Rick Riordan's Reviews > Essex Dogs

I very much enjoyed this! I haven't read much military historical fiction, but for those who would like to experience what it might have been like being a foot soldier in a medieval war, Dan Jones' Essex Dogs brings the Hundred Years War to life in all its color, violence and smell! I didn't even realize this was the same author whose historical works I had read previously, like The Plantagenets, but Jones is one of those rare authors who can write history like an adventure novel and an adventure novel that is firmly grounded in history. In his author's note, Jones says that he was inspired to undertake the novel after a talk with George R.R. Martin, and it's safe to say that the book fits in tonally quite well with A Game of Thrones -- only this story is not fantasy.

We follow a band of soldiers-for-hire, the Essex Dogs, as they embark on Edward III's invasion of France in 1346 C.E. Jones starts each chapter with a quote from a primary source about the campaign, then uses the chapter to flesh out how that event might have actually unfolded, sometimes in surprising and even humorous ways. This is a grim age, and the work of the foot soldiers is hard and often gruesome, but Jones does a good job making the reader feel sympathy and connection for his 'band of brothers' who land on what will someday be Utah Beach. He weaves our protagonists into the historical record, introduces us to the main historical figures involved in the war, but keeps the focus on the enlisted men and their struggles to stay alive and get back home safely with their pay. The Essex Dogs are a colorful bunch, each with a complex backstory and compelling personality. Lovejoy, the leader of the group, is our POV most of the time, and I found him an excellent companion -- loyal to a fault, brave and seasoned in war, but also weary of violence, cynical about the career of mercenary, and given to kindness and mercy -- a trait that could very well get him killed. At the end of the book, I found myself yearning to stick with the Dogs and see what came next on their adventures. Fortunately, my timing was good. The second novel about the Dogs, "The Wolves of Winter," has just been published!