The Grey Bastards
Ratings39
Average rating3.9
A solid 3 stars. It ramped up nicely in the second half and I felt like I knew the characters reasonably well. There's a lot more fleshing out that could be done in the next book, which is a nice way of building a series to keep the reader going.
The world-building was okay. I look forward to learning more about the world.
It was a clever way to portray traditional fantasy races with the idea of half-bloods and the racism angle that comes up. Nice to see a strong female lead too, even if she was a little thin in terms of back story. It would be nice to have had a POV shift to Fetch in a chapter or two to flesh her out a bit.
My favourite thing would have to be the hogs. They sound so cool!
Johnathan French's Grey Bastards is a story of family, loyalty, and duty all taking place within the magnificent setting of The Lot Lands. The main characters of the story are a group of half-orcs. Half-orcs are Half-breeds. They are accepted by no single group, human, orc, or elf. But a combination of two or three. They call themselves the pejorative name mongrel. So they become a group and a society very much unto themselves. Their group is called a ‘Hoof,' and it resembles much of what a motorcycle gang would look like if the gang was half-orc and rode giant war-pigs into battle. They ride literal “hogs” into battle their foes. The Hoof protects their land, they protect their interests, and they protect the young and orphans that come in search of refuge. Much like a gang, there is a very ordered pattern for behavior, code, and honor that is ingrained into the Hoof members. There is a leader, and he takes the lead on what the Hoof does and how it interacts with other groups. He is supposed to bring order and offer shelter to The Hoof's members. There are members who in charge of different things. Some are in charge of armaments, some are in charge of protection, but they all work at the behest of the leader. The crux of the story involves a young Hoof member named Jackal.
Jackal is a very dynamic character and reminds me very much of Jax from Sons of Anarchy. Jax was a morally gray character as is Jackal. Jax was good looking, young and charismatic. Same for Jackal. Jackal has ethical personality aspects, but he does things for the benefit of his crew and family that could be seen as ignoble. Same as The Grey Bastards. Much of the narrative exists within the grey area of morality. There are no good guys and bad guys, much like real life. Instead, Jackal does what he thinks is right. I believe this is a much more believable and dynamic protagonist. A reader may not agree with Jackal's choices morality-wise, but they can empathize and understand why he chooses to do what he does.
Along with Jackal, there are many well-developed and stand out characters. First, are Oats and Fetch, Jackals best friends and childhood playmates. They all grew up in The orphanage that is run by The Hoof. Because there is so much history and easiness between them all fueled by shared personal accounts, the interactions between the three come free-flowing and natural. French does an excellent job creating believable relationships with dynamic language and dialog. Although I don't want to spoil anything, the stories antagonists are also well done. Again, they are morally grey. You can almost side with them and their actions.
The worldbuilding is reminiscent of The First Law series. It is gritty, grimy, and dusty. So much so that a reader might actually believe they could dust their brow while reading. It is immersive and dark. Not only is the setting fleshed out, but the orcs backstory is well done. Bits and pieces of the shared character histories are given piecemeal as the narrative progresses. This sets a dark past for the half-orcs that echos through the present. Along with the half-orcs, we have some typical fantasy archetypes playing important roles, but they are done well. Nothing feels overdone, or lame.
The Grey Bastards is what I wish most adult fantasy novels were. Fleshed out and fresh while being exciting and just damn good. Everything is top notch. I seriously cannot wait till the next book comes out. I want to know more about The Lot Lands and what Johnathon French has in store for us readers.
This is one of those reviews I wish I had written days after reading instead of over a month later. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to give the book justice.
I absolutely loved this book. There were times I did need to take breaks from it, but that is because I'm not a huge epic fantasy reader. I was hooked the whole time though. Usually when reading these more complex fantasy novels, I feel like I'm drowning in details, which I understand why it needs to be done and I know some people LOVE it, but this book never made me feel that way. From the get go I was pulled in and slowly the information is given about the world and people at just the right speed for me.
I will say, at first I wasn't sure what the point of the story was– what is it about and where is it going? For the most part, I didn't care because I was so invested in Jackal and the problems he was facing. It did catch me off guard though when I was only halfway through the book and thought I was almost done –although I usually read book less than 400 pages, so that might have contributed as well.
This book is gritty and I tended to read it in a more stereotypical deep, gravely male voice because it just fits Jackal so well and the merciless world he lives in. This definitely feels more like Sons of Anarchy in a Lord of the Rings setting. It was so interesting! This is a book to read slow and savor. I think most of the characters are pretty well developed and I'm hoping that they will show up in future books.
Yes, I am totally going to be continuing this series. I recommend this one to people looking for a gritty, badass epic fantasy andwho don't mind cursing.
The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French turned heads back in 2017 by winning the second annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off run by Mark Lawrence. It follows a “biker gang” of half-orcs that patrol on giant boars and has since been picked up and published by a major publishing company in June 2018.
French manages to take what could have been a generic fantasy setting (halflings, orcs, elves, etc.) and spin it into a gritty, unique world. Halflings are intimidating as hell, there's a mysterious Betrayer Moon that can pop up at random that stirs the centaurs into a killing frenzy, and the existence of any “good guys” is questionable at best.
Years before the story picks up, a massive war took place between humans and orcs. When it looked like the humans would lose, their half-orc slaves took up arms and rode into battle astride giant war pigs. As repayment for their heroism, the humans granted the half-orcs their freedom and land at the border between the orc and human realms, on the condition that they help prevent the orcs from returning.
Thus began the half-orc “hoofs,” who all share the same badass motto:
Live in the saddle. Die on the hog!
Jackal:
Fetching:
Oats:
The Claymaster:
Crafty:
Target Audience
This one was one of the crudest, most fun things ever and in that way it was absolute perfection. Funny enough, as I wasn't 100% sure about it when I succumbed to the trend on Goodreads and put it and also [b:Kings of the Wyld 30841984 Kings of the Wyld (The Band, #1) Nicholas Eames https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1477027207l/30841984.SY75.jpg 51246585] on my list. Somehow that one seemed more of an obvious winner, but this... god, this one matched it. The Lot Lands are harsh. Imagine some dried out, barely populated Wild West of a place, ending in marshes, the insulation between cultured, inhabited lands and... basically orcs. The people populating it are misfits and outlaws, ones who couldn't fit it with polite society, some of said people are more on the not entirely human side, namely half orcs, forming bands to keep the orcs away. Jackal, our protagonist is a member of one of the bands, the Grey Bastards, lead by a kind of insane, ageing boss suffering from a mysterious illness. When him and his friends, Oats and Fetching get attacked at a brothel by human soldiers the delicate balance between the different races seems to become impossible to maintain. Their problems are just beginning, though. Please, please, please, if you are in any way sensitive, avoid this. You will be offended. There is violence, blood, swearing, sex, dick jokes galore. It is not for everyone and that is fine, the book is not some crime against humanity because it is rough. Especially when said rough things and not PC characters fit in with the world. Here comes the soapbox; when we have a world where everything from the weather to your neighbours are inhospitable and dangerous to your life, it is understandable that you will be uncouth. It doesn't mean it is nice to be so, but it is not a surprise. Here it is a fact. Which leads to my next point; characters being imperfect or doing things socially not acceptable and offensive in our reality are okay to exist. They absolutely do not reflect on the author's (or the actor's playing them in different media) character whatsoever. If you can't handle those things, avoid this. Now that only the ones willing to handle “no homo” jokes and descriptions of prostitution and such are left here, lets go into some details about this joy of a book. Orcs and elves are not my personal favourites. It's really just based on personal taste, but give me mages and dragons any day over freaking elves and orcs. With elves it's mostly how damn cheesy they can be so fast, basically super dignified fairies with their sparkly accessories and soppy poetry. With orcs I have no idea. I guess I don't find them particularly interesting. Here somehow the world building was just the right amount of grit and established ideas to work out. Granted, not much about elves yet, but still, it worked. The fact we follow a mixed race was pleasant, as it had some connection to both sides, but they were separate enough to have their own voice and culture. The scope wasn't gigantic, the events mostly played out in a few settlements of the Lot Lands and just a toe dipped into the human controlled areas. We will definitely see more later. The characters are... grey. What felt especially wonderful was how while the half orcs dislike the humans who often use them as slaves, they were not the noble savages as opposed to the horrible cultured society. Often that is the issue; the more “barbaric” races and cultures are turned into these deep, exotic ones that possess some higher knowledge because mumbo jumbo and spiritual stuff. We see them in their own culture, hierarchies, feuds, issues and it all feels realistic. They are not elevated. They possess the same flaws as everyone else, they are not a perfect civilisation. They are not there to just smash all kinds of injustice and social issues. They are very much realistic. It's kind of hard to go into details without giving away too much, because as far as their society goes, there are some interesting plot twists. Talking about plot twists, they did work so well. Don't get me wrong, the story draw me in from the get go and I basically needed no time to be invested, but things got a depth ad we went ahead with the story. If anything, they turned out to be surprisingly interesting, different and smart. (Not everyone will agree with me, I already know that. If I'm an idiot for finding things in this clever, then I can live with that.) When you believe you realised how the power relations work here, you learn something new that changes things fundamentally. Which was something I loved. The plot twists actually affected the whole world. They were substantial enough to not be shock factor or only concerning certain characters, but to actually make a difference. When it comes to banter in books, it can either work so well or fail spectacularly and make you end up with 4th graders acting tough. (coughCassandraClarecough) Mr. French managed to make it feel real. Again, it can be juvenile and rude, it is. A lot of genitals flying all over the place. But... you can see it happening. The characters interact like loudmouth brothers-in-arms who bond over playful insults. Even the one sister-in-arms is one of them and I personally like that they are not easy on Fetching. She needs to keep up with them, so she needs to be up for all. AND SHE IS, hallelujah. The characters are all warriors, they all need to have a certain bite to them. They all do. They fit into the world they inhabit perfectly, they fit together and they still all have their colourful personalities. One of the absolute most outstanding ones to me was Oats, the protagonist's best friend. He is a thrice (mix of an orc and a half orc, 3/4 orc basically), therefore gigantic and brutish in looks, but he is the sweetest. A gentle giant who is fiercely loyal and really dependable. I loved him so much. I was genuinely impressed by this one. It had all the elements to make it a worthy read to me, I'm waiting eagerly for the next book in the series. I'm definitely picking it up once it's accessible. I would go as far as to say it absolutely can stand its own even among works of big names in fantasy. Absolute badassery. Good night and let me ride off to the sunset now!