Customer Reviews

Grunts!

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

They're orcs. They outnumber the enemy thousands to one, have superior leadership and tactics, and are absolutely certain they're gonna loose; because they're up against "The Good Guys."

These Orcs know all the cliches we do.

All that changes when the Orcs finaly get their hands on some real firepower, and the dogs get their day. This book is funny, it takes every cliche and universal assumption of the fantasy genere and kicks it in the shins. Good taste is never a consideration, this one is NOT for kids.

Harsh, Rowdy, But always funny.

Similar in many ways to Terry Prachets' Disk World series. One way way to compare them is (Disk World = The Simpsons, Grunts = South Park.)

Orcs as sympathetic protagonists and "good" isn't very, aptly conveys the message. A well written and amazingly well edited book, you won't be harassed by either typos or good taste here. The orcs are violent and nasty- but then, so is everyone else. It borders on watching someone else's video arcade shoot-em-up. The action never stops, the good taste never begins. Just lots of bad, dirty, fun! Emphasis is on fun. An excellent read.

Starting with the standard Lord of the Rings story template, Mary Gentle proceeds to turn the world of 'Grunts' on its ear by 'cursing' a group of orcs with modern weaponry and US Marine Corps training and attitudes. What happens next is amusing, if at times a little 'out there'. And when you have orcs with guns, and parts of it are still 'out there' - well, it gets very wierd indeed.

The characters and situations are amusing - mostly breathing new air into stale scenarios such as the Dark Lord deciding that combat is dull, and elections are the thing; a S&M bondage queen turning out to be the long lost Duchess of a realm; or a USMC trooper facing off with a Bug/Alien and running for the hills in terror.

The book is fun to read, flowing smoothly - though the sheer amount of characters can get a bit confusing every now and again. But for those of you tired of the fantasy genre and its inherent cliches (and Tolkien knock-offs) - this book could well provide a refreshing break.

This is probably my favorite book. I have read it at least 5 times. The level of humor, though dark, is excellent. If you are expecting the usual high fantasy, you will get it, but you will see it from the other side. All around great book! Not for kids as the language is typical marine and there really aren't any heros you would want your kids to emulate. Excellent stuff. It is compared to Harry Harrison's "Bill the Galatic Hero". Well, sort of except this isn't as silly and is much, MUCH better!

one of the funniest books I've ever read.... I love the courtroom scene... and the idea of a 3ft ork firing a grenade launcher had me in tears..... if you like Prachett or your fed up with the ood guys winning all the time.... read this!

Or, rather, "You got Warhammer fanwank in my LOTR!"

I liked the concept, but the execution seems lackluster. The characters don't seem to have acutal personalities; the main characters, who are supposed to be going through some radical changes in their mindsets, seem to be following scripting directions instead of actually coming to their own decisions during the course of the story.

For some reason, the three seperate "books" in Grunts all seem to be paced like they were meant to be published seperately. Note how the characters are all being introduced to the reader at the start of each of the three sections, as if the reader hadn't been paying attention for a few months between turning the pages.

The rather lurid sex scene was, I thought, out of place for what came across as an otherwise fairly light-hearted fantasy comedy.

Summary: Interesting theme, dull story.

This is a great book!

It however is not of the traditional fantasy line of band of adventurers meet up and head off to right the wrongs of the world. This book pokes fun at all the traditional boring fantasy plotlines that are to be found in 100's of fantasy novels.

It is adult oriented, it is not meant to be believable and it's all about orcs running amok.

If you want to read book 18 of the Shannara series or another book that tells the same story Tolkien told 40 years ago pass this one by but if you want to read a crazy "what if" style novel about orcs butchering the forces of light for once, dig in!