I just finished reading The True Bastards, by Jonathan French, book two of his Lot Lands fantasy series.
Quick synopsis: The True Bastards are the fantasy equivalent of a biker gang. They’re half-orc boar-riders defending their land from orcs, humans, blood-crazed centaurs, and anyone else who feels like showing up to pick a fight. Unfortunately, they’re not as good at defending against things like famine and starvation. Their village is kind of falling apart when the book starts, and things don’t get better. The human kingdom to the north is trying to reclaim their old lands, orcs stalk the night, and ancient magics are coming back to the modern day with greater and greater frequency.
Anything else I say here would be a spoiler for the first book, which I don’t want to do because the twists and turns in these novels are really quite good. So I’m going to talk in generalities.
You’ll like these books if you’re interested in reading Sons of Anarchy except with half-orcs, wizards, and elves. The Lot Lands don’t hold back with the brutality, danger, and fucked-up-edness of the setting, so if you’re into grimdark violent fantasy then you’re in for a good time here.
One major thing to note: the Lot Lands does feature a lot of rape. The most common way for a half-orc to be born is, explicitly, for an invading orc to rape a human woman, and pretty much every main character in the novels is a result of that. Also, just about every villain in the novels is a rapist, which is very definitely noticeable in The True Bastards because the viewpoint character is female (there are two different points in the book where she is sexually assaulted by villains, and many others where people make leering comments about her). If your definition of escapist fantasy doesn’t include a land poisoned by extremely toxic masculinity and harrowing sexual assault, well, frankly I can’t blame you. It’s fucking rough at times. Fetching gives as good as she takes, but there’s still a lot bearing down on her, and while it never breaks her it did get to be a lot for me at points.
The True Bastards does make an effort to increase the amount of female representation and agency in the series, which is laudable, considering the first book had only one female character who was actually in the titular gang. Three new female bastards show up and start learning how to use weapons and be a part of a roving war band, along with a new magic lady and a whole bunch of elves. It’s a good move for the series, adding a bit more flavor to what was otherwise a very straightforward patriarchal setting.
I enjoy reading the Lot Lands novels, but they’re the sort of thing where I think I’d need to know you better before recommending them to you wholeheartedly. For a certain sort of reader, they’re great. For another kind of reader, they’d be horrifying. Figure out which one you are before picking up the book.