Queen of the Orcs is the tale of a woman who is conscripted into the army to serve the orcs and ends up becoming their queen.

The main character is Dar, a woman whose initial goal is simply to survive. Branded so she can never leave the army, Dar is sent to a regiment that uses orcs in combat. There, she is abused by its human soldiers and terrified of its orc warriors. Nevertheless, she decides her chances would be better if she learned to speak the Orcish language. This contact alters her perspective, and she comes to appreciate the orcs’ inherent goodness. After the humans use the orcs as bait in an ambush, Dar realizes where her loyalty lies. She incites the surviving orcs to desert by promising to get them home.

In the orc culture, females are leaders, and as Dar guides the orcs through enemy territory, she grows into that role. On the journey, she and Kovok-mah, the orc who first befriended her, fall in love. Both realize their romance is likely doomed, but Dar sees it as her only chance to integrate into orc society. When Dar reaches the orc homeland and encounters its matriarchs, she discovers that finding a place there will be more difficult than she imagined. Eventually, she undergoes a ritual to be “reborn” into an orc clan. As such, she is sent back to the human world to rescue the orc queen.

Back among humans, Dar encounters old enemies and an old love. Dar rescues the orc queen, only to discover the monarch has been poisoned. The crown passes to Dar who must now prevent a war between the orcs and humans. Forcing a confrontation with the human king and his sorcerer, she overcomes them while receiving a poisoned wound. Dar returns to the orc homeland to pass on the crown before she dies.

Dar’s arrival as queen is a shock to the clan matriarchs, and her recovery is an even greater one because it fulfills a disturbing prophecy. While opposition to Dar’s rule mounts, her human enemies secretly grow stronger. The sorcerer has been transformed, not slain, in his confrontation with Dar. With increased powers, he plots revenge on Dar and the slaughter of her subjects. After Dar finally consolidates her power, she faces this new threat. It is then she learns that sovereignty often demands the ultimate sacrifice.