Booklog 20/2019 - Jonathan French: The Grey Bastards – The Lot Lands #1

I really shouldn't have read this immediately after Sebastien de Castell's Greatcoats series, because, though it's good, it doesn't have that extra something that lifts the Greatcoats books beyond good. I'm missing the High-level camaraderie and the humour. This is grim and gritty, but doesn't quite have the excellent character interaction. But comparison is perhaps not fair. If I'd read this first, I'd probably have loved it unreservedly. Jackal is a Grey Bastard, one of a brotherhood of tough, rough half-orcs patrolling the Lot Lands on giant riding-hogs to guard against incursions by full blood orcs, and centaurs, which trying to steer clear of the elves. There is wit, but it's crude, which is totally believable under the circumstances. It's beyond bawdy, however. The half-orcs think with their balls half the time, yet it's not simply a book of male characters, there are strong women, too, both human and half-orc. The orcs organise themselves into cells (called hoofs) and take in half orc children, the most promising of which eventually become full members of the hoof as they grow. Think biker gangs on pigs with an added nursery. Jackal believes it's time the leader of the Grey Bastards makes way for someone younger, stronger and more savvy. He takes his chance to make a challenge, but it doesn't go the way he expects. Cut loose from his hoof, Jack must take his chance as a lone rider, and this is where we learn more about the Lot lands and the folk that inhabit them. The ending, wholly satisfying, sets up the stage for a second book, The True Bastards, due in October 2019.

Booklog 21/2019 - Sarah E Ladd: The Governess of Penwythe Hall

After reading the Greatcoats Quartet and The Grey Bastards I needed to read something completely different, so I opted for a Georgian/Regency romance set, not in London in the heart of the Ton, but in rural Cornwall. Cordelia (Delia) Greythorne fled Cornwall after the death of her husband, fearing (with justification) his family. A few years later she's the governess of five children in Yorkshire who are suddenly orphaned. Having promised their dying father to look after them, she's faced with returning to Cornwall as the Children are sent to their new guardian uncle Jac Twethewey. Jac is surprised to have his estranged brother's offspring dumped on him complete with governess (and tutor) but he accepts his responsibility while trying to revive Penwythe's once-flourishing apple orchards. It's an engaging romance with elements of looming danger and betrayal. I probably don't need to tell you that it has the ending you might expect but there are some interesting twists along the way. I do wish I could pronounce Twethewey, though.

Booklog 22/2019 - Sebastien de Castell: Shadowblack – Spellslinger #2

I read the first of the Spellslinger books back in 2017, so it's been quite a gap.

I quickly got into the story, however, even without remembering a lot of the detail of the first book in which Kellen, a failed Jan'Tep mage is exiled from his home and family, largely due to having been infected by Shadowblack, a magical ailment which allows his own people to execute him on sight. Shadowblack, as it develops, will eventually open Kellen up to demons, but it hasn't yet and Kellen can cover up the marks around his eye with some clever makeup. Though always looking over his shoulder for the next assassin, he's travelling with Argosi wanderer, Ferius Parfax, and a murderous, thieving squirrel cat, Reichis. He and Reichis can speak to each other, though no one else can hear Reichis as Kellen does. Think of this as a fantasy western with Ferius playing the lone traveller/card sharp. In this book, Kellen is learning, and growing into adulthood. He's mastered what little magic he has left (after his parents prevented him from growing into a full Jan'Tep mage) and he's learned a lot from Ferius about the Argosi ways. This book centres on the discovery of a shadowblack plague and introduces new characters, Seneira (also plague-ridden), Rosie, a new Argosi with very different way of doing things from Ferius, and spellslinger Dexan, also outlawed from the Jan'Tep. This is intriguing with good plot twists and character development. Reichis often steals the show with his humour and his 'I want to eat their eyeballs' attitude.

Booklog 23/2019 - Sebastien de Castell: Charmcaster – Spellslinger #3

Following straight on from Shadowblack, Kellen, Ferius and Reichis are on the road already, with a self-imposed mission to track down and cure the youngsters from the last book who have been infected with false shadowblack and have now dispersed from school to their various homes where they could either become a danger to their families, or potential unwitting spies. Heading for Gitabria, where amazing inventions are created, the three instantly get into trouble and find new friends and enemies as it becomes more obvious who has created the false shadowblack, and who is controlling it. Kellen is reunited with an old friend (or maybe an old flame) and also with a family member, but that may not be a good thing. There's plenty of twisty plot, danger and action in this as well as some tough decisions to be made. Kellen is growing as a person. Reichis, as usual, steals the show.

Movie of the Week: Fisherman's Friends

Being an unashamed folkie I wanted to see this - not because i thought it was actually a true account of how Fisherman's Friends - a shanty group from Cornwall - were actually picked up by a major label, but - well - because I wanted top see what the movie had come up with. It says it's 'based on a true story' and i think the 'based on' is probably the most important part of the phrase.

Yes, OK, it's a feelgood British film about the undersogs making good. The charactyers are lovely, the story is sweet anhd there's some good shanty singing (though not too much to the non-folkies need not worry).

James Purefoy makes a good grizzled fisherman. I've never been that keen on Daniel mays, but he comes good as the intruder into a closed society, eventually learning to do the right thing.

Movie of the Week: Dumbo

Yes, OK, I admit, I couldn't resist this. I saw the original movie when I was a kid, but apart from ther fact that the cute baby elephant flies and Mrs Jumbo is ripped away from her son, I couldn't really remenber the plot. This is Tim Burton's live action verison with Colin Farrell and Eva Green as the two adult leads and Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins playing Farrell's kids who discover the baby elephant's flying abilities. There follows a plot in which an evil circus owner (Michael Keaton) plots to put Dumbo in his own mega-circus and thereby split up Danny DeVito's small family circus. It's all good clean fun with some mild peril to scare the kids a bit. Well worth a watch on a wet Wednesday afternoon.

Movie of the Week: Shazam

I confess I didn't even know this was a DC comic book, but it looked intriguing so H and I did our usual Wednesday afternoon twofers thing. I wasn't expecting much, but it was actually much better than I thought it would be. The basic premise is a kid becomes a super-hero in an adult body when he says the magic word - Shazam. Of course, his hunky adult body hides a child-sized brain, which is where the humour comes in.

Zachary Levi is the adult super hero, pitching his performance just right as a boy in a man's body. Asher Angel does well as the schoolboy with a big secret, and Jack Dylan Grazer is the schoolfriend who becomes Shazam's sidekick. Mark Strong is delightful as the scenery-chewing villain.