Essex Dogs Series

Product Information

The main POV of Loveday in this sequence seemed very much an ordinary man’s view of combat and he breaks his hand in the fight.

The Essex Dogs were a collection of murderers and thieves, hoping to gain wealth and status by serving in the English army of Edward 111. The POV characters, as expected, were a bit more fleshed out than the others, though, and you could still root for them (and also, this is something I expect will be improved on as the series goes on). My thanks to NetGalley and, as ever, Head of Zeus for granting this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Considering he’s writing about events back in July 1346, more than 675 years ago, that’s quite an achievement.

Landing craft are crashing through the Normandy surf in a full-scale invasion of France; the men aboard – our Essex Dogs – must somehow avoid drowning and then immediately tackle the fierce defenders on the heights above the beachhead. The group is led by “Loveday” FitzTalbot, a grizzled and increasingly disillusioned veteran of many previous campaigns, and includes among its number a shy 16-year-old archer named Romford.

This was not the story of glorious battle and chivalry but, a long hard slog through mud, blood and spilled guts. Horribly compelling… Only Dan Jones can carry you through blood, piss and vomit and leave you wanting more. The ending of this one, which seems to work to set up the series as a whole more than anything, certainly points to that. Heading ever deeper into enemy territory toward Crécy, this band of brothers knows they are off to fight a battle that will forge nations, and shape the very fabric of human lives.This is the heart of the story that keeps you emotionally engaged amongst all the brutality, all the horrors of war and all the injustices we are exposed to as the reader. An historical fiction that I was initially attracted to by the title, as most of my in-laws live in the county of Essex, now an overflow area popular with Londoners looking to live outside the conurbation. Yet readers coming to the novel hoping for new perspectives on the Hundred Years’ War or on the experience of soldiering in 14th-century Europe are likely to come away disappointed or perplexed, since this is a book that, for better or worse, consistently prioritizes excitement and action over probability or fact. But first they must survive a bloody war in which rules are abandoned and chivalry itself is slaughtered. EDIT: My initial review now complained about some unexpected revelations at the very end of the story which were left hanging.

His debut novel, Essex Dogs , is the first in a planned trilogy following the fortunes of ten ordinary soldiers in the early years of the Hundred Years' War. There’s Father, a bona-fide priest who’s been corrupted by his battlefield experiences and is now a bloodthirsty devil… Pismire, small, quick, and deft at infiltrating enemy camps… Romford (a good Essex name) a formidably skilled longbowman trying to escape his past… and Loveday FitzTalbot, their commanding officer, wise, thoughtful, and committed to getting his boys safely back home to England. Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. Compelling characters, an engaging plot and the perfect dose of immersion that allows you to feel like you are accompanying these characters on their odyssey, through all the blood, grit, trials and tribulations that tie them together. I recently read David Gilmans first book in the master of war series and would say Mr Jones novel compares fairly well overall.It just seemed to plod from one set-piece battle/siege/burning/raping/pillaging to the next with long periods of boredom in between. Essex Dogs really is a character-driven story that focuses on how our main figures react and evolve to the situations around them. I actually had to go back to check Dan Jones’ nonfiction books that I own to make sure that his prose had not always been so dreadful! Rape is heavily implied too by the author without gratuitously dwelling on this dark aspect of medieval conquest.