The Weight of Blood - David Daglish

I picked up this book because a few years ago when I got my first Kindle, I became hooked on the free books available.  A lot are by independent authors trying to get their writing out there, and offer a book or two as loss leaders.  If you read my review of the game Of Orcs and Men, you know that I have a fascination for Orcs, so this book drew me like the proverbial moth to a flame.

This is the first book in the series, and it pulled me in.  Here are two half-Orc brothers, Harruq and Qurrah, who are very flawed. Qurrah is a necromancer of great power, and Harruq is his strong, warrior brother.  Harruq is really the focus of this book.  Harruq is Qurrah's strength and is often treated as the stupid muscle, but as the book unfolds, I found that Harruq is not as dumb as one would think, but is torn between his love for his brother and what is right. 

Not instantly redeemable or likeable characters - they start out killing children, which Harruq does at Qurrah's bidding, but feels horrible about at the same time; Harruq believes Qurrah that they are doing the right things.

Once the gods in their world are understood a little better, it was easier for me to accept the brutality of these characters and to a certain degree find some empathy for them, especially Harruq who eventually repents for what he has done, and tries his best to be a better person.  He pays for his sins later, but that is in the subsequent books in the series.

I am usually not drawn to such dark characters, but the writing sucked me in, and the character development was fascinating to me.  So despite my initial horror, I found I really, really enjoyed this book and the subsequent entries into the series, and was a bit sad to see the series end.