Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade (2007) Diana Gabaldon

This is a boinking book, but it’s also a book about family and justice and doing what is right.

Although I find Hal (John’s brother) sometimes rather difficult, I think in this book I truly begin to like him.

Hal relaxed a bit at the revelation that Sir George would not be remaining long in England. Benedicta’s money was her own, and safe, for the most part— or as safe as law and Hal could make it. It was his mother’s physical welfare with which he was mostly concerned at the moment. That was, presumably, the point of this luncheon: to indicate firmly to Sir George that Benedicta Grey’s sons took a close interest in her affairs, and intended to continue doing so after her marriage.

“I said why could you not have told me— oh. Oh, Jesus.” His bones turned to water, as he belatedly grasped the horror in his brother’s question. “Jesus, Hal. You didn’t know?”

And I do like that John and Hal do act like brothers.

Grey himself had no such restraint. He was happily off his head, drunk with the lust of fighting. His body felt like oiled rope, tensile and slippery, and he was taking dangerous chances, completely confident that he could elude Hal’s point, regardless. He saw an opening, dropped into a flattened lunge with a yell, and his buttoned point struck Hal’s thigh and skidded across the fabric of his breeches.

Just to be clear: boinking and bad things happen in this book. But I love it anyway.

“Dogs, fortunately, are not hampered by imagination,” he assured Grey. “They live in the moment. No fear of the future.”

This attitude held an obvious appeal— but as Grey noted, some of its benefit depended upon what was happening at the particular moment. Just now, Gustav appeared to be experiencing a moment with an angry badger in it.

It’s a fabulous series, with war and violence but also love and brotherhood.
Rating: 8/10

Publisher: Delacorte Press

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