The Grey Bastards
The Lot Lands
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The Grey Bastards
Narrated by:
Will Damron
Buy Now for £15.11
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Narrated by:
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Will Damron
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By:
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Jonathan French
Bring on the orcs....
Jackal is proud to be a Grey Bastard, member of a sworn brotherhood of half-orcs. Unloved and unwanted in civilized society, the Bastards eke out a hard life in the desolate no-man's-land called the Lots, protecting frail and noble human civilisation from invading bands of vicious full-blooded orcs.
But as Jackal is soon to learn, his pride may be misplaced. Because a dark secret lies at the heart of the Bastards' existence - one that reveals a horrifying truth behind humanity's tenuous peace with the orcs, and exposes a grave danger on the horizon.
On the heels of the ultimate betrayal, Jackal must scramble to stop a devastating invasion - even as he wonders where his true loyalties lie.
A standout adventure fantasy debut that's down, dirty and damn good fun - perfect for fans of Joe Abercombie, Mark Lawrence, Markus Heitz's Dwarves series and Stan Nicholl's Orcs series.
©2018 Jonathan French, Jonathan French (P)2018 Jonathan French, Jonathan French
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Critic reviews
"Filthy, charismatic, and frankly excellent." (Mark Lawrence)
"A bloody tale of battle, betrayal and war pigs." (Brian McClellan)
"Jonathan French has to be lauded for his plot ingenuity, bawdry charm and vicious characters. The Grey Bastards has instantaneously catapulted him into my must-read list." (Fantasy Book Critic)
At first glance I didn't think I would enjoy this book: Half-orcs as the good guys, and narrated by an American. (My experience with American authors is they are often fairly 'serious' with their narration and this can stifle the ability to bring the book to life.)
So, I read a few reviews and trusted them. Most notably, Simon 25/06/2018, JPA 30/10/2018 and Amazon Customer 07/03/2019. I must thank them for leaving well-written honest reviews. I won't repeat what they have written, although I can confirm that their reviews are very accurate.
My description would be similar to Simon's, this is 'Sons of Anarchy' with half-orcs riding hogs. The author's style made me have an emotional connection to some of the characters, something that does not happen very often. As for the narrator, he has totally changed my mind about American narrators, he was excellent. He pace, pitch and tone was varied to match the context of the book and he has a superb range of voices to make the characters fully distinguishable.
I have listened to many great audiobooks and I am unable to choose an overall favourite, if I was pushed to choose a top five, this audiobook would feature amongst them.
If you like stories with Orcs, Wizards and Elves, I highly recommend listening to this audiobook. I would choose listening over reading the book because the narration really does make the characters come to life.
I took a gamble choosing this book...
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Just OK. Interesting setting.
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If you love anything to do with Orcs,
This is a must read
Lok'tar Ogar,
Cannot wait for the next installment!
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Fast paced and exciting.
Excellent, unique fantasy!
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TLDR: An entertaining adventure as one half-orc has a rather interesting week. Lots of blood, guts, swearing, and brotherhood. A very enjoyable read.
More reviews at: https://www.fsfreviews.com/
A few minutes in and I’m already liking this one. A bit of blood, bad language, and unashamed nudity. It ticked all the masculinity boxes in a manner that was both entertaining and engrossing. The story follows a very eventful week or so in the life of a member of a hoof (tribe/clan/brotherhood) of half-orcs called the Grey Bastards, charged with patrolling their partition of land (the titular Lots) from raiding orcs. The world within which the Grey Bastards live is both believable and organic, something that brings a smile to the lore nerd and pedant I all to often become with universe building. You very easily come to understand how the current geographical and political situation came to be through amazing storytelling that is all show and very little tell, with the history of the land not just forming the backdrop upon which the story is told but playing a key part in the events to come. The novel itself is from the third-person perspective of Jackal, one of the Bastards with aspirations of claiming the chief’s spot, but things all take a turn for the unexpected when a half-orc wizard shows up. Adventure, bloodshed, brotherhood, and a fair bit of witty banter ensues. I really did enjoy this book.
Now, the story itself didn’t blow me completely away. I wasn’t subjected to nervous heart palpitations at any points and I wasn’t left desperately scrambling for the sequel, but I was never bored. Where this book really shone though was in the character development, specifically that of Jackal, Oats, and Fetch. The relationship between these three amigos felt truly real, with all the lumps and bumps that go hand in hand with lifelong friendships. Also, as mentioned, the world upon which our heroes tread is incredibly well thought out. Yes, it does do that pet-peeve of mine in using pre-existing races in orc, men, elves, and centaurs, but it does so in both novel and believable ways. Each faction acts as it would logically, each with their own flavour that allows them to tactfully avoid conforming to their race’s predictable tropes and leading to some truly original writing. And very importantly, at least from my perspective, there is plenty of fighting, both in the small and large scale. French has really thought about the tactics that would be employed by each faction when writing them and has integrated that into his work beautifully. Basically, the world he has built is entirely believable as a living, breathing landscape upon which we are merely spectators as one half-orc has a rather eventful few days.
The story itself is rich, filled with twist, turns, backstabbing, redemption, intrigue, and all that good stuff. Nothing that left my jaw hanging, but enough clever content that there was plenty that I never saw coming, something that I always appreciate. This is one of the fantasy books where there is no great evil looking to snuff out all life in a reign of darkness and blood (or at least not in this book), but rather there are just believable people acting for their own self-interest, and as in life, some of those people are manipulative arseholes with much darker agendas. These are the kinds of protagonists and antagonists that I love. Believable characters even in a make-believe world, and that is something that the Grey Bastards does very well. It hooked me enough that I’m looking forward to reading the next one, but I’m not cursing the gods for it not being out yet. An all-round good book with a lot of potential for the series and well worth a listen.
As for the narrator, solid performance. There weren’t a huge cast of characters to perform, so I wasn’t treated to the spectacular range, but everything he did do was on point. He could really get across a sense of bitterness in his characters, which considering how bitter and jaded most of them were, was a delight to listen to.
Personal score: 3.75 stars
Professional score: 3.75 stars
Half-orcs and hard folk. Gritty and gorgeous
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