Book Review - The Grey Bastards By Jonathan French

(This cover is the original artwork from the self published edition)

A review of

The Grey Bastards

By

Jonathan French

This book came to my attention after winning the SPFBO award in 2017, and was then picked up and published by Orbit. Now, wow! That’s quite a success story, and got me thinking it must be worth checking out.

Now, I’ve heard this book described as Sons of Anarchy but with Orks, and you know, it’s not far wrong. There is definitely a gang vibe going on but instead of bikes, they’re on kick ass fucking piggy war-hogs. They ride around swearing and generally being bad ass on literally hogs. There’s a hog called Ugfuck! I mean I was sold pretty early on with this story.

Now, it’s not just a cool setting, the plot is pretty damn good too.

It focuses on the main character Jackal, a half-ork riding with The Grey Bastards, one of several hoofs protecting the Lot Lands from ork incursion. He is accompanied by Oats and Fletching and the other members of his hoof. It appears things aren’t quite right in both the Lot Lands or within the hoof, a power struggle ensues, a mysterious magic user appears offering his services, but where do his allegiances truly lie. We get to see the other factions of the Lot Lands from the pious Halflings, treacherous human imperials, deadly secretive elves, to the rampaging murderous Centaurs as past secrets come to life and the very balance of the lands they know is thrown into uncertainty.

French’s use of established fantasy tropes is really interesting and fresh, as mentioned we have orks, half-orks, elves, halflings, centaurs, but none are like you’ve ever seen before. He has managed to give these established fantasy creatures a new gritty lease of life. I particularly liked the inclusion of the sludges, which to me was the classic ooze right out of D&D, and as a big D&D fan, again, that got me pretty excited.

The writing is excellent; it was easy to see how it has exploded proudly into the limelight from its self-published origins, earning all its deserved accolades. This book was a real wild ride, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it, from the excellent prose, to the awesome characters and the twisting turning adventure, all of it—a damn fine book indeed. I am really looking forward to reading the sequel, True Bastards, which is already out. I recommend this one folks, if you haven’t already check it out!

In the words of the Bastards

‘Live in the saddle, die on the hog!’

Thanks for reading,

Lee

Book Review - The Ravenmaster’s Revenge By Jacob Sannox

A review of

The Ravenmaster’s Revenge

By

Jacob Sannox

The Ravenmaster’s Revenge: The Return of King Arthur as the title suggests is a re-working of the classic Arthurian tale but instead is set mostly in modern day England. The main plot is about an old apprentice of Merlin who schemes and plots behind the scenes with the aim of maintaining the ancient bloodline of the English kings, but at any cost. In the present day he has become the Ravenmaster of the Tower of London and wields his supernatural ravens to subtly achieve his aims even if it means doing great evil to do so. Arthur finds himself, quite rightly, on the side of good and justice, and with his knights must stop this ancient sorcerer and let history take its course.

The story skips through important dates in history and reveals how Arthur took part in those historic events. In fact, the entire story is very cleverly entwined with English history which is probably the thing I enjoyed the most. Sannox shows us the fictional “real” story which was not recorded in the history books as Arthur, Merlin and his knights struggle against the schemes and dark witchcraft of the Ravenmaster. Arthur’s extreme longevity is explained really nicely as the man lives from 5th Century to present day, I won’t spoil it but it all makes sense. All the classic names from Arthurian canon are there too but have been cleverly re-worked into interesting characters. We also discover Arthur’s story from the 5th Century and the original legend of Arthur, as he battles Mordred, through to the English Civil war and the fate of King Charles and the Stewart family, we also get to see him take part in the Great Fire of London, the Battle of Waterloo and World War One, as Arthur continues his fight to protect the England he once ruled.

I really enjoyed this book. It is relatively short and makes for a quick enjoyable read. I would very much recommend it for history fans and fans of alternate history or Arthurian canon. There is also a sequel that I look forward to reading as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading

Lee

Book Review - The Skald’s Black Verse By Jordan Loyal Short

A review of

The Skald’s Black Verse

By

Jordan Loyal Short

I picked this book up expecting a Norse themed fantasy, I like Norse themed fantasy. So I’m reading it and its starts very much as I would expect, very Norse, very fantasy. The opening scene is pretty damn brutal and there is some intriguing dark elements. Cool. Then boom! Out of nowhere, some guy flies in on some kind of inter-planetary voidship and lands in this Norse setting – Well that got my attention. I was not expecting that! It quickly became apparent this is not your average Norse fantasy yarn.

So, let me tell you about The Black Skalds Verse by Jordan Loyal Short. Okay, we have the indigenous people of this setting, the Norns, a very Nordic style culture. Who at some time in the recent past were conquered and are now occupied, perhaps oppressed, by an interplanetary federation of a people called the Tyrianites.

As I said the opening scene is pretty brutal and introduces us to the character Anders, who is an secret Skald who can use blood magic. The Skalds were leaders of the Norn culture and were stamped out and pushed into hiding when the conquest came, few surviving. A child is born and the hint of dark magic is suggested.

We fast forward and the child is grown and we meet our first main POV character, Brohr, as an young adult. He lives with his grandfather, Anders, in the occupied village of Skoljias and who is a mixed race Norn and Tyrianite, fathered through rape during the conquest and known as a “shade” due to his darker skin. Brohr wants nothing more than to flee the village to another place known as Pederskald with his girlfriend and his dog.

The guy that flew in on the void ship is Perfect Brasca, our second main POV character. Brasca seems to be wrestling with his fair share of personal demons and is the new commander of the garrison occupying Skoljia, a lowly backwater assignment. His job is to maintain the occupation and prevent any uprising from rebellious Norns.

We have four main POV characters in all, we have Lyssa, a tavern maid who is close to an elderly wise woman and who is drawn into the plot by seemingly being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We also have Henrik who is the son of the Mayor of Skoljia. Both his father (the Major) and himself are magic users and Henrik is equally drawn in to the plot by being at the same wrong place and the wrong time as Lyssa. This afore mentioned place and time being a murder to which both of them are witness and which Brohr is then accused. But all is not what it seems, there is a dark ghostly shadow figure there also, and we wonder what connection it has to the surviving Skald Anders’ blood magic. All very intriguing. I won’t tell you what happens as you will have to read it.

It’s a story of occupation, oppression and rebellion, of dark blood magic and strange dark forces, and a people of tradition fighting to free itself of an oppressive yolk. There are some super cool parts to this story, there are the cool dark creatures we get to see at various points – You’ll enjoy those! And a whole planet is destroyed and smashes into another one, that’s pretty cool, it’s done very well too.

I really enjoyed this book, it quickly surprised me and took a direction I was not at all expecting. I love the cultures, the magic system, the spaceships and the interplanetary communication. Theres lots of action and peril. It’s a great book! I’d very much recommend it. I’ll be looking forward to reading more work from this author. Check it out!

Thanks for reading

Lee