"Set during The Hundred Years’ War, this audacious band of brothers’ adventure is bold, bloody, and funny to boot."
With more bloody battles, hearty high-octane action and historic thrills than you can shake an axe at, Essex Dogs, historian Dan Jones’ fiction debut, is a punch-packing page-turner fans of Bernard Cornwell will take their helmets off to. The first in a trilogy set during the Hundred Years' War, it reels with raw energy, spicy language, and the palpable drive and camaraderie of its larger-than-life characters.
It’s 1346 and King Edward’s “great invasion of France – a thousand ships and fifteen thousand fighting men aboard them – was starting. The Essex Dogs were at the front of it”. This band of variously skilled brothers-in-arms, “some of them from Essex. All of them having sharp teeth”, are led by Loveday FitzTalbot, a Captain determined to get his boys back home through the most brutal of battles.
Underpinned by historic realities, and propelled by edge-of-your-seat pace, Essex Dogs thrusts readers to the heart of the Hundred Years’ War that shaped Europe – strap in for a wild ride.
| Primary Genre | Historical Fiction |
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A great addition to the field of historical fiction. Bernard Cornwell etc. watch out Dan is coming!
I know Dan as a historian through his non-fiction books and documentaries, but this is his first foray into historical fiction. And what a debut it is! The writing and storyline are top notch and the language used is authentic to the times; which is not always the case with some historical fiction.
Dan Jones' debut novel is an impressive work of historical fiction set in the Hundred Years' War and, more particularly, during the Crecy Campaign. It bears all the hallmarks of the meticulous historical research we have come to expect from this author.
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. The invasion of France by Edward III and his son the Black Prince in the furtherance of their claim to the French throne.... Read Full Review
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.
Historian, writer, broadcaster, journalist and hugely likeable Dan Jones is back with an action-packed historical fiction thriller - Essex Dogs - The first in a planned trilogy following the fortunes of ten ordinary soldiers, in the early years of the Hundred Years’ War set in France, 1346.
“Some men fight for glory. Others fight for coin. The Essex Dogs fight for each other…..”
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.
What struck me instantly was just how normal and ordinary the ‘dogs’ men were.... Read Full Review
An action-packed piece of historical fiction set during the hundred years war that you will find difficult to put down. Dan Jones has made a great piece of debut fiction.
Dan Jones' debut novel is set during the battles of The Hundred Years War, following a group of swords for hire known as the Essex Dogs from their initial landing in France to the thrilling final assault.
I found the writing really engaging and managed to avoid too much depth that can be found with some other pieces of historical fiction, there’s a good variety to the characters and I felt like I grew a fondness for some of them quite quickly, as well as a hatred of others.
The pacing was fast and furious as the band of men made their away across the french countryside, coming across the various towns which provide a backdrop for the war and playing out the set pieces of the story.... Read Full Review
