A review by nevermoregothic
The Orc Prince Trilogy Omnibus Edition by Lionel Hart

3.0

I was pleasantly surprised by this story. Though it was far from perfect, a fairly basic plot and a few jarring errors that should have been pointed out by a proof reader definitely working as distractions it was enjoyable, which is really all that matters.
You can't go into a story that has a heavy focus on eroticism expecting it to be the next Lord of the Rings and it was far from that but it was fun and the story, though not magnificent, was compelling enough to keep my interest.
The pacing felt a little off, some parts feeling a little slow and others feeling a little too quick and certain story arcs ended with fairly unsatisfying endings.
Regardless of all that the characters are very likeable, though I feel Hart could improve somewhat in separating character voices and personality, there is still a good cast. My main complaint in terms of characters is that my favourite character, King Ruven, could have had a stronger part to play.
The world building was simplistic but it worked well, Hart does well with what he knows and I respect that. I was also rather worried when a certain factor about elf physiology was mentioned, something common in yaoi and fanfiction circles often played out as a fetish. Hart surprised me by introducing this concept as merely a form of adjusting the fantasy race to his own story and it worked well.
Though this isn't exactly what I was hoping for when seeking out high fantasy m/m romance I'm still happy to have found it as I found it heavily entertaining. The action and drama didn't have me at the edge of my seat but it definitely had me concerned.