SPFBO Champions: The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French

Welcome to the SPFBO Champions’ League! As you know, this is a special edition where we try to find out who will be the ultimate Champion among the last 10 SPFBO winners. Check out our SPFBO Chamopions’ League page for more info! SPFBO Champions’ League ends on December 20th, and we’ll post our reviews every 3 weeks or so.

Our 3rd SPFBO Champion review is for The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French, the winner of SPFBO 2. The reviews within a post will be in alphabetical order.

A quick reminder about how we are proceeding in this edition: our judges had the freedom to opt out of reading any of the books due to personal interest, time restrictions, unforeseen life events, etc. Our aim is to have at least 4 reviews/scores for each Champion.

Once again, we’ll have a DNF rule in place: if a judge reads a book (if they didn’t opt out beforehand), they have to read at least 25% of it, although encouraged to read at least 50% since we are talking about champions. At whichever point they DNF, they’ll have to write a review and put a score in our spreadsheet.

As per the new rules for the SPFBO Champions’ Editidon, there aren’t going to be any public scores, but we’ll have them to help us decide the ranking. However, they won’t be shared anywhere. We will also have a mixed set of old and new reviews, meaning that if any of us reviewed a book before, we can reuse that review. Therefore, we’ll mark our reviews at the beginning as old or new.

For The Grey Bastards, we have 3 reviews for your reading pleasure.

So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at our 3rd Champion!

Table of Contents

• About the Book
• Book Blurb
• Reviews
  • Drew
  • Filip
  • Tru

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 civilization 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.

Drew

Read: 100%
Review: new

Orcs have frequently been given short shrift, at least in the classic fantasy tradition. They’re often portrayed as blood-thirsty, savage creatures; willing to fight anyone in front of them, without thought or hesitation. And while the full-blooded orcs menacing the Lot Lands appear to be more of the same, the members of The Grey Bastards are another breed (pun intended) entirely.

The Grey Bastards are a group of half-orcs who, unwelcome with either side of their lineage, claw out a rough and tumble existence alongside other gangs as the first line of defence against any further orc-ish invasions. They patrol their territory on their giant war hogs, which is an integral part of their identity; from the collective description of the gangs as ‘hoofs’, to their repeated motto of “Live in the saddle, die on the hog”. Most of the Bastards, but especially two of the main characters, treat their hogs more like beloved pets than disposable mounts, which is refreshing and, for me, one of the best parts of the book. 

The other highlight for me was the trio of main characters: Jackal, Fetch (short for Fetching) and Oats. The relationship between the three, particularly the bantering conversations between them, makes it easy to believe that they’ve been friends since childhood. They also have some straightforward character roles within the story.

Oats is the loyal best friend, a not entirely gentle giant who tends to be a bit more cautious but will back Jackal to the end. Fetch, as the only female in the hoof, is probably the smartest and has had to fight twice as hard as either of her friends to be there. And Jackal, as the protagonist of the novel, is at times both protective and exploiting, cunning but impatient, and frequently takes anyone he meets according to his preconceived notions or is unwilling to listen to any opinion that contradicts his own. It’s only when he is forced by the actions of others, or revelations about the history of the Lot, that he starts to reassess his thoughts. 

Which brings me to what is likely to be one of the biggest detractions that some readers are liable to find with The Grey Bastards. It is very heavily male-centric, with the majority of the female characters falling on either side of the mother/whore dichotomy. Even Fetch, the best-drawn female character, is frequently viewed as an object by the Bastards, whether it be of lust by the younger half-orcs, including Jackal, or of derision by some of the older members of the hoof. 

There are also multiple references to sexual assault which, as Filip will note in his review, is central to the Bastards’ very existence. I do feel like this is toned down somewhat in the other books in the series, but in addition to what I’ve already said above, the high levels of (often inventive) profanity and general violence will be a hard sell for some. 

Speaking for myself, I did enjoy The Grey Bastards a lot, enough to buy this and the other books in the series. In my opinion, there is a lot of good to be found here, so long as you know what you’re getting into.

Filip

Read: 100%
Review: new

I enjoyed The Grey Bastards well enough. Jonathan French has created here a novel of raucous humour and heightened action, in a dark fantasy world that is nothing less than brutal. Kindness and mercy are often denied the central characters, Jackal, Fetching, and Oats, due to their very nature as half-orcs. The world is a harsh place; these three may only rely on themselves and on their battle hogs. What fantastic rides these hogs are, though! 

The history of the Ul-wundulas and Hispartha was well-constructed, and showcases well French’s understanding of conflict. Conflict dehumanises all; most of all perhaps those who live constantly in its shadow, in the borderlands where violence plays out even during purported times of peace. Half-orcs, in fact, are a constant reminder of just such conflict. This is not a novel for those who would shy away from difficult topics such as torture, slavery, rape. The half-orc protagonists of the novel are almost exclusively the product of orc-on-human rape: 

All male half-orcs were sterile. His father, and the fathers of every child in this room, was a thick. The seed of the orc was strong, able to take root in humans with ease and once a woman was impregnated, no amount of herbs or teas could flush it out of her. Some frails killed themselves, rather than carry a half-breed. Some endured the seven month pregnancy and, if they survived the birth, dispatched the babe in whatever way they could stomach. Fortunately for Jackal, and every half-orc breathing, some allowed their mongrels to live.

French’s world is scarred and war-thorn, and so too are Jackal and his friends. Nowhere is the scar tissue more evident than in the limited roles for women across the novel: they are whores (“bedwarmers”), slaves, rape victims, with the singular token exception of Fetching. I can stomach reading this generously, as French trying to show how brutal conflict misshapes lives and dehumanises both men and women, how it desensitises and empties out of content something like sexual violence and rape that should be profane and taboo.  

You will note that one of my fellow reviewers here has criticised the novel for its treatment of women, and she is far from the only reader to have done so – with good reason. Representation matters, and to some readers more than others; there’s a rich selection of dark fantasy that has negotiated the representation of women far better than the *Grey Bastards*. 

Still, when I read The Grey Bastards, I walked away more impressed by Jonathan French’s skill in terms of plotting, mystery, and action than I did disappointed by the near ever-present sexism of its half-orc (and not only) characters. Unfortunately, your mileage may vary.

Tru

Read: 25%
Review: new

I will begin this review by stating this book was not for me. The Grey Bastards is clearly a book for many readers. It has many positive reviews from bloggers I admire, hundreds of ratings, and gained so much success as an SPFBO champion that it was re-published by Orbit, which is an incredible achievement.

However, this book was not for me.

I’ve seen many reviewers describe The Grey Bastards as a fantasy take on Sons of Anarchy, which I’ve never watched as that’s not for me either. The story is based around a group of orc half-breeds, who call themselves the Grey Bastards, and they act like a motorcycle gang of sorts, but instead of bikes they ride warthogs. There are classic fantasy races, but these are a darker, much grittier version. Our main character Jackal rides with a loyal group of friends and is looking to oust their current leader, but things are never quite so simple, and there are politics in play which have far reaching consequences. From what I read, there is plenty of violent action and crude humour for those who like that sort of thing.

But I couldn’t keep reading. I don’t mind violence or crude humour in books, I’m just not the biggest fan of edgy grimdark fantasy that treats female characters like shit and perpetuates rape culture, and this book seems to fit in that category. I’m told that feminists probably won’t enjoy this book, and that’s me, a die-hard feminist who’d like to read books where female characters aren’t reduced to whores or rape victims, where female characters aren’t being described by their genitalia, where the male characters aren’t constantly bragging about their dicks.

Maybe back in 2015, when The Grey Bastards was first released, books full of toxic masculinity and misogyny wouldn’t have faced as much criticism. But this is 2025, where women’s rights are under threat all over the world, and I don’t want to read these books anymore.

For more SPFBO content, please visit our SPFBO Champions’ League page!