Title: Sold to the Orc
Author: Tara Phillips
Published by: Independently Published
Publication date: 5th July 2020
Genre: Erotica/Orc-Smut
Pages: 54
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Series: Orc Brides

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Blurb/Synopsis

Cyna is sold to the orc warrior as his bride
But Atul, the chieftain’s son, wants more than just her body
He wants her heart, and an heir.

Sold… her bride price paid for by an orc. Cyna’s father has traded her to this monstrous, battle-scarred warrior for a bag full of coins. She’s taken from her home, her family, her village, and everything she’s ever known.

Tall, imposing, scarred, and green. His white tusks curve up menacingly. Atul is the perfect image of a monster. A brute covered in leather and weapons, and yet he’s not at all what she expected. The orcs are not the monsters she’s been told to dread.

He says that he doesn’t want her fear. Instead, he wants her to acquiesce to him willingly. Wants her submission, her heart, and her womb. Because he intends to take his husbandly rights… intends to fill her belly with his child. And she’s finding it impossible to resist him.

Review

Continuing on through the plethora of Orc-related books I swiped onto my kindle. This was a rapid read at only 54 pages and, yes, is more smut. Whoops.

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Sold to the Orc follows the story of Cyna, who is forced into a relationship with Orc, Atul. Who buys her from her father in a (you guessed it) arranged marriage sort of situation. After a momentary fear, she soon discovers that Orcs aren’t really all that bad and willingly enters the relationship.

To say that this is a trope that I am getting pretty sick and tired of already is an understatement. Sure, I get it, these men are orcs and they aren’t pretty! But, do they really have to rely so much on women’s fathers selling them to them? I guess it’s not the fault of this book per say to rely on this old trope, but it’s a gripe I am already having with the genre and I’ll continue to complain about the lack of imagination any book that involves it.

The book’s first half which builds on the relationship between the two lead characters was pretty decent. There was a nice build-up of anticipation when Atul took Cyna to his home, and the world-building behind the orc race was different and captivating enough to keep the pages turning. It’s this aspect of the series that I’d like to see more of. The different take on Orc culture was pretty fascinating and the way their homeland was described was rich and vivid. Even if the relationship was not.

I struggled with Atul and Cyna for a couple of reasons. Firstly, she’s just been sold to him by her father and doesn’t seem too fussed about it. She goes with Atul pretty willingly and comes round to the relationship within a single day – because the orc leaves her alone long enough and she thinks that this is a good thing – her Stockholm syndrome is pretty strong!

Then, there’s another reason I couldn’t get into her as a character. She’s young. And right at the summit of her kinky times with Atul, just as they’re about to get it on, she drops the bombshell that she wants him to be forceful with her. She wants to pretend that the orc is, pretty much, raping her. Big. Hard. No. It seemed like the book did a total flip on itself in the type of romance and erotica it wanted to write. Starting off with tender care, her being all worried about being with an orc and what he’ll do to her… only with her wanting to have consensual, non-consensual sex. It was a total emersion breaker to me. Sure, I get that we all have our vices and what we enjoy, but it felt so out of no where for Cyna. And it felt wrong for Atul to go along with, who, up until this point had been pretty loving and caring.

The story goes from pretty much nothing to break-neck speed smut pretty quickly. Then it ends. As these books always seem to, with the girl being pregnant and happy in love.

Summary

I may complain bitterly about the tropes, characters and settings with these types of books, but they’re still pretty fun and I’m not ready to give up on my Greenskins just yet!

As a book this one was a bit… odd. Strange relationships all around and the whole rape play was more of a turn-off from a character that hadn’t even had sex before. Weird. Still going to try the rest of the books in the series though, cause… you know!?