A Sliver of Redemption by David Dalglish is the fifth and final book in his Half-Orcs series. Finally, after having read the previous four books, things come to an end! The Half-Orcs series has been a fantastic overall fantasy adventure and for that I can’t thank the author enough for all of the hard work and dedication he put into the series. With the last book, you just know there will be epic battle scenes and that is exactly what the author tries to give us. And as usual, there will be a lot of blood, gore and death. That’s what I love about this series. The author throughout the series has never been afraid to write in as dark of a manner as he wants to for fear of backlash from critics and fans alike. It’s been one heck of a ride throughout this whole series and I’m glad I saw it to the end here.

Picking up where things left off in the last book, the demon warlord Thulos has been granted passage to Dezrel and is seeking domination. With the help of his demon army along with Velixar’s undead companions, they seek to lay destruction throughout the world. The good guys are seriously outnumbered and many do not even seem to possess the courage to fight back. It’s sure to be an uphill struggle but that’s where Hurruq, Tarlak, Aurelia and the paladins step in to help even the odds. As with the last couple of books or so, the main focus has been shifted a little away from the Tun brothers and instead to the overall bigger picture. However, things finally get settled between Hurruq and Qurruh in the end. I’m also glad the author put in a little bit more work where Deathmask and Veliana are concerned. Although I’ve been introduced to both characters in the Shadowdance trilogy, they just haven’t been seen much in this series. Here though, both had a much bigger role to fill and I’m happy to see the spotlight on them for a change.

As I also mentioned in previous books by the author, he once again shows here how good of a job he does at managing the overall story. The pace is just perfect. There really isn’t a dull moment. Characters always have something interesting to say or do. There are some love conversations between Qurruh and Tessanna I could do without but overall, the pace is superb. One of the biggest issue I have with the conclusion is what happens to Qurruh in the end. It just felt a bit cheesy. I don’t want to ruin the moment obviously so I won’t detail it here but the question many of you should be asking is whether Qurruh will live or die in the end. Will he find redemption in the afterlife or will he be given a new chance at life? While I don’t have an issue with what the author chose for Qurruh’s fate, I did have an issue with how he did it.

With all that being said, I still recommend readers in the fantasy genre to give this series a chance. It has pretty much everything needed in a great fantasy story. If there is one piece of advice I can give to the author, that would be to make his characters scheme a little more. This gives the story a more ‘grandiose’ feeling such as with other epic fantasy books. There’s just something about evil characters scheming and plotting in the background that just makes things more exciting! But anyways, the author makes it well known in the end that the journey has not completed 100% just yet. There are more things to do in the land of Dezrel and I for one will continue my support when he releases his next book.