Grunts

by Mary Gentle

What is an orc?An orc is an 18 stone fighting machine, made of muscle, hide, talon and tusk, with a villainous disposition and a mean sense of humour. And, of course, an orc is a poor dumb grunt - the much abused foot soldier of the Evil Horde of Darkness.The usual last battle of Good against Evil is about to begin. Orc Captain Ashnak and his war-band know exactly what they can expect. The forces of Light are outnumbered, full of headstrong heroes devoid of tactics - but the Light's still going to win. Orcs - the sword fodder in the front line - will die by the thousands.Life's a bitch.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Comedy, Military Fiction, War, Science Fiction Fantasy

409 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 16, 1992

About the author

This author also writes under the pseudonym of Roxanne Morgan

Excerpted from Wikipedia:
Mary Gentle's first published novel was Hawk in Silver (1977), a young-adult fantasy. She came to prominence with the Orthe duology, which consists of Golden Witchbreed (1983) and Ancient Light (1987).

The novels Rats and Gargoyles (1990), The Architecture of Desire (1991), and Left to His Own Devices (1994), together with several short stories, form a loosely linked series (collected in White Crow in 2003). As with Michael Moorcock's series about his anti-heroic Jerry Cornelius, Gentle's sequence retains some basic facts about her two protagonists Valentine (also known as the White Crow) and Casaubon while changing much else about them, including what world they inhabit. Several take place in an alternate-history version of 17th century and later England, where a form of Renaissance Hermetic magic has taken over the role of science. Another, Left To His Own Devices, takes place in a cyberpunk-tinged version of our own near future. The sequence is informed by historically existing ideas about esotericism and alchemy and is rife with obscure allusions to real history and literature.

Grunts! (1992) is a grand guignol parody of mass-market high fantasy novels, with orcs as heroes, murderous halflings, and racist elves.

Reviews

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give up. I can't go on. I couldn't even make it to page one hundred. I slogged through the first 85 pages, which should have been a stand-alone novella (had it been a novella, it would have been a vast improvement, and I may have sped through it had I not been daunted and confused by the presence of the 300+ pages that were still to come). For years I've been longing for a book from the Orc perspective. I wanted a story that actually gave us a hint of Orc culture, Orc life, maybe a story about a humble Orc farmer, just trying to make it while providing grain for the Orc army and living in fear of the nasty humans encroaching on his land. Or perhaps the tale of an Orc warrior, living in squalor and fear because he's part of an underfunded army, and a culture that prizes death over anything else. Or the story of an Orc actor, part of a travelling show, moving through the armies of the Orcs, trying to boost morale. Anything original that told us who Orcs are, even if it wasn't my idea of what Orcs can be, would have been appreciated. Thus I went into Grunts with an open mind, ready to love it (bolstered by the fact that I really enjoyed Mary Gentle's Rats and Gargoyles). But there was no hint of that book I'd been hoping for. Instead, it was just a bunch of idiotic, cannibalistic, hyper-violent degenerates. Just more of Orcs being unrepentantly evil and nasty. But wait, Grunts did provide us with a pair of seriously pyschopathic Halflings, a pair of serial killers if truth be told, and that made me excited for a while, but just when that thread would get interesting, the Halflings would disappear. Which reminds me, the pacing in this book was awful, all over the place, I'd get interested, then she'd move onto something else and drain me of interest. But then Grunts had something else I could get behind: the Orcs stumble on a cache of USMC Weapons in a Dragon's horde and turn themselves into a Marine Corp fighting machine. Suddenly it seems like Gentle is commenting on the US Military, and I am overjoyed! But then the mechanized weapons are useless against magic, and the Grunts are slaughtered, and I can't help wondering what the fuck she was doing having these weapons appear so soon in a 400+ page book. Or at all because they seem to add absolutely nothing And then I was just pissed off again, and wishing this book was over. So I put the book down, and I tried to muster the interest to come back, but I've given up on that idea. I can see no reason for the book to continue, I can see no reason for me to read on, so I have stopped and given Gentle two stars. The book is okay at best. I hate it because it didn't live up to its amazing potential, but I will say it's okay because I can't comment on the finished product. I'll say it's okay despite my hate. (you're feeling how disjointed and strange this review is, aren't you? how disruptive the pacing? that's what Gentle did in her book. Seriously). Yep, I hate this book. But maybe you won't, though you probably will.

[Stephen Robert Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set the world of Tolkien but with a twist here the Orcs are the hero's I hate football & the game of football in this book is how it should be played.
This black comedy that is very funny .Mary really enjoyed showing up the Army in this. The foot soldiers or As tile says Grunts which rhymes with another word - get it!
Now once again this perfect book to read during the 2018 world Russian cup & think of Germany as you read it or Donald Trump's head above the rest!

[John Behnken · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can probably count the times on one hand where a book was so awful I couldn't finish it.

Sloppy narrative. Changing tense mid paragraph - which was done to the point of distraction (I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt on this one, deciding that she was doing it in certain places for emphasis - but after the fifteenth time or so, I couldn't reconcile it anymore). Encounters that didn't finish, were just sort of left floating on the breeze only to find the same characters later on in a different setting and little explanation as to how they got there. A battle with a dragon, that sort of happened, but didn't really get explained. I know that the dragon must have been defeated, but didn't really see it. And a band of orcs that are quickly and inexplicably turned into Marines complete with Marine lingo, Marine attitude and Marine expertise. All this because they found a cache of modern military weapons?

I'm not buying it.

And exactly how many times does the author have to tell me that an orc has "Beetle Browed Eyes" before I believe it and remember it? Ad nauseum.

The only redeeming quality of the book, in my opinion, were the Brandiman brothers. I thought they were very clever characters - but we didn't see enough of them.

Very disappointing because I had heard great things about this author. Ah well.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic! It was hilarious from start to finish. I'm reading some of the other reviews and all I can think of is..you know it's told from the greenskins/evil/darkside perspective right? It's supposed to be disgusting, and crude and vulgar they're orcs. Pick up about 98-99% of any fantasy/sci-fi book and it's always about the hero(s) and their struggles and good blah blah, but what about the other side? The plot is outright ludicrous and it's like a science fiction fantasy inside a fantasy. This is what makes the book freaking brilliant. To this day, my friends and I still quote this book mercilessly. All in all, if you're looking for a heroic tale of a would-be band of champions/heroes/generic folks who must overcome evil/darkness/whatever's threatening life as we know it, pick up pretty much any other book. If you want to know what happens when the grunts, the greenskins, the bottom rung of soldiers get their hands on a means to fight the dominant powers of good (in this book, "good" has always won) and how they handle it, then read this book and laugh. It's a parody and a damn funny one. "Yo! Da snipers!"

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise drew me in fine: I got the impression of a fantasy parody from the side of the stereotypical bad guys, lampooning the genre cliches and generally having fun. And the first few pages, with a seemingly-senile dark lord, seemed to back this up.

But it all too quickly devolved into just being plain unpleasant. And way, way too long for what it tried to do.

Shame, that.

[Matt De · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are very few books I have just given up on. This is one of them. My friend recommended it to me, and based on past advice I took his word for it. After a death march to page 250, I tossed it in the recycling bin. Literally. I asked my friend why he though this steaming pile was worth reading, at which point he admitted to never finishing it either, and since htat day all his recommendations are filed as suspect, to be confirmed by alternative source.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember being told back in highschool that this was the best satire/tolkien/army book ever written. I never really felt like i took off. And I remember struglling to find a copy and then after finding one and finishing it I was a little disappointed. I did read it when i was 15ish so maybe it didnt quite make as much sense.

[David Sarkies · Rating 1 out of 5]

The cannonfodder are given a voice
19 December 2011

The first I heard of this book was when I was young and unemployed. A friend of mine didn't necessarily recommend it to me but was rather laughing about it with some other friends. Apparently their favourite line was 'pass me another elf, this one's broken'. Yet another friend lent it to me and I read it. In conclusion, it was one of the most painful, disgusting, disturbing, and horrible books that I have ever read. To put it lightly, I hated it.

The setting is your average fantasy setting where the great battle between good and evil is about to begin. The heroes of the book are the orcs. They are not nice, nor are they good, but they are orcs. In this book we get a rare behind the scenes look at the life of the fantasy cannon-fodder. In many books orcs are simply created to be killed by the heroes. Further, since orcs are not human nobody can accuse the author of racism. It is not that they are different, it is that they are very different. They are ugly, barbaric, and of course evil. There is no difference to this stereotype in this book.

I won't go into detail on how in the books the orc discover a cache of modern weapons and begin to train like marines to give them a fighting chance. While that may be a part of this book, it is not necessarily what I am going to get at here. Further, this is not like a Shakespearian story, told through the eyes of the villain. No, there is nothing about this book that would even compare it as such.

However, I was writing about how orcs are the stereotypical cannon-fodder of the fantasy world. While it is true that orcs do not exist, I would suggest that there is the subtle idea of superiority resting here. The idea is that the beautiful and the intelligent are good while the ugly and the stupid are bad. If you are ugly then ergo, you are bad. If you are stupid, ergo, you are barbaric. In a way we all try to hide our prejudices (or most of us do, many of us are very blatant and outspoken regarding our prejudices, but that is beside the point), and while charges of racism are hardly going to stick against an author because the author writes a book wherein orcs are bad, I am suggesting that the idea still does lurk below the surface.

[Soo · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried my best to finish this book on several occasions. I just couldn't get into the story. The writing isn't bad but the story just annoyed the crap out of me.

[Sid Nuncius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grunts is not my usual sort of reading but friend recommended it. I liked some of it very much, but I found it was over-long and it all got a bit much.

It’s a sort of satire on the Tolkien genre of good, wise peoples against a Dark Lord and his foul orcs, told from the point of view of the orcs. Mary Gentle subverts the genre very amusingly in places, having a pair of hobbits as murderous, thieving con-men (con-hobbits?), an abominably vain and conceited High Elf-lord and so on, and the conceit of the orcs robbing a dragon-horde which is composed of Kalashikovs, RPGs and the like is funny and well done. She also depicts very graphic violence and sex, both of which are, of course, only coyly hinted at in high language in Tolkien, throwing a rather scathing light on the High Deeds usually depicted in the genre.

There was enough to keep me going here for a couple of hundred pages, but it did begin to pall a bit and I thought the book could have done with some firm trimming. I think that the difficulty with this sort of satire is that the story itself needs to be not only a parody of the usual fantasy, but gripping in itself and for me this one wasn’t really.

For me, Grunts is good but not brilliant. I’m glad I’ve tried Mary Gentle and I may give Ash a go at some point, but I can only give this a rather qualified recommendation.

[Althea Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mary Gentle's work is usually rather surreal, complex, dealing with cryptic symbolism and occult knowledge – and gritty violence, often done by female warriors.
Well, except for the warriors and violence, this is quite a departure.
It's a parody/satire – orcs in a Tolkien-esque land raid a dragon's hoard of 21st-century weapons and are cursed(?) into acting like Marines.
However, it's not just a spoof of Tolkien (though that might be primary) – but also skewers military/action fiction, D&D, stuff like Heinlein's Starship Troopers, and all those books where someone from our world gets zapped into another and ends up a big hero. And more.
It is pretty funny at times, but I have to admit that as far as humorous fantasy goes, it's no Pratchett or Adams. The scope is a little too broad, the plot doesn't really flow like it could, and at over 450 pages, it goes on a little too long.
Not bad, but I have to say I prefer Gentle's more ‘serious' works.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, a copy of Full Metal Jacket and some really potent psychotropic drugs being placed in a blender and pureed.

It's thirty to forty thousand times better than it sounds.

[Mike Finn · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first read 'Grunts', nearly twenty-five years ago, it was a delightful surprise. I'd never read anything that had such a deep understanding of the sword and sorcery novels that I loved and yet was able to see their limitations and pretensions clearly and gleefully vivisect them scalpel-sharp humour. It was one of those books that I pestered everyone to read. 

I was already a fan of Mary Gentle. Her books 'Golden Witchbreed' and 'Ancient Light' had me in fan-boy heaven - real characters, difficult issues, anti-colonial politics and a Jacobean level of death and destruction. What I hadn't expected from her was effective comedy. 

The humour in 'Grunts' is a joy. It tells the story from the point of view of a bunch of Orcs - yeah, the cannon-fodder of The Dark, the creatures that someone like Gandalf slaughters by the thousand without a qualm. Vicious. Aggressive. Canabilistic. Mary Gentle takes these guys and has them fall under a spell that, without making them any nicer, gifts them with the weaponry and fight ethos of the US Marine Corps. Suddenly, they're an effective fighting force with an agenda of their own that doesn't include dying at the hands of The Light because The Dark have no strategy.

'Grunts' is a stiletto to the ribs of all those 'The Last Battle Between the Light and the Dark' trilogies that went on for thousands of pages without humour and without once wondering what made The Light something special rather than just another bunch of fanatical warmongers trashing the homes of the poor. It presents the eternal struggle between The Light and The Dark as pointless destruction and instead of seeing only glory and courage, focuses on the blood and the fear. 

I had a good time re-reading 'Grunts'. It was fun in an X-rated Terry Pratchett kind of way. I started to feel some sympathy for the Orcs and hoped that they'd rise up against both leaders of The Light and The Dark. I particularly enjoyed that the 'Grunts' analogue of Hobbits were treacherous, murderous, thieves and pimps. 

Unfortunately, this time around, I found the book too long. I gave up after 250 pages. I didn't have the stamina for the rest. 

I still recommend 'Grunts'. It is a unique read. 

[Stavros Tsiakalos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe it is important to say one thing right at the beginning of this review:
This is a Mary Gentle book. What this means is that it is graphic in its depiction of violence and sex. The book includes very explicit language. Most importantly, not all sexual encounters described in it are consensual or heterosexual. These things might offend some readers and for those people not just this, but most books by the author would be a waste of time.

That said, personally I enjoyed Mrs. Gentle’s book. We are used to modern fantasy that has magic and fantasy creatures appear in the mundane world, in Grunts! The opposite happens.

Personally, the “fantasy from the bad guy’s point of view” aspect of the book left me cold. Not because it wasn’t executed well, but because antiheroes or villains as protagonists are not that rare as to call every book that has them a refreshing change from the norm. What did thrill me though was the diligence that characterizes Mary Gentle’s research for all her books. The author knows what she is writing about and thus both the world and the characters inhabiting it are very much alive and believably so.

I have read reviews commenting on the lack of a story. Perhaps these reviews are right and the story is not as strong as it could be. What these reviews fail to point out though is that, this book is following a different way of writing and thus storytelling. This is not a book that really follows a set plot, but more of an experiment: take a closed system, in this case a fantasy world, which by definition has heavily outnumbered heroes that will win the day, and add a new agent to the mix, for example 20th century weaponry, tactics and military training. What the book does is sit back and observe. This is what for me made this an amazing read.

The book contains fabulous black humour and over the top black humour. It includes scenes that really do border on tasteless and could have been left out. But what it really provides is what Mary Gentle is best at: an alternate history, just this time to a fiction reality.

[Dom · Rating 1 out of 5]

I dont remember a book I've enjoyed less, it was such a chore to finish it. I can not rate it any lower, if you like fantasy, orcs, war, comedy, then read any other book than this one. Seriously its painful reading it. I've never given up reading a book no matter how long it takes me, but I kept on leaving this book places hoping it might get stolen, alas no so I had to finish it.

Good points...I liked the idea of orcs with modern weapons but she didnt pull that off, it was clunky, cliched and poorly written. Which does I suppose give me some optimism, if this pap is published then I have a chance for my books to be published too!

Dont bother with this book.

Dom

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I had written something about this. Maybe it's on Amazon? Nope. Old enough it could be in an old paper journal!

Anyway, I'll look to see if our libraries have a copy? Nope, no joy. On the wish-list now . . .

[Kristen Peppercorn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Will made me read it.

[Raja · Rating 1 out of 5]

As I try to plow through the oldest books on my "to-read" shelf, I realize that whatever intuition it was that kept me away from these books for so long, it was a sound one. This story seems to be driven entirely by the author's premise (as described in her introduction) of orcs in a fantasy setting wielding Vietnam-era firepower and talking like characters from "Full Metal Jacket," and she fleshes the story out beyond that using a series of buffoonish fantasy characters and familiar-sounding conflicts seen from the orcs' perspective. Don't ask me how the orcs learned to talk like that or came to identify themselves as "Orc Marines," that happens outside the narrative and no explanation is given. Maybe that's for a future book, but I could only manage a quarter of the way through this one, even skimming.

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave this a one star review only because there isn't a lower one. Poorly written, with no likable characters, with no sense of continuity. I picked it up by accident because it was next to the book I wanted, so I decided to read it because the plot synopsis on the back interested me. Big mistake on my part. I will never again read anything by this person. I can't bring my self to call someone who produced such drek an author.
o

[D.L. Morrese · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a review because I could not force myself to finish it. It was not funny. The characters had zero appeal, and there wasn't much plot. I found the thing so distasteful I threw it in the trash rather than risk some other poor sod (who I never met and have nothing against) picking it up at a used book store.

[Feyfire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really couldn't get too into this book. It had it's quirks where it was entertaining but it jumped topic to topic, didn't give a timeline and it had a lot of military stuff in it that I couldn't follow.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have seen a lot more negative reviews about this book than I expected since I totally loved it. If you are looking for Hemmingway or Shakespeare class prose then you are in the wrong place. However if you want a high fantasy story with plenty of black humor that doesn't take itself seriously at all this is a must-read. 

Despite the plot holes I really enjoyed every minute of reading this book. The reader must suspend disbelief multiple times but really, the whole book is outrageous so is that so much to ask? I have the red cover with an orc holding the muzzle of an M-16 to his face so that kind of gives away some of the plot but there is a lot more to it than orcs with modern firearms. The halfing "entrepreneurs" (to be kind) were very interesting characters and I was glad to see they weren't just throwaways.

Where there some disjointed passages? Sure, however they were not so jarring that they broke my immersion. That is one of my biggest tests for a book, if there are so many structural, spelling or grammar errors that my immersion is broken by my annoyance with basic errors that should be caught by a decent proofreader then I will reduce my rating of the book. This one didn't have that problem at all. I would recommend this to anyone who likes high fantasy with a sense of humor.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books, and the best parody I've read. As a parody it's beats both The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as well as the dynamic duo of The Colour of Magic & The Light Fantastic, as it forces the reader to face his/her prejudices, in this case the fantasy genre itself.

The story is told from the perspective of a gang of Orchs, which are the canon-fodder of evil and are usually just there for the blonde and bright eyed hero to slay on his way conquer evil. Ever considered how life must look from their perspective? Well here's you chance to find out!
Things take an interesting twist when the cornered Orchs dig their way into the treasure trove of a dragon and find some metal tubes that does strange (almost magical) things in battle. For a hint read the title again.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly funny book from begining to end. Basically the whole book is told from the orc perspective. A dragon geis takes over a group of Orcs and basically starts turning them into marines. As with all marines they go on a recruitment drive spreading this geis to their races as well creating a fighting force that is marine in nature but with a hint of orc still in it! Their leader Ashnak's comments about emergency rations and not leaving anyone behind will definetely produce a big laugh! :D The whole book is a parody of the usual good guys verus bad guys scenario flipped on its head. The books is full of hilarious one liners and scenes that are simoly way out there and hilarious. The Elf diplomat sent to ask the orks surrender is simply one of these! :D Also watch out for the way the orcs casually promote themselves every few pages, brilliant! :D Fantastic book and a very clever twist on the genre! Amazing stuff :D

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I admit, I didn't make it all the way through this. But the thought of returning to it to soldier on fills me with dismay, so I'm dumping it. It's not really a book about orcs, it's a book about Americans, as if there weren't enough of those. I don't find it funny, I find it tacky. Finally, the story seemed to be wandering in many directions, none of which were interesting, and many of which I expect would vanish without a trace. I don't need to find out.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved the concept but the execution was really poor. By the end it was sheer willpower that kept me turning the pages, refusing to be defeated. Disjointed narrative with some interesting characters and episodes. Definitely skip this one unless you're on a plane or some other area with low partial oxygen pressure.

[1.1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't usually read trade paperbacks of the fantasy variety, but I recall the comforting smell of this class of books from my mid-to-late childhood, when I would lurk around idly reading Star Wars and Redwall books like any socially successful, well-adjusted boy. They smell comfortably bland, and they don't weigh much, but there's lots of pages to escape into. This book smells basically exactly like a trade paperback, but it doesn't look particularly like a reeking tome of fantasy nonsense, and my friends had recommended it with words of praise.

So I read it, chafing a bit at first, because it seemed like the kind of fantasy pablum I can't cope with and can't justify reading. But: friends, I had to know what they had seen in this book. Then it began to get silly, violent, and tolerable. It didn't happen all at once, but I became interested in what would happen. I won't say the writing is top notch, but it doesn't have to be, because of the content of the book. This isn't a masterpiece: it's unrelentingly pulp. There are errors, poor and/or trite phrasings, cliches abound - all existing merely to get torn apart in a wild frenzy of joyous chaos.

Ashnak, urban camouflage. Ashnak, Urban Camouflage. ASHNAK WITH THE URBAN CAMOUFLAGE. I get it, Mary, he's a stylish orc. Get ready for that and for delightful exposition such as: BOOOOOOM! and Aaaaarrgh! Things got to explode and die. But you've got to feel some sympathy for the fantasy race that is most often mindless evil battlefield fodder. Oh, I've read some of the bigger fantasy titles (and given up on others, but that's not for this review) and know the exact conventions this book plays with. It does a good job. More or less, this book is a handful of books and movies (of the sci-fi/fantasy genres) thrown into a pulping device and rendered into a paste of a rather amusing consistency. You'll find a number of references and allusions to things you know, and some of them may even surprise or delight you. This is no good starting point if you're looking at getting into fantasy, though.

I'd like to thank the incomparably named author, Mary Gentle, for keeping this book lively, putting the odd chuckle in it, for being goofy and juvenile. Your prose isn't great, but I admire your spirit and forgive you for the parts of the books that made me cringe. It can't be easy to write a book for the crowded fantasy humor genre, let alone a passable one.

[Viki Holmes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, man. I've tried to read this three times now, and finally it's a DNF at page 286. I'm gutted, as I've loved Mary Gentle's other books, from the genre-bending Ash: A Secret History to the glorious steampunk fantasy of Rats and Gargoyles, and not just loved, but five-star adored them, but after reading a bunch of other Goodreads I'm afraid I too am going to join the ranks of Did Not Finish, and most certainly Did Not Enjoy. Love the idea of fantasy told from the Orc PoV, and of Orcs put under a curse by the discovery of a dragon's hoard of weapons that turn the Orcs into Marines. Using this as a starting point for a satire on the military? Great! This book was not it. A mess of a non-story, with no coherent narrative thread, no likeable characters, nothing to hang on to. Sorry Grunts. It's not me, it's you.

[Kaoru · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me a while to get through this book, but now that I am, I'm not sure what the point of it was.

Yes, I get the rather obvious ways in which the author transferred marine behavior to a fantasy setting. Sometimes those ways were somewhat amusing, but often they were simply incongruous. The addition of other worlds and the like sort of made the interesting aspects of that transfer feel even more forced.

The author mostly skips over things she finds inconvenient to solve, and the book moves simultaneously too fast and too slow, dragging through minutiae, but glossing over anything that smacks of a larger plot than "orc marines get ambitious, fight themselves, others."

I like the overall concept of the book and there are some executions that are purely brilliant, but the selective incompetence of the characters combined with a flimsy set of motivations and explanations of behavior make it a hard read at best.

[Summer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Giving magic-fearing orcs automatic rifles and Apache helicopters is a fun idea, but that is about as much fun there is to be had. Not much else to see in this book.