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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Dan Jones' first fiction novel is a timeless, incredibly engaging and sweeping odyssey of the summer of 1346 - one that is full of bloodshed and hilarious, medieval cursing. The siege of Calais 1346-7 is the setting for my second novel - Wolves of Winter - which is the next instalment in the trilogy begun with Essex Dogs . The Essex Dogs of the title are a small group of men-at-arms and archers who fought in the Hundred Years War between England and France as a part of King Edward III's forces. This book, I understand, is the first in a trilogy about the war that is planned by Dan Jones.

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. There are also echoes in the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin's use of mercenaries and expendable conscripts.

“The Dogs are in a mud-wrestling match with history and they bring some moves all of their own to the party”

I have read several books by Dan Jones and enjoyed them all. He is that rare, very rare, historian that seems to understand that if you want your books to sell then the average reader has to like them and be entertained by them. So while young Mr. Jones may be a scholar he doesn't write like one and aims for a broader audience. I guess Mr. Jones may have come to a point in his career where he has exhausted his wealth of knowledge in the area of his historic expertise and has decided to try something new. In this book Mr. Jones has clearly ventured into the cutthroat arena of commercial fiction and, though not surprisingly, into historic fiction. This book promises to be the first of a series dealing with some 14th century free booters or mercenaries, professional soldiers but not like we would use that term today. I am giving the book 3 stars as it is a good book with promise but there is a difference between writing good history and good fiction and especially if the fiction is historical fiction. Mr. Jones will need to prove himself before I rate him higher in the fiction field. Three part series on The Great Fire of London to air on Channel 5". ATV Today. 22 May 2017 . Retrieved 11 June 2020.

I loved reading about each and every one of these characters. I loved the setting of this novel so much as well—it was immersive and a blast to read. The writing was direct and easy to read. My reason for not giving full marks? This is Jones’s first real fiction outing, and I think it does show sometimes. Nothing major though—I still would recommend this one to just about anyone. 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. The novel follows a group of men from Essex known as the Essex Dogs. There is a great deal of earthy Anglo-Saxon language often interlinked with some rather colourful religious imagery. So not for the easily offended. Jones had the idea for a novel about a group of men at war. The story goes that Jones was having dinner with George R R Martin when the idea took shape. So are there shades of Game of Thrones? Especially as Game of Thrones has also been compared to The Hundred Years War. Well, there are some comparisons, but this doesn’t have complexity or the range.

Reviews

The Dogs are being torn apart—but this war is far from over. It won’t be long before they lose more of their own. Dan Jones is a historian who writes about the Middle Ages; he’s written a book on the Crusades amongst others. He has also been discovered by TV and has fronted a few history programmes. However to give you an example of his current oeuvre he is currently presently Sex: A bonkers history for SKY with Amanda Holden!! Enough said.

Swept up in the bloody chaos, a tight-knit company from Essex must stay alive long enough to see their home again. With sword, mace and longbow, the Essex Dogs will fight, from the landing beaches of Normandy to the bloodsoaked field of Crécy. Whilst we are shown the repetitive nature of warfare, Dan Jones inserts a whole variety of interactions and conflicts. We are shown the minds of those from the top to the bottom of the army, and also small scale action and the storming of castles. The sheer diversity of content in Essex Dogs is astounding, because it does not feel rushed or unbalanced. I should state right up front that Essex Dogs is really not my cup of tea. It is a war story and I generally try to avoid stories that take place in a war setting. But I have read and enjoyed books by Dan Jones in the past and so when the title came up I added it to my TBR list. And now I can cross it off that list! Swept up in the bloody chaos, a tight-knit company from Essex must stay alive long enough to see their home again. With sword, axe and longbow, the Essex Dogs will fight, from the landing beaches of Normandy to the bloodsoaked field of Crécy.Jones' titular Essex Dogs, a rag-tag band of freebooting mercenaries, witness the horrors of war first-hand as the English army marches towards a brutal confrontation with the French at the Battle of Crécy. Jones is a journalist. He is a columnist at the London Evening Standard, where he writes regularly about sport. [22] He has written for The Times, [23] [24] [25] the Sunday Times, [26] [27] [28] The Telegraph, [29] [30] [31] [32] The Spectator, [33] The Daily Beast and Newsweek, [34] The Literary Review, The New Statesman, [35] GQ, BBC History Magazine and History Today. But make no bones about it, this is history in glorious Saving Private Ryan-style - crossbow bolts, axes and catapults replacing tanks, machine guns and mortars - told with an unflinching eye for detail. Essex Dogs is the first book in a new trilogy set during the Hundred Years’ War. It’s the author’s first foray into fiction (unless you count his novella The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings) but on the evidence of Essex Dogs it’s clear he’s as adept at fiction as he is at non-fiction.

The soldiers' lives are rather brilliantly recreated – the kit, the fighting, the boredom and discomfort.' The TimesThe plot is nonexistent, save for what happened in history. This would have been fine had the characters been rich and interesting, but they were not and thus I found myself just waiting to be shuffled from set piece battle/siege to set piece battle/siege. The historical details were lovely as to be expected from a prominent historian, but these alone do not make an interesting fiction book. Dan Jones (6 May 2012). "Rise of the Plantagenets". The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014.