The True Bastards by Jonathan French is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary. Last year I read The Grey Bastards and of the 800 books I read, this book stood out as my favorite! So when I saw this second book I really hoped they would let me read it!
The last book was centered around the half orcs group, they call a hoof, and this good calls themselves The Grey Bastards.
This group has some of the same people but they have the first woman half orc chief. The hoof lives in the same Lot as before but they call themselves The True Bastards. This job is not easy for a male to be riding a giant mean tusked hog. A hog big enough to carry a half orc long distances. The female chief has to ride, fight, pull and shoot a bow, knife fight, and be totally fearless to live in a hoof but more so to be the chief.
The Lots is a hard life. The food is scarce, lots of enemies, the land barren. All the good depends if the chief's decisions.
This is a very, action filled book that holds nothing back. If you are offended by swear words, even implied ones, this is not for you. This is what it would really be like if...
That's why I like it. French make this world and characters so real! I think my favorite character is Polecat, he is paler than the other half orcs and very quiet on his feet, and a good sniper! Bad guys are dead and they don't know it yet!
This is non-stop action, page turner from the beginning! My emotions were everywhere!
There are lots of great creatures in here too. Elves, trolls, orcs, snake like creatures, sorcerers, and centaurs. The worst are humans. There is so much that goes on in here! It is a must read! Truly another winning book! Love the cover!

Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis
Life in the Lot Lands is hard, and no one knows that better than the True Bastards. After the bloody events of The Grey Bastards, the now aptly-named True Bastards struggle to survive in the wasteland of Ul-wundulas. Fetching is the chief of the hoof, and in Bastard fashion she takes on the heavy weight of leadership as her half-orc, half-human people weather the storms of famine, betrayal, and dark magic. Old enemies knock at the Bastards’ gate, while new enemies appear with terrifying new powers. Pushed to her breaking point, can Fetch lead her wily gang of brothers out of the jaws of death?

Review
Thanks to the publisher Crown for my review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Also note! I’m assuming you’ve read The Grey Bastards, so you know that these books are not for kids! Though I imagine a cursory glance at the title and first page would tell you all you need to know (that first cuss is sublime). If you don’t have a problem with mature content, you’re in for a hell of a time.

Crank up your hog! The Bastards are back, and Fetching is Head Bitch in Charge.

Fetching learns what it means to be a leader in The True Bastards. She has learned from The Claymaster’s mistakes and wants to be a better for the good of her people. Trouble is, with the Bastards in the thick of trouble, decisions are hard and sacrifices have to be made. Bermudo and the Hisparthan cavaleros are growing restless and their runaway vagrants threaten The Bastards. Zirko and the Unyars call upon riders every Betrayer’s Moon, threatening the thin the ranks of The Bastards at any given moment. Thirst and famine sweep through the town of Winsome, now the Bastards’ headquarters since the Kiln was melted. In the midst of famine, other gangs of half-orc hoofs start to look more foe than friend. And from somewhere in Ul-wundulas, Crafty’s machinations are beginning to take hold, not to mention other sources of more sinister magic at work.

“A hoof rallies around power, strength, but that’s not what holds them. Their loyalty is bound to a conviction that the one leading them has the grit to stand longest in the storm, the one who will bear the hardest tasks so they don’t have to. Father was wrong about her, and about himself. This had nothing to do with lust or love or fear. This was about backing the mongrel who had the appetite to eat punishment and come back for more. Hard as living in the badlands could be, it was nothing compared to living it in the hoofmaster’s chair. Why would any want to issue challenge and take that on when tere was another willing to stand between them and the flying bolts? What wouldn’t they forgive to keep that protection?“

In the midst of the heaping piles of shit in their world, the True Bastards lean on each other. I love the emphasis on brotherhood in these books, especially among a group as scorned and pitiable as the mongrel half-orcs. The Bastards’ brotherhood is the beating heart of The True Bastards, each member’s found-family bonding them more tightly than blood ever could.

French’s characters are compelling as hell (looking at you Fetching) and they’re funny to boot. Some characters in The True Bastards are new, some are old. You’ll recognize names like Oats, Hoodwink, Polecat, and more. You’ll also be introduced to new members of The Bastards, some seeking grandeur in all the wrong places, others just happy to find a bed to rest in.

I know what you’re thinking, where in the hot, hog-wallowing hell is Jackal? I’ll just let you know that your questions will absolutely be answered. And though Jackal does take a role in this story, his is Fetch’s book and the change in perspective was a great decision by French.

I loved the episodic nature of the story, how (especially early on) the story flowed seamlessly from one setting to the next. I appreciated more detail behind Strava, Hispartha, even the Tines’ lands. In fact, I enjoyed the pace of the story immensely. The first half was slow but fun to read, but right around the middle things get cranked up to 11 and it’s pedal to the metal until the end. I want to talk about so many spoilers in this book, but I guess I’ll just have to wait for it to come out!

The True Bastards is an immensely satisfying story of self-sacrifice and brotherhood that is hard to stop once you start.

“Live in the saddle, die on the hog!”

True Bastards release date: October 8 2019

I may have loved this one more than the first! The writing is so intense! If you're a big fantasy lover this epic fantasy is perfect fro you!

BLOODY HELLS YES!!!



This is Fetch arc, she’s the new leader and she’s bad @ssed!

This book is slammed full of action and @ssholes! I damn loved it better than the first book!

Fetch has to go through ALOT of shit in this book now that she’s in charge and she has to fight to keep everyone safe and fed. There are things working against her but it takes a lot to bring a good Orc/Elf down!! She will kick your @ss and have you for breakfast <— well not so much that last one!!

There are some appearances from the first book as well as some sadness and humor! I can’t wait to own a physical copy!

*Thank you to Netgalley and The Publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this awesome book!*

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

The Grey Bastards itself was a book with a plot that grows so much throughout the course of it truly giving a quick snapshot of what it is about. One thing leads to another which leads to another and so on until the story is barely recognizable from what it started out as.

This sequel continues the story in the best way possible. The world is expanded. Stakes have risen. The worldbuilding as well was something that I was truly impressed by. While the story hosts pretty much the same cast of creatures and humanoids you see in many fantasy stories (humans, orcs, half-orcs, elves, halflings, centaurs) the relations between the various races was presented so smoothly.. This history being related so easily paved the way for reveals in the later parts of the book that dove deeper into that history and meant more to me as a reader because I truly felt like I understood these characters' place in their world.

The intensity here between the pages had me sweating and I am %100 for these characters all day, every day.

"What will you name us, when you learn to fear us?"

This line, more than any in the book, encapsulated so much of the story. We give names, sometimes horrible ones, to those we fear - even when there is no need to fear. We get complacent and fear things that aren't truly going to hurt us - and forget to look towards those who have, little by little, already tried their hardest to damage us. And, as is so often the case, fiction reveals pieces of reality.

Fetch is not a traditional chief. She came to her leadership role in a sideways fashion, and besides that - women aren't considered worthy of being in the role. She's holding the Bastards together as best she can, but so many things have gone wrong. When does it end - and what will she have to sacrifice to end it?

Fetch ends up facing some hard truths about herself, her home, and her assumptions - as do we all, at some point or another. The question, as always, is - does she *learn* from those truths, roll with them, work to change the accepted outcomes? Or does she stubbornly persist in seeing fear and hate where they don't belong, and being blind to the real damage being done? The choice she makes will not only determine HER fate, but that of the Bastards, and all those around them.

This second book was not quite as fast-paced as the first one, but I was ok with that. Don't get me wrong - there's still A LOT that happens, but some of it is less the constant brutal battles, and more the sort of mental and emotional storytelling that really drags a reader into the character's head. When I finished the first book, I liked Fetch. I thought she was kick-ass (um, because she is), but she didn't make her mark on me as a character as much as some of the others. I was wrong. I can honestly say that she has become one of my favorite characters in ANY book in quite some time. She's strong, but not invulnerable. She's smart, she's willing to do whatever it takes for her people, she's flexible, she understands her own strengths and weaknesses, she's bitchy, she's blunt to a fault...she's the anti-hero for everyone ;)

Without giving any spoilers, book three is going to be a helluva ride. I'm certain of it. And I look forward with every fiber of my being to once more immersing myself into this world that is at once so strange and alien, and yet so humanly familiar. Because don't we all fight the same battles in the end? And what makes us who we are is *how* we choose to fight those battles - either with a hard-won honor, or by selling our soul to the highest bidder. In the world within these pages, those choices will be coming hard and fast. The wrong choice could - and probably will - mean your death.

In this sequel to his propulsive and fun "The Grey Bastards, French turns down (slightly) the crass and turns up the character exploration. This is Fetch's book, a dive into her leadership and her life. She's such a great, strong character and it was wonderful to see the new levels of depth she attains here. It ends with a surprising turn of events for the series's world, and I can't wait to see where French takes these characters next.

The True Bastards is the outstanding sequel to French’s fantasy explosion, The Grey Bastards. It’s a fantasy series filled with Orcs, elves, centaurs, magicians, and the like, but don’t make the mistake of assuming this is a cutesy kids book. It’s not. It’s gritty, dark, nasty, violent, and profane. It’s a warlike fantasy series told about real warriors, wounded, cursing, rough, coarse, and thoroughly entertaining. Conan and his fellow Cimmerians would be comfortable here.

The world created here is divided between “Thicks” who are monstrously powerful hard to kill orcs who are not only bestial but threaten to overrun everything. In the other direction are the “frails” or humans who are in a feudal imperium. Between these two worlds ride the outcast half-breeds (born of women raped by orcs) who guard the frontier in “hoods” wild clans of halfling warriors astride giant barbarian hogs. “Live in the Saddle. Die on the hog.” Each hoof has its own rules and these small bands often have other outcasts or villagers under their protection. There are also nomads about who are outcast from the hoofs. There are sorcerers and elves and centaurs, none exactly friendly.

This is Fetching’s story, a half breed half orc and half elf, an unheard combination. She is chief over a hoof that has fallen on hard times, near starvation and with only a handful of members. And the going gets tougher from there with every hand set against them and betrayals and feared monsters at every turn. She is also the only female chief and the only female rider ever. And, she wants respect of the other hoofs.

The story doesn’t start with any introduction or recap of past events. Either read the first book or follow along till it all makes sense. The first twenty percent of the book sets the stage and then it explodes in nonstop action for the rest of the book. No punches are pulled. The fights are violent. The risks are real. The injured ones are many and the losses keep piling up.

Just an intense fantasy series and I can’t wait till book three comes out.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.