Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade

Written by Diana Gabaldon

Narrated by Jeff Woodman

Diana Gabaldon, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander saga, brings back one of her most compelling characters: Lord John Grey. Here Gabaldon weaves together the strands of Lord John's secret and public lives-a shattering family mystery, a love affair with potentially disastrous consequences, and a war that stretches from the Old World to the New. It's been seventeen years since Lord John's father, the Duke of Pardloe, was found dead, a pistol in his hand and accusations of his role as a Jacobite agent staining forever a family's honor. Now unlaid ghosts from the past are stirring. Lord John's brother has mysteriously received a page of their late father's missing diary-and John is convinced that someone is taunting the Grey family with secrets from the grave. So he turns to the only man he can trust: the Scottish Jacobite James Fraser. But war, a forbidden affair, and Fraser's own secrets will complicate Lord John's quest-until James Fraser yields the missing piece of an astounding puzzle and Lord John must decide whether his family's honor is worth his life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 26, 2007
• ISBN: 9781436112437

Diana Gabaldon

DIANA GABALDON is the author of the award-winning, #1 New York Times best-selling Outlander novels, described by Salon magazine as “the smartest historical sci-fi adventure-romance story ever written by a science Ph.D.” She serves as co-producer and advisor for the Starz network Outlander series based on her novels.

Reviews for Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade

[fyrefly98 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Summary: Lord John Grey's mother is getting remarried, but that's not the only thing that's stirring up the memory of his father's death. Seventeen years ago, right before his apparent suicide, Lord John's father was accused of being a Jacobite traitor, an accusation which still weighs heavily on Lord John's mind, and which he and his brother have spent their lives denying. Now, pages from their father's journal - the same journal that might either exculpate or damn their father - are resurfacing, which means that someone involved in his death is still alive. But before Lord John can uncover the person behind the pages and finally put his father's ghosts to rest, life intervenes, in the form of a budding new relationship with his stepbrother that he must keep secret at all costs, and the perils that come with being an officer in the British Army.Review: If it weren't for the fact that I already had Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade sitting on my shelf when I read Lord John and the Private Matter, I'd think that Gabaldon wrote it specifically to address my main issues with the first book. Specifically, I'd complained that the Lord John books pale in comparison to the Outlander series, because Lord John is just not as lively and compelling of a character as Jamie and Clare. But, after finishing Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade: I take it back! I take it all back!In this installment, Lord John is just about the opposite of weak tea. Brotherhood of the Blade is very much a character-driven novel, and we get to see some of his inner fire that he usually keeps locked up pretty tightly. Over the course of the book, he has to wrestle with a lot of issues about family and honor and love and responsibility, and Gabaldon is not shy about putting him through the emotional wringer - and about giving the readers a close-up view of the process, instead of keeping her characters at a more staid and proper 18th century distance. My heart broke for Lord John more than once over the course of this book, and while he might never quite match Jamie's magnetism, he's certainly become a fascinating character in his own right. Speaking of Jaime, he does show up several times in this book (which takes place in the gap between Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager in the Outlander series chronology). I was particularly struck by how different Lord John's Jamie is than Claire's Jaime, very hard-edged and tightly-wound and almost harsh. If this had been the first time I'd met him as a character, I doubt I'd have liked him much; and I'm impressed that Gabaldon was able to so effectively present such a different view of such a well-loved character. The one downside to having such a character-focused novel is that the mystery plot - who is sending the pages and what do they know about Lord John's father - is put on the backburner for a lot of the novel. I found the mystery/politics/conspiracy subplot a little hard to follow, because most of the people involved appear on-screen very briefly (if at all), so it was hard to keep them all and their motivations (and their motivations of 20 years ago) straight in my head. But because the emotional heart of the story is in the repercussions of Lord John's father's death, rather than its causes, I don't think I missed much, and the bulk of the book was totally engrossing. 4 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: This book could stand alone fairly well, but of course it will appeal most to Outlander fans who have read at least through Voyager.

[alana_leigh_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

For those who read Lord John and the Private Matter and shrugged their shoulders a bit, happy enough to enjoy the world of Gabaldon but not terribly impressed with the mystery itself, then I think you'll be quite pleased with Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade. It has enough to delight Gabaldon fans who also happen to like mysteries as well as the fans who are really just looking for a fix while they wait for the next big Jamie and Claire book. In Private Matter, things started off with Lord John was working for the interests of his family (aka making sure his cousin didn't marry a poxed fellow), but overall, it wasn't quite compelling. Here, that's all changed and the story is very personal indeed. Not only does the main storyline have to do with avenging the death of a father and reclaiming the family honor, but we introduce a love interest for John in the form of Percy Wainwright and delve into deeper discussion of homosexuality in the eighteenth century. The book also also gets right into the thick of the workings of the British army and a bit of action from the Seven Years War.We've caught a glance of Percy before now in the Lord John series, as a handsome young man briefly seen at Lavender House, so we know where his orientation lies. (And those who have read An Echo in the Bone will immediately recognize him. I found myself rather wishing that I had read Gabaldon's books in order of publication so I could have known more about Percy and John's relationship before reading Echo. It wasn't required, certainly, but it would have been nice background information. Alternately, reading Echo first doesn't ruin the outcome of this book, but the reader does get a hint as to how things turn out.) In Brotherhood of the Blade, Percy is not simply a casual acquaintance, but rather, he is about to become John's step-brother, pending the nuptials of John's mother Benedicta. There's an immediate spark between Percy and John, starting with the surprise of recognition as they're introduced and continuing through their every encounter. While they keep attempting to find some private time alone, poor timing means that repeatedly, their attempts at an evening alone are thwarted. Of course, this also means that they get to know each other quite well before any physical intimacy; it all has the warm and exciting air of courtship, which exactly what it is, even if the time period wouldn't quite carry the same view. Percy might be a handsome young man, but as with many handsome young men, he has limited means... which means that his step-father is buying him a commission in a regiment and if he hadn't been inclined to join John's (overseen by John's older brother Hal) previous to their meeting, well he's certainly inclined to do so now. The air is spiced with the thrill of battle as the regiment readies itself for any number of locations, though ultimately they're sent to chase the French army around for a while before they see real action... but if you think this might be a fluffy book, never fear -- there is some pretty intense military action to witness.One of the fun parts of this installment is the greater acquaintance it provides with Lord John's family. Hal, John's older brother, is an interesting character, also seen in Echo as a much older man, so it's nice to see him a bit younger. While Hal technically has inherited his father's title, Duke of Pardloe, he stubbornly refuses to use what is viewed as a tainted title, following a scandal that indicted their father as a Jacobite sympathizer. Hal and the rest of the family is adamant that such an accusation was false (despite their mother's Scottish background) and before any official claims were laid to the Duke, he died. The death was ruled as a suicide, but John reveals that he knows such a ruling to be false -- it was murder. Seeing as everyone's English, there's a great deal of non-discussion about emotions surrounding this, particularly between the two brothers and extending to their mother. Granted, there's the fact that everyone seemed to be trying to protect everyone else from certain knowledge but ultimately, had they all come clean with what they knew, they would have saved themselves some trouble in trying to figure out who actually murdered the Duke. This is more a criticism of the English mindset in general... as far as the book is concerned, it's a good detail and quite in keeping with everyone's character.There's a lot of time devoted to Percy & John's relationship... and a lot of time spent with John pining for Jamie Fraser. As far as Percy is concerned, Gabaldon gives Percy and John a short period of bliss before a huge bit of drama is tossed in... which results in Percy and another German fellow being arrested for sodomy and then John winds up as the sole alive/available witness. John needs to figure out what to do as the military investigation draws near -- for perjuring himself would result in the end of his own career but testifying would most likely result in Percy's death (or life imprisonment on the lenient side). Even before this complication which effectively ends their relationship, John was struggling with his own emotions -- for he cannot shake the feeling that while he does like Percy a great deal, he's still hopelessly in love with Jamie Fraser. So I turn my attention to Jamie. Normally, I'm always in favor of more Jamie Fraser, but what Gabaldon gives us is a situation even more complicated and interesting than I could have hoped for. What we have here is a very guilt-ridden, angry, and intolerant Jamie Fraser -- not at all the romantic, brave, kind and in-control Jamie that we're all rather used to. These are dark days for Jamie Fraser and Gabaldon doesn't shy away from this. At this time, Jamie is a convicted Jacobite traitor and John has made allowances for Jamie to serve as a groom at Helwater rather than be shipped off to the Americas. To refresh your memory, the result of Jamie's time in Helwater was this: Geneva blackmailed Jamie into taking her maidenhead before her wedding to Ellesmere, she got pregnant as a result, Ellesmere freaked out out because he never slept with Geneva, Geneva died in childbirth, and Jamie shot Ellesmere after Ellesmere threatened to kill the baby. We know this from Voyager but Lord John doesn't have all these details and consequently, all we see is John being confused as to why everything is even more tense than it should be following the death of Geneva and Ellesmere. We, the readers, know the torment that's going on in Jamie's mind, but John does not, even if he has a sneaking suspicion that Jamie might have fathered Geneva's child. In addition to all this, while those who have finished Voyager know that Jamie and John ultimately do come to have a close friendship, at the time, they are certainly not chummy. Jamie's wracked with guilt about Geneva's death and John is distraught about Percy's situation, so they're both stretched emotionally when John starts asking Jamie for information about Jacobites (in his search to clear his father's name). There's a pretty impressive scene towards the end of this novel where Jamie and John have a massive argument, showcasing Jamie's complete abhorrence for homosexuality. We all know that this mostly stems from his own experience being raped by Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall (and rescuing young Fergus from a similar experience by the same man)... or at least certainly it was strengthened by it. For readers who clearly don't have the same distaste for homosexuality that Jamie professes (otherwise they probably wouldn't have made it so far in this particular novel, given that John is most definitely gay), it's fascinating to still like Jamie even if we don't agree with his feelings on the matter. There are a few things that probably help us maintain our love for Jamie at this point: (1) we know Jamie and John do become friends later, (2) Jamie is pretty insistent that what he finds horrible is the idea of using someone else for one's pleasure, particularly young boys, and (3) at least Jamie is not up for persecution of any kind of person, no matter their deviation from what is accepted as the mainstream. I still find it a to be a testament to Gabaldon's skill at creating complicated and compelling characters that we can continue to like Jamie Fraser. Meanwhile, John acquits himself quite well on his side of the argument, insisting that he be heard in defense of his own sexuality... and then has a rather base reaction to the stimulation of such passionate debate with Jamie. Those who don't want to bother with any kind of plotline around homosexuality will quickly realize this book is not for them -- but it certainly makes me wonder how many people in Gabaldon's fan base are turned off by her acceptance and promotion of Lord John as a strong and incredibly likable protagonist who happens to be gay. (Indeed, in this book more than any other, his sexual orientation is a big issue, but I like to think that Lord John is not solely defined by this one trait.) I certainly hope that her readership is entirely comprised of intelligent and tolerant people, but I would be willing to bet that there are a few homophobic bad apples in any bunch. While Lord John and the Private Matter showed that Gabaldon isn't a mystery writer deep down, I do think that her second attempt at a mystery novel drastically exceeds the first on all fronts. Private Matter was still pleasant but Brotherhood of the Blade was a much better work on the whole. Perhaps it's just because Lord John was personally invested with the mystery at hand, perhaps not. Either way, I was delighted with this installment of Lord John's adventures and hope you feel the same.

[love2laf · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoy the Lord John series, and this one being a full length novel was even better than the short stories. Lots to sink my teeth into.

[jenreidreads · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was better than Lord John and the Private Matter, but that isn't saying too much. For a while in the middle, I was able to forget the fact that this was a mystery, and Gabaldon returned to romance with Lord John and his lover, Percy (who is his step-brother by marriage). The middle was the best part; we got history, character development, romance...but then she had to go back to the mystery at the end! It got very confusing, I thought, and ended rather abruptly. It was nice to see Jamie throughout this book, but he's much better with Claire; opposite Lord John, Jamie just seems like an asshole. Hopefully the trend will continue, though, and the third Lord John novel will be better than this one.

[auntieclio · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ah, mid-eighteenth century when it was illegal to be gay, to the point of being hanged for it in the public square. Even worse was shaming the family honor by being some form of officer in the Queen’s army and titled. Forget the mystery surrounding Lord John Grey’s father’s murder (once thought to be suicide), this is the story of Lord John’s affair with his stepbrother as a substitute for his unrequited love for the very straight (and disgusted by the thought) Jamie Fraser (star of The Outlander series). Gabaldon writes about the joys of being in love and the physical sensations of that love (without being exceedingly graphic) and the pain of living a double life. There’s something about Gabaldon’s books that makes me read them almost straight through and then wish for more.

[amberwitch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The second book in the Outlander setting featuring Lord John. His mother is about to remarry, after many years widowhood. Both Johns mother and older brother receives cryptic letters containing pages from the dead Dukes journal, and Johns investigation into the matter unearths an old conspiracy which Johns father was the victim of. John and his brother are preparing to bring their regiment to the Prussian front, and their stepfather to be has bought a commission in their regiment for his stepson, Percival. John and Percy has met previously at a Molly house, and soon become sexually involved.Wonderful time piece, whose Georgian era ambiance is well described.

[marient_5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In 1758, in the heart of the Seven Years' War, Britain fights by the side of Prussia in the Rhineland. For Lord John and his titled brother Hal, the battlefield will be a welcome respite from the torturous mystery that burns poisonously in their family's history. Seventeen years earlier, Lord John's late father, the Duke of Pardloe, was foumd dead, a pistol in his hand and accusations of his role as a Jacobite agent staining forever a family's honor.

[surreality_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Plot: It's styled as a mystery, but the most mysterious bit about it is that the mystery set up on the first 50 pages disappears completely, and only resurfaces two chapters before the end so it can be solved as an afterthought. The middle part of the story is a romance, with some war background thrown in for good measure. Far too many complications, far too many side plots that come to nothing and only add confusion.Characters: There are far too many of them, and only very few actually add anything to the plot. To add insult to injury, these side characters also tend to get very little characterization, so they're completely pointless and just add a few pages to the book. The central characters are better, but they don't get the attention they should be getting because the story is so chock-full of other characters. Style: The mystery is a catastrophe. Badly set up, far too complex, clues are magically produced and it all is so far-fetched that you mentally disengage very quickly. The romance is better, but doesn't get enough space to really develop; there are a lot of opportunities to explore it which aren't taken up. Plus: Gay romance, at times surprisingly explicit for a mainstream novel. And not at all badly done. Minus: Think of the opening scene in War and Peace, the party with countless names and far too much background information, where you have no chance of figuring out who is going to be important later on. Most of this book feels like that.Summary: It's a story with an identity crisis. A mystery? A romance? A war novel?

[miyurose_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this second book in the Lord John Grey trilogy. I felt it was much more fleshed out than the first book, Lord John and the Private Matter. There is much joy and much pain in Lord John’s life during this book, and my only complaint is that the main mystery of the book — who killed Lord John’s father — often gets lost between his relationship with new step-brother Percy (and its consequences) and his involvement in the war. There were long stretches of the book where I completely forgot what the main point was. Lord John is himself an interesting character, noble and flawed both. I enjoyed his interactions with Jamie Fraser (which helped me place this book in the Outlander timeline), as well as his affair with Percy, even if that did end poorly. Not only does Gabaldon manage to tell quite an interesting tale, but she also explores what it’s like to live as a homosexual man in Georgian-era England, where such behavior is often punishable by death. As with the last book, if you are squeamish about homosexual relations, this trilogy is not for you!

[avernon1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lord John is once again in the midst of a mystery. However, this time it is a mystery that has haunted his family since his childhood. Lord John's father, the late Duke of Pardloe, was found dead in his home, a gun in his hand and his reputation sullied with rumours of being a Jacobite sympathizer. Did the Duke kill himself? Lord John knows he didn't and is desperate to prove it and in the process, reclaim his father's honour.I liked this book more than the first installment in the Lord John series. As the story moves between John investigating his father's mysterious death, John's love affair with Percy Wainwright and his preparations for war, the reader learns a great deal more about this nobleman. A large part of the book focuses on the growing relationship between Lord John and Percy, with well-written, tender love scenes as well as some rough and raunchy ones too. If you are a homophobic fool, this is not the book for you. Although Lord John finds himself growing more and more fond of Percy, he cannot dispel the feelings he still holds for Jamie Fraser. Lord John's unrequieted love for the Outlander Scotsman makes me feel sympathy for him, for it is a deeply felt love, one within his soul, one he cannot forget, even in the arms of another lover.Once again, Diana Gabaldon is amazing in her descriptions of historical accounts, with gripping battle scenes that make you feel the explosions of the cannons as they tear through the air. I did find the story to be a bit convoluted at times, with many names and connections to be remembered. However, I truly enjoyed the personal insights into Lord John's life...his relationship with his older brother Hal, his growing love for another man, and his sense of honour. This is an interesting and engaging book, written with wit and humour and full of details of 18th century London society. I will surely be reading the third and final installment.

[pmatson_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the flashing wit and sly implications of the conversations, and the intricate and ultimately satisfying plotting. Gabaldon's writing is very evocative of her settings, both in time and in place. I find Lord John a sympathetic character, and others are interesting as well. However, readers who can't handle depictions of homosexual sex or light S&M should stay away from this series.

[lisashapter · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another well researched, fast-paced enjoyable historical mystery with vivid characterization, where one can smell the mud of the battlefield and the streets and parlors of England and German. However, I liked this book less than the first Lord John book: the rhythm of the author's writing now seemed a little formulaic (a critical scene is always interrupted 2 or 3 pages in by a surprise letter, a dark figure on the street, an unexpected person bursting in with a distraction or upsetting news.) I imagined a "plot wheel" next to Gabaldon's desk to be spun everytime such an interruption is needed. Also the plot smacked of ret-con (the murder long in the past that forms the center of the plot in this book is not hinted at in the first book. It was a very odd thing for the main character not to mention and a few subtle re-writes would permit the first book to set up this one.) In addition, this book seems more dependent than the first one on the long heterosexual romance series it is an offshoot of; I wish this book had stood more on its own. (A long veteran of reading science fiction and fantasy, I resent being prodded to buy or read the other books in long serieses.)A large (and perhaps unwise) childhood dose of Anne McCaffey was all the romance reading I needed, I do not wish to read any others.The scenes in this book also veered from the realistic: the episode where a women in late-stage labor kept silent during a church service while the hero tryed to attract attention to her plight by throwing candies at the assembled from the choir (when he started out in a pew and could have just grabbed someone's elbow) made me shake my head as I read it (as did other occasional moments and situations).I enjoyed the book; it was entertaining and carefully researched, but I could hear the gears working in ways I could not in the first.

[raven_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

History is not my strong point. That said, I suspect that this novel, set in 1758, would not be my first stop in redressing the lack. So much the better for me, though - my ignorance probably went some way to the sheer joy I got out of it. It's a proper tapestry, full of life and character and good chewy plot, and it works bee-yoo-ti-fully.In no small part, this is due to Lord John Grey, who is in many ways the archetypical hero of a novel of this type - he is an aristocrat, with the right skeletons in his family closet; he's charming and well-liked by everyone; an expert swordsman; well-off, educated, and good in a fight. But unlike a lot of heroes of novels of this type, he's eminently likeable. Not because the author says he is, but because he is - the charm is so beautifully written, and it's well-tempered with a solid sense of humour - and I for one have no objection to being charmed by him. And similarly unlike heroes of novels of this type, he's pursuing a clandestine love affair with his stepbrother....really. And that, too, is expertly done. There's no whisper of incest - the stepbrother is the result of a very recent parental remarriage, and is himself likeable, although in his case, the author falls squarely into the trap of making him preternaturally beautiful, having escaped any physical description of her hero altogether - and seen from a certain perspective, the first 250 pages of the novel are some sort of extended coitus interruptus for Grey and Percival. And when they get beyond that, well. She can write good sex, I will give her that. Romance-novel overblown, of course, but to just the right degree. Mmm. There's a plot, too - full of Jacobites and treacherous Scots, which I read with some amusement as Northumberland became the Borders beyond the train window - but really, it's not the point, and neither is the occasionally less-than-stellar prose. The characters are such fun - as well as Grey and Percy, there is Hal, Grey's elder brother (who just screams "elder brother" from his first appearance), their indomitable mother and cousins, but even bit-players like Grey's valet, and the obligatory conspirators, come brightly to life - that I'll happily read 500 pages about them. I look forward to Lord John's further adventures with interest.

[labelleaurore · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is signed by Diana Gabaldon, when she was on a book tour, in Chapters, Pointe-Claire, Montreal, Canada, last September 2007. I was so happy to see her in person.

[legan_18 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The reviews are correct - the history is quite good, but that was not enough to suffer through the constant blindsiding.