

[Benjamin Hesdorf]

What a ride! I hope the third book in the series is as good as the first two.

[Billy Fitzmaurice]

DNF at 50%. Wasn’t not enjoying it, but wasn’t exactly invested either and just kept thinking ‘is there something else I’d rather be reading?’

[Barry Irwin]

This read a little like a direcr run-on form the previous novel. Not much more character development, and a plot that was rather predictable.

[Camilla tra le righe]

Lettura di Leo, il mio compagno.
Non è un capolavoro, ma è una lettura scorrevole ed interessante.

[Olly]

peggio del primo, l'ho trovato più noioso e stancante.

[Davide Borghesi]

Personalmente sto trovando questa saga molto divertente. In confronto al primo é un po’ più dispersivo ed ha messo molta “carne al fuoco”, speriamo che il seguito dia una quadra al tutto.