Essex Dogs: The epic Richard & Judy Summer Book Club Pick 2023 from a Sunday Times bestselling historian (Essex Dogs Series 1)

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Jones, Dan (18 June 2013). "A scare could be just what the Lions needed". London Evening Standard . Retrieved 23 July 2014. Written by historian Dan Jones, it is wondrously peppered with historical details from the period. Unfortunately, this is the Essex Dog’s one good merit. Where it falls down is the story and the characters. Essex Dogs is a triumph. The writing is top notch, character-focused and smooth as silk to read. The combat is numbing and brutal and the dialogue is just so much fun. It is a book that you just enjoy reading, it is pure fun and something I will recommend to fantasy lovers as a great entry of historical fiction to try. I drink in a pub that hasn't changed for 50 years with ordinary people. So I've lived in the real world where patriotism is a real thing and the Coronation was spiritual and mystical and profoundly important in a way that didn't add up to 'What does it cost?' or 'Should we really have a monarchy?' Dan Jones is an excellent historian. I enjoy his books and his tv shows, but his foray into historical fiction isn't quite to his normal superb level. Is it bad? By no means, it was entertaining and a good read-but perhaps too much time is spent on the Essex Dogs and their misadventures than on the historical big picture.

Dan Jones (18 August 2012). "The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I by Stephen Alford". The Times. London. A new champion has entered the front line of historical fiction to stand shoulder to shoulder with Bernard Cornwell.' Jane JohnsonThree part series on The Great Fire of London to air on Channel 5". ATV Today. 22 May 2017 . Retrieved 11 June 2020. You’re a prolific non-fiction writer. How has this helped shape your fiction and on the flipside, what would you say is the hardest thing about transitioning from penning non-fiction to fiction? As always with a Dan Jones novel, you know that the historical facts mentioned will be true to actual events and along with his very intelligent imagination (due to his love and passion for history) it’s assured any story by him will be fantastically written and instantly gripping. Dan Jones (25 September 2012). "The history of Britain (in 15 minutes): from Stonehenge to the credit crunch". The Times. London. Dan Jones shows us the repetitive nature of this type of warfare, of troops marching through abandoned villages and then coming up to garrisoned castles, whilst keeping the story gripping and entertaining from start to finish. I did not envy the characters at all, but I loved following them through their journey.

The many battles in this book were bloody, violently brutal, chaotic and exhausting. Frequently carried out after many days of travelling by foot, in barren landscapes and unrelenting heat. The plundered, burned out and looted towns and villages was written so atmospherically, I could almost smell the rotting stench of excrement and smouldering houses. There is some swearing between the men but there’s also a lot of humour and the one liners are truly funny.A work of craft perhaps unrivalled in its presentation of medieval warfare. 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. Wolves of Winter follows some of the same characters you have already met in Essex Dogs - Loveday, Romford, Scotsman and the rest of the gang - and introduces some more whom I hope you will find memorable.

Led by the war-weary Loveday FitzTalbot, Jones' Essex Dogs are a motley band of foot soldiers fighting for money and bound mostly by their loyalty for one another.

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This book starts out brilliantly following a small group of ten soldiers (Englishmen, Scotsmen, Welsh folk and others), the Essex Dogs, as they arrive on the shores of Normandy in 1346 to storm the beaches and take France for King Edward III. This is the Hundred Years War of course, but the setting is familiar and Jones evokes the feeling of WW2 and Saving Private Ryan, while keeping the flavor distinctly medieval; this time it isn’t lead balls and MG42, it’s arrows, swords and flame. After this, the King’s army continue their march inland and we get to know the Dogs personally. There isn’t much of a plot in this book; it’s more a slice of life kind of deal. We meet our main characters, and spend a few months with them as they burn through the French countryside towards Paris, leaving a swath of destruction in their path. There’s more to it than just fighting and plundering though. The plot concerns a small experienced group of soldiers, hired by a knight to be his company of foot soldiers in an invasion of France by Edward III in the mid 14th century, part of the Hundred Years War between England and France. This particular expedition led by Edward lasted several weeks as his invasion force pillaged its way across Normandy and culminated in a famous battle at Crecy. That’s the history bit underlying the fiction, the first attempt at fiction, apparently, by this historian. The book is part of a trilogy, but the ending stops with a character (who disappeared for a good chunk of the book) reappearing to drop a minor cliffhanger. The book didn’t have a clear beginning/middle/end, and the character arcs never really appeared. Essex Dogs follows a platoon of men landing in Normandy during the Hundred Years’ War. In terms of what happens in the book, it’s hard to say, but as a vague plot summary: they fight and do battle and attempt, on behalf of their own king, to overthrow the French king.