Book Review: Invasion of the Ortaks: Book IV Brutal Force

Book III The Rebellion ends triumphantly as Queen Egny’s army breaks the siege of Crown City by defeating the Ortaks. However, the battle doesn’t stop there as Tania brings news about King Anton of Antonia marching over Bending Pass with his army. And so, the story continues with Book IV Brutal Force where King Anton is just one of the many threats that arise: outlaws cooperate with the Ortaks as they plunder towns and cities to ship slaves to Orknia and sell them; hundreds of thousands of creatures like vargs, demons, necromancers, and dark elves enter Alfheim. With evil humans and evil creatures that aim to harm innocent people and good elves, will Queen Egny, Axel, Sir Klaus, Christmund, and the rest of the heroes and heroines of Esthopia be able to stop these brutal forces from attacking them?

Invasion of the Ortaks: Book IV Brutal Force by Sveinn Benonysson lives up to its title – BRUTAL. The gruesome reality of war and invasion is alive in this book. Murders, sexual assaults and war casualties have psychological effects that will leave the reader feeling repulsed by the incidents but at the same time, the heroic acts of the protagonists will inspire readers to just keep on reading because the surprises never end.

There are specific things that I like about this novel because of their lasting impression: (1) Tania’s dream and idea to use elven lights in the battle against the creatures from the Underworld, (2) The part about figuring out when someone’s digging a tunnel has opened my curiosity and lastly, (3) There couldn’t be any happier moment than Ortaks falling on the battleground.

Honestly, I don’t like the theme itself because it’s brutal. Most especially, Prince Caleb’s backstory, and what happened to Geiry, Commander Gudvin’s wife. But this only means one thing – the author was effective in telling the story. Overall, I’m giving this 5 out of 5 stars for successfully instilling the types of emotions needed to be engrossed in the story; there were parts when I was mad, sad, and repulsed but there were also parts when I laughed, got surprised, and got entertained by some amusing moments. Hence, I recommend this book to all fantasy lovers but would have to limit it to mature readers due to violence and sexual assaults.