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Series: The Orc Prince Trilogy by Lionel Hart

Greetings and welcome to Reviews That Burn: Series Reviews, part of Books That Burn. Series Reviews discuss at least three books in a series and cover the overarching themes and development of the story across several books. I'd like to thank longtime Patron Case Aiken, who receives a monthly shoutout. Full Audio Here   An elven prince. The son of an orc warlord. In two warring nations, their arranged marriage brings peace. They never expected to fall in love. Prince Taegan Glynzeiros has prepared since childhood to fight and lead armies against invading orc forces, the enemies of elves for hundreds of years. But after a successful peace treaty, the elven prince will not be fighting orcs, but marrying one. The first words he speaks to Zorvut are their wedding vows. Despite being considered the runt amongst the orc warlord’s children, Taegan finds him to be intelligent and thoughtful—everything the stereotypes about orcs say he shouldn’t be. He doesn’t want to fall in love, but Zorv...

Animorphs Book 13: The Change by K. A. Applegate.

The Animorphs help some aliens in grave danger. Tobias becomes more active in the team, but has to accept some limitations. The balance of frustration and hope was handled well. When the Animorphs make wishes there's someone listening.

It's difficult to stress enough how much this series leans into the sense that these kids are on their own and can't trust anyone else, that not only does no one else know what they're going through, but that if they tried to explain it would put them in danger. But, with that, it also shows the importance of having people you can count on and can talk to. The Animorphs survive because they are a group who has chosen to work together and trust each other.

I'm appreciating how much each of the kids feels like an outsider even though they are a group. That might sound strange, but it helps to convey the feeling that everyone feels left out sometimes, and while they're sometimes right, it's not really possible to have an entire group who are outsiders from that group. Tobias has felt left out and ineffectual, and he gets an opportunity to fix that but it's a bit of a monkey's paw situation. Not quite that bad, but he definitely doesn't get what he would have wished directly for.

A hawk (Tobias) turns into a boy

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