Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The True Bastards

  • The Lot Lands, Book 2
  • By: Jonathan French
  • Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
  • Length: 21 hrs and 50 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (348 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The True Bastards

By: Jonathan French
Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Following the runaway success of Jonathan French's critically acclaimed fantasy adventure The Grey Bastards comes book two in the Lot Lands series - The True Bastards.

Lead from the saddle. Dare to survive.

Fetching was once the only female rider in the Lot Lands. Now she is the leader of her own hoof, a band of loyal half-orcs sworn to her command. But in the year since she took power, the True Bastards have struggled to survive. Tested to the breaking point by the burdens of leadership, Fetching battles desperately to stave off famine, desertion and the scorn of the other half-orc chieftains, even as orcs and humans alike threaten the Lots' very existence. Then an old enemy finds a way to strike at her from beyond the grave - and suddenly only one faint hope for salvation remains.

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.

©2019 Jonathan French (P)2019 Hachette Audio UK
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Many Are the Dead cover art
Fatemarked cover art
Kingfall cover art
The Primal Hunter cover art
The Emperor's Blades cover art
Stalking the Beast cover art
Found cover art
Son of the Black Sword cover art
The Hunters cover art
Watcher Series Box Set: The Complete Series cover art
Paragon cover art
The Cup and the Prince cover art
The Scarlet Dragon Saga, Books 1-3 cover art
Silverlegs cover art
The Nine cover art
Nocturne cover art

What listeners say about The True Bastards

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    249
  • 4 Stars
    73
  • 3 Stars
    22
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    224
  • 4 Stars
    72
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    221
  • 4 Stars
    73
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

Great book I couldn't put it down. started the third book in the trilogy straight away

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Incredibly enjoyable nonsense

A follow-up from the Grey bastards book, 2nd in the trilogy. OK, I'll admit it, I really enjoy a bit of throw away, sword an sorcery nonsense... and this hits all the right notes on that front. I really liked the first book "the grey bastards" so I immediately bought this one straight after and I wasn't disappointed. I would go as far to say it is even more enjoyable and definitely better written than the original.

The story follows on from the 1st novel but mostly follows the trials and tribulations of the new female leader, Fetching. The story is really well put together and ties up some loose ends from the 1st book. It even has you wondering how far in advance French's mind was when penning the original as he links things from the first book into this story that you never would have thought of. It is also nice to see things from the perspective of a female character that was not much more than a hollow side kick in the first.

The narrator does a good job and has a decent enough range for the different characters. Nice to see they used a woman to narrate the 2nd book as it is mostly from a female perspective.

If you enjoy a bit of mindless fantasy fun, this will suit you down to a T. It's no lord of the rings... but it is fun.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great book hopefull there will be more

bit of a struggle at first but stuck with it and glad i did theres a few frustrating moments but thats what makes a story excellent books

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

can't wait for the next one.

Good sequel. looking forward to the next installment. Well read, had no trouble distinguishing the characters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing.

Swapping from male to female at the start was a bit weird but Lisa did an amazing job! I loved this book and I am excited to see the series grow more and really hoping for the 3rd to arrive soon!

Live in the saddle, die on the hog!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely fantastic...

A book about half-orcs narrated by a woman didn't sound like it could work. I listened to this book because the first was so good and I understood the change of author as a female character became the principal person in the second book.

Lisa Flanagan had a huge job on her hands, up until now I had only listened to male authors, not for any other reason that the fact that they over populate the fantasy science-fiction genre. Which, based on Lisa Flanagan's performance is a HUGE mistake!!

The biggest obstacle that Lisa Flanagan had to breach was my dislike for American narrators. I have only completed on fiction book read by an American author, of which he did an amazing job, all the others have been non-fiction, so I am not expecting fiction books to come alive and characters to be identifiable by their voice alone.

Lisa Flanagan is an absolutely awesome narrator and I have searched the books she has narrated and chosen four book series to try out. She is in a handful of five authors that I would not want to choose whose best because they all have different qualities and excel at narrating fiction books, they can even make non-fiction books sound exiting.

Lisa Flanagan is capable of an incredible range of voices and delivers a male orcish sounding voice better than many male narrators I have listened to.

The author is also superb, his ability to capture subtle nuances of body language in a sentence is remarkable. I highly recommend both the narrator and the author. What a pairing!!

If you've listened to the first book in the series, this book is a must, you will not be disappointed. If you haven't listened to the first book, start there and you'll know you have another great book to listen to after you've finished the first.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Epically Orcish.

An absolute fantastic follow up to the first book The Grey Bastards, The True Bastards has just brought The Lot Lands series to the next level. Half Orcs riding big ass hogs known as the hoof with loaded stock bows is just bloody epic. A fun hilarious vulgar tale that you just won't be able to put down, great plot and setting and the characters are so good. Orcs are one of my favourite subspecies in fantasy and with this series you get the good guys and bad guys. In the story so far, the Grey Bastards home the Kiln has fallen and Fetch is now chief to the True Bastards. But with being chief and being a female leader of a hoof it isn't easy, Fetch faces massive challenges ahead, trying too build a new Lot and keep everyone and from starving. But when a new enemy turns up threatening to destroy everything she has built so far, she must do everything she can stop it or die trying. An excellent read for all you Orc lovers out there, I truly and highly recommend. Live in the Saddle, Die on the Hog....🐗🐗🐗💥😁

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable read

I enjoyed this book, and the narration was excellent, possibly the best that I’ve heard.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Just, brilliant.

Great follow-up to the first book, The Grey Bastards.
Great, unique concept.
Truly immersive world.
Complex, well-developed characters.
Brilliant storyline that keeps you guessing, with incredible action.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Well...

There are good points, bad points and really bad points.

The change of the narrator makes sense as the main character is female, even if I liked the old narrator more. The story develops nicely, with unexpected twists and turns.

Things that are bad :
Neglected crucial details, very little explained, if anything, often rushed forward or just stuck in the middle of something else.
Endless, meaningless conversations with 80% of swearing. I don't mind vulgar if it makes sense, but here at places, it was just forced in, no reason at all.
Neglected characters, like (spoiler alert!) guy who earned his living performing sexual favours suddenly lost his scalp and "fruits", then laughs it off like he lost a sock. Why not just kill him? Maybe he plays a role in the next book, in that case, the writer just did it poorly.
Description of the sexual act like in the cheap erotic novel. Actually made me laugh. Seriously?! Luckily there was only one, so it can be forgiven.
All in all, ood enough for me to listen to the third one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!