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Essex Dogs Series

£8.495£16.99Clearance
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While it certainly suffers as a debut narrative due to the authors lack of experience in that area, it makes up for that in historical authenticity. When I finished the book, I felt like I was saying goodbye to old friends but glad to know that I will soon see them again. He looked behind him, back to the pregnant hulk of the Saintmarie and the scores of other cogs that had thrown down their anchors around it.

Their adventures are they fight their way into France are completely gripping and, as Judy says, often very funny. It is clear from the off we're in for a no holds barred and gritty novel that depicts the brutality of warfare in the period that it is set.EDIT: My initial review now complained about some unexpected revelations at the very end of the story which were left hanging. We see it especially in the Dogs' dealings with the noblemen who lead them, particularly people like Warwick and Northampton.

Often sent in first, much like our modern day elite forces, they went in blind not knowing what was awaiting them and it’s this opening scene that endeared me to the men instantly. As his crew scrambled for iron helms and leather caps, to his left Loveday heard sharp yells of fear and distress. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. The relationships between characters in "The Essex Dogs" are reminded me of the deep connections formed between soldiers in the 506th Regiment. These can be used extremely well to make it feel visceral (see Bernard Cornwell’s much better historical fiction on the same time period, the Grail Series), but with this it just felt cheap, and after the blood soaked first half, it really began to drop off as though Jones himself had also tired of it.Other notable characters are Father, a rather demented priest, and Scotsman, a giant of a man whose talent for fighting is second only to his highly imaginative and extremely crude cursing. Essex Dogs,” a first novel by the best-selling historian Dan Jones, opens with a group of soldiers pressed together inside a landing craft approaching the coast of Normandy at dawn. This is set in 1346 during the Hundred Years War and involves an English army landing in Normandy in the weeks prior to the battle of Crecy. I saw the author is a famed historian and the medieval period covered here provides the framework for so much ‘sword and sorcery’ fantasy. Then there’s a long and arduous march through France in an effort to meet with a constantly retreating French army, stopping only for a spot of pillaging along the way.

The story does illicit a certain window of the personalities and idea's of the time, but nevertheless still comes up a little short. The story ends with the Battle of Crecy, the first major battle of the Hundred Years War and there are a couple of minor teases about plot threads for the probable next book but no cliffhanger ending thank God. Rooted in historical accuracy, and told through an earthy cast of archers, men-at-arms and misfits, Essex Dogs delivers the stark reality of medieval war in the round – and shines a light on ordinary people caught in the storm.The other stand out characters are the violent drunken priest Father and the giant Scotsman ( reminded me of Tormund from Game of Thrones). Parts are very good, I particularly liked the description of the battle of Caen and the desperate hand to hand fight at the barricade.

Seven years since the heavy-handed, softly spoken Kentishman had cracked the skull of a foreman on the floor of Rochester Cathedral to settle a dispute about the construction of the new spire, and quit masonry for freebooting and fighting. It offered me a unique blend of entertainment and education, and may do the same to you as well, as long as there is an understanding that certain elements are fictionalized for the sake of the narrative. He follows a small band of men attached to Edward III's invasion of France in 1346, culminating in the Battle of Crecy. The first instalment in a new Hundred Years War trilogy, following a tight-knit group of soldiers fighting the 1346 Crecy campaign in medieval France. Two more archers, Welsh brothers who had been added to the company on the eve of their departure from Portsmouth aboard the cog Saintmarie, were pulling the oars.The great battle of Crecy, supposed to be the high light of the history, has less than a chapter and almost no description of it. Heading ever deeper into enemy territory toward Crecy, this band of brothers knows they are off to fight a battle that will forge nations, and shape the very fabric of human lives. Loveday and Scotsman seemed to have echoes of 2 of Bernard Cornwell's characters, but this is very poor compred to the Sharpe books. Of course one of the ways humans defend themselves in such situations is through humor and that is very much a part of this narrative. Rooted in historical accuracy and told through an unforgettable cast, Essex Dogs delivers the stark reality of medieval war on the ground - and shines a light on the fighters and ordinary people caught in the storm.

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