Grunts [Hardcover]

Mary Gentle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 16, 1992

A fantasy tale, with black humour, by the author of "Rats and Gargoyles" and "The Architecture of Desire". The usual Last Battle of Good against Evil is about to begin. The forces of Light are outnumbered, full of headstrong heroes devoid of tactics - but the Light's still going to win.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Press; First Edition edition (July 16, 1992)
• ISBN-10: 0593019563
• ISBN-13: 978-0593019566
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,526,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I envy those reading this for the first time., March 9, 2000

By 

rat fan (Missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grunts (Mass Market Paperback)

This book has a long, intricate plot, with as many characters as a Dickens novel. Basically, the Orcs, fighting for the Dark Lord under the leadership of the nameless necromancer, discover a dragon's horde, with a curse upon it...if you take the treasure, you'll become what you steal. In this case, the treasure is modern military weaponry, and after stealing it, the rather dim Orcs become Marines, with all the 'tude and fighting ability of cinema soldiers.At the end, the Orcs are apparently about to invade earth via the same conduits through which the dragon stole the weapons and technology in the first place. And in between, every cliche of the fantasy novel (especially the sexlessness), PLUS modern politicking, PLUS military movies, come in for some heavy, witty, at times acidulous satire.

Here's the quote that sums it up:

p.451 "That does it!" Oderic said, puffing smoke-rings that lurched, lopsided, into the air." I'm going to tell the REAL story about halflings,orcs, the Dark Lord, and the final victory. The halflings are going to be cheery and moral and know their place; the orcs will be cowardly, and they'll lose; there won't be ANY mention of arms trading, and at the end, the Dark Lord will be male, and VERY, VERY dead!"

If you enjoy Tolkien, but find some of his attitudes towards women and the 'lower classes' offputting, and if you find the unthinking repetition of these attitudes in every Tolkien imitator annoying, this is the book for you.

Two caveats: 1.)These are more warhammer orcs than Tolkien's . If you play the games, you'll have a much better chance of keeping all the orc characters straight in your mind. There's enough characters here to do justice to a Dickens novel, as I said, but not being human, they might be harder to visualize, at least at first. 2.) There are no good guys here. The orcs are cannibalistic rapists(but the halflings are even worse), the elfs and men are hypocrites. Would the book be better if one could empathize more with the 'heroes'? I dunno.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read, Great fun., August 19, 2006

By 

Michigoon "tech geek" (Mid-MI) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Grunts (Mass Market Paperback)

Opinions on this book seem to fall into two camps. The first are those who "get it", and have probably reccomended this book to everyone they thought was at all interested in a related genre. The second is the camp of those who don't get it, and who mercilessly rip every fabric of the work to shreds for its every tiny defect.

I'm in the first camp, and I hope you'll join me. At the very least, heed my opinion on the second camp- too many people try to take this book seriously. A quote on the cover says it all, "moves at a good clip and delivers plenty of gags". And that's what this book is all about- a nice quick story with lots of gags.

And they're great gags at that. Sure, the story isn't particularly solid. And there's nothing in the book that'll have people pulling out comparisons to Tolkein-esque visuals or Salvatore-esque characterizations... but that's sort of the point. Think of this book as the "Three Stooges" of the Fantasy genre, and you're on the right track.

I particularly reccomend this book to anyone who's ever played Dungoens and Dragons, known someone who played it, or laughed at someone who was playing it. So many elements here seem to be ripped right from late-night, caffiene-enhanced, power-gaming D&D scenarios that I'm surprised the Roleplaying community hasn't adopted this work.

Grab this book if you're a Fantasy fan who wants a truly lighter take on the genre- complete with lots of cursing, sex, and gore just for flair. Grab it if you're a D&D fanatic who's taken part in one too many sour campaigns. But mostly, just grab it. It's a great twist on the genre, it's a terribly fun read, and at least a few of the gags are going to be worth the price of admission alone.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Versus Evil Revisited, November 29, 1999

By 

The Dude (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grunts (Mass Market Paperback)

Grunts! is a really wild trip. I can't think of another novel I've read that has more shooting, explosions, and guns. The fantasy novel is wholly original (of course the Forces of Good aren't inheritantly good) and the jokes range from plain gross to mildly funny to laugh out loud hilarious. The novel itself is divided into three parts (books 1, 2, and 3) and the best and most exciting part is book 2. It includes one of the most fantastic castle sieges I've ever read (use flying elephants to bomb the enemy, why not?). Book 1 does a relatively fine job of setting up the events in books 2 and 3. However, I found book 1 to be the least funny part of the novel. Book 3 includes an unneeded cameo by a 20th century human from Earth (you'll have to read the novel to see how he gets from Earth to the planet in the novel). Book 3 is even more chaotic and odd than books 1 and 2. Book 3 includes one of the funniest and most ludicrous trial scenes I've ever read. Despite some minor complaints, and some excessive depictions of violence, Grunts! is a very original and ultimatly strange fantasy.