Orcs as POV characters

Grunts by Mary Gentle
The Goblin Corps by Ari Marmell
A Demon in the Desert by Ashe Armstrong
The Queen of the Orcs series by Morgan Howell
The Orc Saga series by Amalia Dillin
The Mermaid's Tale by D. G. Valdron
The Half-Orcs series by David Dalglish

There are more out there but that should get you started. There's definitely a place for them in the genre, provided you can bring something new and interesting to the table.

Not a movie, but have you seen the Warcraft movie? The orcs were the best part of that story. For that matter, lots of Warcraft or Warhammer tie-in novels feature orcs as PoV characters. I might try publishing a short story about orcs some day, but I always am afraid using such widely used characters. I'd rather not come across as a DnD fanfic writer...unless Wizards of the Coast or Paizo wants to pay me for it. Then I'm incredibly enthusiastic about that prospect.

Welcheren said:

Apart from Stan Nichols, I am not aware of anyone having done this across an entire novel - putting Warhammer's world aside for the moment.

As far as any of you know, is there an interest in fantasy fiction with a predominant Orc-based perspective?

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I don't know about orcs, but The Goblin Emperor is an excellent novel told entirely from the POV of a goblin.

Jim C. Hines has a series of lbooks that center on Goblins. I've been meaning to read them but haven't gotten to them yet (I'll admit that the cover art makes them look a bit too cute for me), but they're fairly popular.

Mary Gentle has a book called Grunts, which is a satirical take on the LoTR tropes, with a group of orcs as the central characters.

I don't know about more serious novels, but of course the whole Warcraft world has orcs who are cast as sympathetic characters (for those of us who played the Horde, anyway), and there are a series of tie-in novels, many of which center on orc characters. These aren't Tolkien-style orcs, of course, as they have free will and a moral compass.

I suspect there are others, since we live in times when deconstructions of popular tropes and darker fantasy themes have become quite popular.

A good one that's just come out fairly recently is The Orc of Many Questions by Shane Michael Murray. I haven't read the full thing, but from the first few pages I've seen, it's entertaining. The premise is extremely interesting too, the story of a young orc who's extremely curious in world were the orcs live their lives just being the minions of a dragon, were asking questions is something they just don't do because things have always been just the way they are.

I keep reading this thread as 'orcas as POV characters'. Which would be interesting.

Welcheren said:

Great. Now I keep imagining Orcs riding orcas... with snorkels.

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Dorky orcs snorkelling for orkas
I wanna see a story about an orc raised by elves and not noticing he's different, like in that movie, Elf

I've been thinking about this topic recently myself. Even drew an orc girl to try and stop myself from coming up with something.

This thread has given me more books to add for the future of my reading endeavors.

I dunno, I was trying to think of unconventional heroines in fantasy settings.

In western RPGs (like Skyrim) I wanted to create a female orc, but couldn't make her look right. ;_;

If your into video games, there are a few good choices that have what your're looking.

Elder Scrolls is definitely a mainstay. It lets you play as a orc and there are plenty of orc NPCs.

Shadowrun is a bit unusual in that orcs are a subspecies of humans and a cyberpunk/fantasy mashup

While this game is not finished I do find Tusks: The Orc Dating Sim to be a very interesting romp so far.

I would read the heck out of an orc POV.

Welcheren said:

Well, do let me know if this idea develops any further and blooms into something you are willing to post on AW. Would love to see your ideas.

Love the Orc girl sketch.

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Heh, I'll personally message you if that happens, then.

I have thought of giving that character a story...

I myself have been working on an Urban Fantasy world with orcs for a few years now, but haven't read anything by other authors yet. I'll have to take a look at some of these

Came across this review, this weekend. Orcs in a historical fantasy, Viking setting. Sounds good!

I was involved in this anthology back in 2011. Most stories are told from the pov of the Orcs.