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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...

The Beast of Loughby Island by Matt Doyle

A young man named Tom Daniels is kidnapped by a local family and is dropped on Loughby Island in an attempt to 'clean up their streets'.

When the family that dropped Tom off is slaughtered by a werewolf-like creature, he soon finds himself banding together with a small group of the island's residents in a fight for their lives against an otherworldly monster.

PUBLISHER: Fractured Mirror Publishing
YEAR: 2023
LENGTH: 122 pages
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Horror
RECOMMENDED: Highly

Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Secondary Character(s), Trans Secondary Character(s).

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book. 

THE BEAST OF LOUGHBY ISLAND is a tightly-written horror story set on a small island. A werewolf-like creature has begun menacing and killing the island's inhabitants, starting with a xenophobic family who just finished dropping off their kidnap victim. The focus shifts between characters as they're stalked in turn and try to figure out what's going on as the bodies pile up. 

It's been a long time (if ever) since I read a straight-up monster story that isn't also a romance. There's a strong sense of place, and time to get a sense of most of the characters before their messy ends. This is a good read, and a quick one. 

Graphic/Explicit CW for blood, gore, violence, gun violence, injury detail, torture, death.

Moderate CW for cursing, classism, kidnapping, confinement.

Minor CW for xenophobia, racism, transphobia, excrement.

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A winding road in the moonlight, lined by trees.


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