Following some great recent coverage (including an interview in SFX and a piece on the cover design in Sci-Fi Now), I thought I’d share some of the excellent reviews Jesse Bullington has been getting in the UK for his debut novel The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart.  I think the general consensus is: not for the faint of heart!

‘One glance at the minor artistic miracle that is the cover was all it took to convince me to escalate this one up the reading list – and I’m so glad I did … As debut novels go this is one of the best I’ve read… it is utterly absorbing and as fine a tale as you’ll read this year … absurd, bizarre, bawdy, laugh-out-loud funny in places and above all highly original … Jesse Bullington has a unique voice and a rare talent and his debut novel showcases both to terrific effect.’ – Sci-Fi-London, Robert Grant

‘”To claim that the brothers Grossbart were cruel and selfish brigands is to slander even the nastiest highwayman.”  Thus the first line introduces the unsuspecting reader to a pair of the vilest, meanest, most murderous thugs ever to grace the pages of a fantasy novel … This is not for the faint-hearted or the queasy – imagine Tarantino crossed with Rabelais – but Bullington refrains from moralising and presents a buboes-and-all portrait of life in the middle ages.  It’s not all blood and guts… that the brothers believe they have God on their side in their crusade into the Holy Land adds a level of pertinent satire.’ – Guardian, Eric Brown

‘A quite extraordinary piece… a novel of great humour, deep theology and gratuitous murder and quite unlike anything I’ve read before. I absolutely loved it and hotly tip this hugely powerful and wickedly playful début as one of the books of the year for sure!  …not for the faint-hearted but should you be in the mood for something different from the handsome heroes that pervade our history lessons, you can do worse than giving this a try.  It has everything an enquiring, literate mind could ask for – intrigue, villains, priests, theology and religion, folklore, mythology dastardly deeds, robbery, death, mayhem.  And that’s just the first three chapters…’ – SFRevu, Liz de Jager

‘I’d have no reservations in making this one of my reads of the year’ – Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review