Live in the saddle. Die on the hog. This is the mantra that the Grey Bastards survive by and half orc Jackal is a proud member of the brotherhood. Living in the harsh environments of The Lots, sticking together in your hood is the only way to survive. But when Jackal's hoofmate Fetching kills a human it sets off a chain of events that could threaten every living creature in the Borderlands, and Jackal must use all his cunning and political prowess to stop it.

I found this a difficult book to review. In terms of characters, I found the male members of the Grey Bastards to be well developed and interesting. The brotherhood in particular are a close knit group, and this shines through in their interactions and playful banter (there's lots of cock swinging and dirty jokes). However the female characters are severely lacking in any kind of emotional depth and most of them are seen just as sexual objects, to be used and discarded. It screams male gaze and made me quite uncomfortable at times. There's also some rather derogatory LGBT comments made by some characters, which also didn't sit well with me.

The plot is overly convoluted, with a lot of political machinations going on in the background that build on a series of events that Jackal inadvertently causes. It required a lot of concentration to stay on top of what was happening, although I did like the overall word building and atmosphere that is set up. The battle scenes are fast paced, frequent and overly long at times, meaning I zoned out or ended up skimming certain scenes in order to get back to the plot development. It's also overwritten at times. As in, literally. It's very wordy, and feels a bit unnecessary.

So, conflicting feelings. Great world building, great interaction and development of the male characters. Not so great representation of women and LGBTQ characters. I'm undecided if I'll continue with the series.

"Live in the saddle, die on the hog"

* * * *
4 / 5 

The Grey Bastards in one word: filthy. Here's another: amazing. This rip-roaring read of half-orcs, hogs, and wild lands was an absolute page-turner. Live in the saddle, die on the hog indeed!

"Fetching stood upon the roof of the brothel with a stockbow in each hand, both loaded and trained on the riders. She was stark naked"

Jackal is a half-orc and he rides with a hoof, a half-orc gang that roves the wasteland of the Lots, clashing with the human law and keeping back the invasion of the full-blooded and war-loving orcs. Jackal is cunning and eyeing up the leadership of the hoof as their current chieftan and founder, the Claymaster, issues orders that Jackal increasing disagrees with. Jackal is backed up by his two best friends, tough guy Oats and the only woman in the hoofs, Fetching. Together the trio are rude, violent, sexual, funny, and entirely endearing.

What helps The Grey Bastards stand apart from other fantasy novels from the perspective of the more “monstrous” species? First off, there are the aforementioned awesome characters. Then there’s the action – the physical and epic battles themselves, but also the verbal sparring, the intrigue and the unexpected betrayals. The suspense of not knowing who Jackal should trust, and the frustration when you think he’s being a fool. I also loved the hogs. Humans ride horses, elves ride horses or elks or something, but French’s half-orcs ride battle pigs. It was refreshingly original and also kind of sweet.

"So maybe you see why it took me years to throw my axe. Because it meant challenging the leader who carried me into the light"

The only question marks in my head whilst reading The Grey Bastards were on the character of Starling – a captive elf girl who mistakenly falls into Jackal’s hands - who is far too passive and in the way of the action and the narrative, and sometimes the pacing felt too slow.

The Grey Bastards is an excellent example of how fantastic and original self-published fiction (that has now been picked up by a main publisher) can be. This book is a dirty, filthy, rude, and hilarious riot.

Received from Netgalley and the Little,Brown Book Group UK for honest read and review
An absolutely brilliant book,had me going to unputdownable within the first couple of pages.

Such a cracking debut,we fill a Jackal, a good looking and cool Orc through the Lot Lands in his quest to help as many Orcs as possible and also kill as many others as he can find.

Live in the saddle,Die on the Hog,amazing......
What a hero,an Orc,cannot be ,but yell yeah ......

Realised as well there is going to be a second book,cannot wait.

Brilliant

Utterly filthy but in the best possible way. I’ve seen someone else describe this as Lord of the Rings meets Sons of Anarchy and I wish I’d come up with that because it fits so perfectly. Forget elves with their beauty and superiority complexes, forget dwarves and their wars – this is all about Orcs and they are damn cool in this book. The world building is intricate and accessible. The characters are engaging. The plot is fast paced and littered with great banter. This book is high octane fantasy fun (without any actual vehicles!) Highly recommend.

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this epic story of half-orcs, men, elves, orcs, halflings, monsters and magic. I fell in love with The Grey Bastards and their fight to stand up for good and save their homeland in The Lots.
If you love a rollicking good fantasy read, inspired by, but not copying the masters of the genre, then you will love this as much as I did. It had a definite feel of Stan Nicholls mixed with Raymond E. Feist for me and what's not to love there? Good work Mr French!
I cannot wait for the next book The True Bastards.

* Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
This grimdark fantasy tale takes place in a world where human-orc halfbreeds (half-orcs) have been freed from slavery and grudgingly given patches of land by the humans in thanks for their help in vanquishing the bloodthirsty orcs. These half-orcs roam the land in biker gangs looking to protect their Lots from orcs and the occasional mindless centaur raid. These hoofs have a fierce brotherhood with strict laws and rules and take no nonsense.
The story follows the Grey Bastards, one such hoof, as they inadvertently anger their human opposites and put their truce at danger. There then follows a twisting, turning adventure revealing more and more of the land's past as Jackal, the main PoV character, looks to strengthen and protect his hoof from internal and external forces.
A fantastically written tale set in an exciting land with a fresh feel to it - some standard fantasy races portrayed differently here, and in a world that feels like the Mexican borderlands.
An utterly gripping story with brilliant narrative and an enjoyable complex plot revealed at perfect pace.

Great first book in a new gritty fantasy series, and I can't wait for the next,

I'm often wary when people try to compare the style of a novel to another authors work, but in this case the comparisons were pretty accurate. The Grey Bastards sets out building a world where there is obviously a lot going on politically, but focuses on a small group of characters in one place, These characters get very well fleshed out, and you care about them and their aims, but the tight focus makes it all the more shocking when the motives of the people around them are revealed as the story goes on, and the main players see they have a limited view on what is really going on around them. And there are twists and turns aplenty in the book, but they are all explained completely once you see the bigger picture, there are no gimmicks here. The twists are all added for the benefit of telling the story, not to simply shick the reader.

The characters also behave and talk realistically. They are hard people who live in a hard world, and their language and actions reflect that. Like Abercrombie and Glen Cook, this gives the whole story a grounded feel, and is not over the top or unrealistic. Its adds a solidity to the story that I really like.

This is no high fantasy novel full of magical and mystical creatures and huge amounts of lore, it's a brilliant, gritty, well told story that leaves you wanting to know what happens next. Saying that, it also sits well as a novel in it's own right, it closes a lot of the plot threads and reaches a satisfying conclusion.

What a deliciously crude, brutal and downright fabulous book this is! It tells the story of Jackal, a half-orc member of the Grey Bastards, who ride their hogs (actual hogs, not motorbikes btw) through the badlands, defending their hoof. When a wizard shows up at the Kiln, all manner of things kick off with just awesome results. Firstly, if you liked Sons of Anarchy, you will love this book. The hoof is so reminiscent of the motorcycle gangs depicted in that series, in that you have empathy and enjoy spending time with characters that are, ostensibly, criminals. The world building here is really strong, with well defined geography and interesting representations of the different common fantasy characters - elves, orcs, wizards and such. The plot is compelling and intricate and the prose is clean and concise moving the narrative along at a pretty exhausting pace. What I really enjoyed was the interplay between Jackal, Oats and Fetch. the dialogue was fast paced and really natural - I believed their relationships, which is a great credit to the author. All in all, this is a great book and I am now hankering after the next instalment.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is one I’ve been waiting for and has been on my radar since it was announced. Ecstatic when I got approved for it. From the first chapter I was in love with this book. Half human half orc Jackal is a grey bastard, a small hoof in the lot lands. After a death and a failed coverup at a brothel, Jackal and his friends Oats and Fetch find themselves down a troubled path. It’s insane how many Jackal manages to piss off and the consequences for each action. Crafty adds a new twist of danger, along with Zirko and did I mention the hog riding? Contains violence, death, plenty of swearing and crass humour. Amazing first book from beginning to end.

The Grey Bastards
Jonathan French
The Lot Lands #1
4/5
ARC provided by Netgalley for review purposes.
Live in the saddle
Die on the Hog
Ever since I saw The Tattooed Book Geek’s excellent review of The Grey Bastards a few weeks ago, I have wanted to read it so, when I saw it on Netgalley, I just had to request it. The concept intrigued me a lot, I mean it is basically as if Sons of Anarchy crashed head first into a Tolkien novel and began killing and swearing. What’s not to love about that?

On the heels of the ultimate betrayal, Jackal must scramble to stop a devastating invasion - even as he wonders where his true loyalties lie.

The first thing I want to say about this book is that it is a lot of fun to read. I mean a lot of fun. The Grey Bastards is very entertaining. Yes it is violent and there is the issue of rape and there is a hell of a lot of swearing so if any of those things bother you then stay well away. I have no issues with any of them and I had a great time reading it. It has everything a book needs to make it good: interesting characters, a distinctive and well-realised world and a plot that catches you, drags you in and doesn’t let you go.

The story is set up as a fantasy motorcycle club, which is an interesting and unique idea. There are eight hoofs of half-orcs, each with their own “clubhouse” known as a kiln ran by the Claymaster (it took me an embarrassing long time to realise the connection between Kiln and Claymaster. Clay… kiln… it’s obvious and I lack perception) and The Grey Bastards focuses on one such group known as (obviously) The Grey Bastards. The action takes place in a region known as the Lot Lands, a brutal and grim place with a boatload of violence. Half-orcs are former slaves who gained freedom about thirty years before the start of the novel and now they protect the land from hordes of marauding orcs whilst being simultaneously hated for being half-breeds.
The plot is well paced and gripping. There is nothing included in the novel that isn’t relevant to the plot and it was a joy to read everything come together. What seems at first like a simple story about a fantasy motorcycle club of half-orcs with actual hogs for transport quickly expands to world threatening stakes. It is dark and gritty, yet funny. It has a good balance of humour and drama and one never outshines the other. The plot has so many twists and turns; there are betrayals and people aren’t what they seem but there is also huge loyalty and friendship. It is a fantastic story. The history of the Kiln, its structure and history are threaded throughout the early narrative and it feels natural. No information is dumped on the reader so you can take it all in at a reasonable pace. The revelation about how the half orcs gained their freedom, what happened after and what is going on now is excellently done and not at all what I was expecting. Then again, this is a book that continuously took my expectations and ignored them to go in a much better direction.

The characters are well-realised and extremely interesting. Jackal, a half-orc, half human, is a great protagonist and is the right amount of sympathetic and brutal. He is flawed, prideful but he is also incredibly likeable and loyal. His desire to protect the elf, Starling, once he finds her is admirable and his actions come back later on in the novel to help wrap up the story. Oats and Fetching make excellent secondary characters, as is Warbler and Crafty, a half-orc wizard with devious intentions and an unexpected heritage, makes an interesting and deceitful character, whose story didn’t quite go the way I was expecting. In a good way, I might add. There are so many different races, orcs, half-orcs, humans, halflings, elves, wizards and even centaurs. Each race is different and interesting in their own way. I hope that future sequels will flesh out their roles further because I would love to see more of them.

The world is very well built. It is a harsh and brutal place and very unforgiving. There is a huge amount of violence and French doesn’t shy away from describing brutal battles and fights between characters. The action spans across the world which allows the reader to gain a good knowledge of the layout of the world and the races that live in it.

The Grey Bastards is a gripping and well written story and a great debut novel by Jonathan French which definitely adds something new to the fantasy genre. I have never read anything quite like it. It has great characters, a solid and well-paced plot that manages to keep you guessing from the beginning to end. The world is well-realised; brutal and unforgiving with a huge amount of violence but the protagonists are likeable and help carry the story to its epic conclusion. It is a well balanced novel with an equal focus between characters and plot. The plot is great. The characters are great and there is very little to be unhappy about. The Grey Bastards is an impressive debut novel and I would highly recommend it. I am very much looking forward to reading more in this series and I would like to see more of the other races. All in all, The Grey Bastards is excellent.

review will be posted to hobbleit.wordpress.com on 21/6/18