Lord John Grey: Brotherhood of the Blade review edit
- Anderson, Patrick (September 17, 2007). "A Man's Man". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
- Diana Gabaldon's new novel, her second about the dashing, 18th-century aristocrat Lord John Grey, popped onto the bestseller lists before I could finish reading its 500 pages. As best I can make out, there are two reasons for the popularity of this series. The first is that Gabaldon provides a rich, abundantly researched, entirely readable portrait of life among the English upper classes in the 1750s. From London's literary salons and political intrigue to fearsome battle scenes in the Seven Years' War, her writing is always vivid and often lyrical. The second fascination is Lord John himself. He's around 30, handsome, thoughtful, a brave soldier -- and gay, at a time when that's enough to disgrace an aristocrat and get a soldier hanged. Needless to say, that doesn't stop Lord John from pursuing a lusty sex life, one that will draw many readers to the novels and also turn some away.
- Lord John's older brother, Hal, is the Earl of Melton. He's a senior officer in His Majesty's 46th Regiment, in which Lord John is a major. Their late father was the Duke of Pardloe, and as the novel opens their mother is about to remarry, to Gen. Sir George Stanley. In an early scene, Stanley is having lunch with his two stepsons-to-be and brings along his own stepson, handsome Percy Wainwright. No sooner does Lord John glance into Percy's eyes (which are "a soft, vivid brown, like sherry sack, and most expressive") than sparks fly. The two had previously met at Lavender House, a haven for young men of their inclination, and before this lunch is over it's clear they'll meet again. Indeed, as they part, Lord John is thinking, "Shall we be lovers, then?" Since the impending marriage will make them stepbrothers, he adds, "I don't suppose it's really incest."
- As their courtship slowly unfolds -- the author contrives to keep us waiting more than 200 pages before the two arrive between the sheets -- we explore what is, at least in a formal sense, the book's plot. It has to do with the death of the Duke of Pardloe 17 years earlier, at a time when he was suspected of being part of a Jacobite plot against the government. His death was treated as a suicide, but Lord John knows it was murder and is determined to clear his father's name and find his killer. To do so, he must seek out the real Jacobite plotters and try to force the truth out of them. This search is immensely complicated and is the weakest element of the novel.
- It's much more enjoyable to accompany Lord John to Lady Jonas's literary salon, where the swells preen and flirt and talk about Garrick's latest role and the new French novels. We meet "the Honorable Helene Rowbotham, whose swanlike neck and doelike eyes were exciting their usual admiration," not to mention the philosopher Diderot, who keeps a mistress, reads ribald stories to his pious wife and is missing a front tooth. Later we accompany Lord John to the hanging of a military man who has been wrongly convicted of being gay (a sodomite, as it was), to see the ugliness of the howling mob that attends the spectacle and to watch Lord John defy the mob by pulling on the man's legs to end his suffering when he is hanging half-dead from the gallows. Near the end of the book, when the brothers go to fight with the Prussians against the French in the Seven Years' War, the battle scenes are exciting, Lord John's exploits are heroic, and the wounds he suffers are quite terrible.
- For all these adventures, though, Lord John's passion for Percy remains the heart of Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade. It's mostly described in purple prose. "Percy Wainwright had long, dark lashes. These lifted slowly, giving Grey the benefit of those warm-sherry eyes." After a glimpse of his lover, Lord John finds "his innards performing an immediate volte-face and growing noticeably warm." When a seamstress is making suits for the two men, the author contrives to give Lord John a dizzying glimpse "of Percy's bum, clad in linen drawers and exposed to view as Percy bent to touch his toes." After they watch a soldier being flogged for theft, the aroused lovers do some flogging of their own with a cat-o'-nine-tails. In a moment of tranquility, "his head lay in the hollow of Percy's shoulder, and the curly hairs of Percy's chest brushed soft against his lips when he spoke." The sex itself is described briefly but graphically.
- Either gay or straight sex can be written about well or poorly. My complaint is that Gabaldon writes about gay sex in the style that, if a man and woman were involved, we could call chick-lit. It's idealized, all aquiver with passion, and not much like sex in the real world. Still, there are obviously many readers who enjoy Gabaldon's approach, and it must be said that, dark lashes and churning innards aside, Lord John's adventures are first-rate popular history. A third installment, Lord John and the Hand of Devils, will be released in November.
Text from Haunted Soldier article edit
Lord John and the Haunted Soldier was written by Diana Gabaldon. It was initially published in Germany, but made its English language debut in the Lord John and the Hand of Devils collection. Historically taking place during the Seven Years War, non-fictional historic events and characters frequently make appearances throughout the Lord John series of novels and novellas. Fictional characters from several of Gabaldon's other novels also appear, or are referenced and non critical plot lines concerning events in the Outlander series may overlap.
Characters edit
Major Lord John Grey – The amateur sleuth is the youngest son of the first Duke of Pardloe, artillery officer in the 46th Regiment of Foot during the Seven Years War, veteran of the battles at Falkirk andCulloden Muirs during the Jacobite rising of 1745, and former governor of Ardsmuir Prison, Scotland. He is seriously injured when a cannon he is commanding bursts during the Battle of Krefeld.
Tom Byrd – Younger brother of Grey family footman Jack Byrd, he is Lord John's young and inexperienced valet, fiercely loyal to Grey following the events in Lord John and the Private Matter.
Col. Harold Grey, 2nd Duke of Pardloe – The older son of Gerald Grey, Hal raised and leads the 46th Regiment while refusing to use the title of Duke until his younger brother clears the family name of all suspicions. His longstanding and mutual animosity with Nathaniel Twelvetrees often results in Twelvetrees attempting to discredit Lord John.
Edgar DeVayne – The second son of Benedicta Grey and older half brother of the Grey brothers, he is the owner of a black powder mill implicated during the inquiry.
Col. "Handsome" Harry Quarry – Grey family friend. Once the ensign of Grey's father, Quarry is 15 years Grey's senior and as a result, sometimes protective of the younger man. Like his friend, he is the younger son of a nobleman, an officer in the 46th Regiment, a member of the Beefsteak Club, and a former governor of Ardsmuir Prison.
Capt. Reginald Jones – An English intelligence officer investigating the causes behind the nine cannon failures.
Herbert "Gormless" Gormley – a surviving member of the "Tom Pilchard" crew, he is the opposite of what his nickname implies.
Col. Nathaniel Twelvetrees – The older brother of a man killed by Harold Grey in a duel, Twelvetrees is a colonel in the Royal Artillery and heads the military inquiry into the failure of the cannon under Grey's command.
Capt. Marcus Fanshaw – Once a handsome man, Fanshaw was severely injured by an explosion in a powdermill, and wears a black scarf partially over his mangled facial features. He is obsessed with the fiance of Lt. Philip Lister, Ann Thackeray.
Capt. James Fraser – A central character of the Outlander series, Fraser is a Jacobite officer once held as an inmate at Ardsmuir Prison, and now paroled as a groom to Helwater, England. In spite of Grey's attempt to kill him upon their first meeting, and Fraser's frequent and un-diluted hostility towards Grey for various reasons (not the least of which is Grey's sexual preference), a strange and often strained friendship exists between the two.
Plot edit
In November 1758, following the events of June in Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, the surviving members of the gun crew manning the cannon "Tom Pilchard" at Krefeld are brought before a board of inquiry, including Lord John Grey.
Grey, who commanded the cannon crew upon the abrupt death of Lt. Philip Lister, is both troubled and insulted by the questioning, and stalks out of the inquiry. He does see the remains of the burst cannon, and briefly presents a missing piece; shrapnel from the gun that had been removed from his chest by surgeons, but Grey refuses to surrender it. Eventually, this piece will be the only remaining evidence that the cannons were poorly manufactured. At least one piece of metal remains in Grey's chest, and this along with residual damage leave Grey with severe chest pains and uncontrolled shaking.
Harry Quarry warns Grey about Col. Twelvetrees willingness to use the cannon inquiry to goad John into action that will be used to discredit either him, his brother Hal, or both. He suggests Grey be seconded to the 65th or 78th regiments temporarily to stay out of Twelvetrees' way for a while, but Grey instead begins to investigate the cannon failures himself.
When Grey returns Lt. Lister's sword to the man's father, the elder Lister begs Grey's assistance in locating the missing fiance and child of his late son. While on these tasks, he discovers political intrigue surrounding his half-brother's government contract for supplying black powder to the military, and meets Captain Fenshaw and the other members of Edgar's consortium.
Grey writes on two occasions to his paroled charge, James Fraser; starkly honest confessions of his cares and worries that are never sent, but serve to help ground Grey's thoughts and emotions.
Text from Custom of the Army article edit
The Custom of the Army is a novella written by Diana Gabaldon. It was published in Warriors (anthology) (2010), edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois.
Set during the Seven Years' War, the story revolves around Lord John Grey's time in Quebec while serving in the British army.
Plot edit
In 1759, the morning after a duel in which the other participant is killed, Lord John Grey is presented with a series of letters accusing him of murder, a demand for satisfaction for compromising the honor of the lady over whom the duel was fought, a plea from the lady herself to do 'something', a promotion to Lt. Colonel as a result of events that occurred in Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, and a summons to represent a companion officer who is being court martialled in Canada. Considering the latter to be the least of the evils he has been presented with before breakfast, Grey departs for North America.
In Louisbourg, he joins General Wolfe's forces during their three-month siege of Quebec, but the General is currently not available. During his stay Lord John discovers his cousin by marriage, Malcolm Stubbs, in questionable living arrangements, with an illegitimate child; however, he is unable to confront Capt. Stubbs who is currently on a scouting mission. Meanwhile, his friend and former lover Charlie is under house arrest and in failing health, awaiting the court martial that has not yet been scheduled due to the ongoing siege of Quebec. Grey passes the time he must wait on a fishing trip with Manoke, an Indian guide.
Upon his return in September, Grey finds both Wolfe and Stubbs have both returned as well. Grey violently objects to Stubbs dishonorable behavior, and briefly considers, but refrains from, killing him.
Wolfe invites Grey, an artillery officer with experience with Highlanders, to participate in the daring night-time landing of cannon along the St. Lawrence River, through French sentries, and up the steep cliffs. After scaling the cliffs with the cannon crews, Grey is with the 78th Fraser Highlanders during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham which takes place hours later.
Capt. Stubbs is critically injured in the battle, and Grey with the assistance of an other officer carries him back to the medics, which saves his life, but not his leg. After the battle, Stubbs is shipped back to England on disability and Grey returns to find both his friend Charlie and the mother of Stubbs' illegitimate son dead of smallpox. The infant's grandmother sells the child to Grey. He takes the baby to a Catholic orphanage, leaving him with an annual stipend and naming him 'John Cinnamon'.
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