Essex Dogs Series

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Jones creates compelling and authentic characters - bloodthirsty, profane soldiers lacking conscience, killing for coin, yet fighting bravely alongside each other.

In this book they are recruited by an English noble for 40 days fighting in France on behalf of King Edward III. With a cast of unforgettable characters, written with irrepressible verve and historical accuracy, Dan Jones delivers a compelling novel that thrums with swordswinging energy.He passed the canteen to Father and, summoning more courage than he felt he possessed, he shouted to the Dogs the war cry he had heard from the Spaniard he met drinking a campaign's pay away in London many years before, a swarthy man who had fought the Saracens and bore a long scar from his hairline to chin to prove 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. The story is told primarily from the perspective of the common soldier in such time and in such a campaign and the telling is crude, vulgar, and assorted other unpleasant adjectives and is probably entirely accurate to the reality of war at this time. The narrator, soon established as Elliot Chase, then zooms out to address the reader directly, introducing the players—most importantly movie star Lana Farrar.Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's pageview limit. There are passing references and little nuggets of information about the backgrounds of the Essex Dogs, including mention of their previous leader, the enigmatic Captain.

The tale was full of coarse language, expletives delivered freely by royalty, nobles, priests and peasants alike. The opening chapter, with a brutal French beach landing for the ‘Essex Dogs’, sets the scene for an action packed story displaying just how barbaric war was in the Middle Ages, with hand to hand fighting, more often than not to the death. A new champion has entered the front line of historical fiction to stand shoulder to shoulder with Bernard Cornwell. The atmosphere of the novel, set mostly on this wild Greek island, echoes strongly the classical tragedies of Greece.

Few books manage to be as compelling on every level as Essex Dogs : it's adventure, history, and heart. Only one POV is shown and that is of Romford in a scene reminiscent of the Agincourt battle from the film ‘the king ‘. So here was he: forty-three summers old, still fit and strong, but grey at his temples, with fat settling around his middle and age creeping into his bones. Visceral and powerful, the reality of medieval warfare leaping from every page, it's gripping storytelling at its best. The history is impeccable as you would expect, but the characters left me cold and I just never felt I knew them properly.