Tag: historical fiction

#BookReview Wolves of Winter by Dan Jones @HoZ_Books @AriesFiction #WolvesOfWinter

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Wolves of Winter by Dan Jones, the second book in the ‘Essex Dogs’ trilogy. My thanks to Andrew at Head of Zeus for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy.

About the Book

An endless war. A blood-soaked battlefield. A band of brothers.

1347. Bruised and bloodied by an epic battle at Crécy, six soldiers of fortune known as the Essex Dogs pick through the wreckage of the fighting – and their own lives.

Now a new siege is beginning, and the Dogs are sent to attack the soaring walls of Calais. King Edward has vowed no Englishman will leave France til this city falls. To get home, they must survive a merciless winter in a lawless camp deadlier than any battlefield.

Obsessed with tracking down the vanished Captain, Loveday struggles to control his own men. Romford is haunted by the reappearance of a horrific figure from his past. And Scotsman is spiralling into a pit of drink, violence and self-pity.

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.

Format: Hardback (416 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 12th October 2023 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find Wolves of Winter on Goodreads

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My Review

Wolves of Winter is the sequel to Essex Dogs, the book which first introduced readers to Loveday FitzTalbot and his fellow soldiers of fortune. Although Wolves of Winter could be read as a standalone, I think you’d be missing out by not reading the series from the beginning. As with the previous book, the events, notably the siege of Calais, are rooted in historical fact (the extent of which will become apparent once you read the author’s Historical Note) but what brings it alive is the fact we see events through the eyes of ordinary soldiers. They come from different backgrounds, have different skills, speak with different accents even but they have become a brotherhood and, in some cases, the nearest each has to a family.

War being what it is, especially 14th century war, not all the Essex Dogs from the first book made it out alive. The loss of some of their former comrades is something which haunts the remaining Dogs, especially Loveday, the group’s leader. And for Romford, an already troubled young man, the impact of one loss in particular manifests itself in a quite macabre way. In fact, all the Essex Dogs are brilliantly drawn characters. For those sensitive to such things, they are generous in their use of swear words, although perhaps not quite as prolific as the Earl of Northampton whose creative cursing is second to none.

There are other characters too who make their mark, motivated variously by greed, a hard-won understanding of reality or a desire for revenge.

This is not a conflict carried out by knights in shining armour: it’s brutal, bloody, dirty, cruel and utterly wasteful of human life. Those in charge range from the arrogant, to the incompetent to the venal. It’s no wonder that Loveday and his comrade begin to wonder, as they sit in their filthy shelter at the end of a day filled with back-breaking work eating slop and wading through all sorts of unpleasant substances, what they are actually fighting for. For money? Initially, yes, but they’ve yet to see much of that. Because soldiering is the only thing they know? Yes, but endless killing can start to eat into your soul. For glory? Doesn’t seem like much of that so far. Out of loyalty to your king? A man who doesn’t know you from Adam and sees battle as some kind of ‘performance’? For a cause? Unfortunately only disillusionment lies ahead there.

Wolves of Winter will grab your attention from the very first page, propel you along like a bolt from a crossbow through the next 400 pages and immerse you in the blood, sweat and other bodily substances of warfare. I absolutely loved it and, if you’re a fan of historical adventure, I hope you will too.

In three words: Authentic, gripping, action-packed

About the Author

Dan Jones is the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of many non-fiction books, including The Plantagenets, The Templars, and Powers and Thrones. He is a renowned writer, broadcaster and journalist. He has presented dozens of TV shows, including the Netflix series Secrets of Great British Castles, and writes and hosts the podcast This is History. His debut novel, Essex Dogs, is the first in a series following the fortunes of ordinary soldiers in the early years of the Hundred Years’ War. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

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#BookReview Adama by Lavie Tidhar @HoZ_Books

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About the Book

Front cover of book Adama by Lavie Tidhar

There is no land without blood , and I water this land with the blood of my men.

Ruth’s family were in Budapest when the Nazis came.

Now Ruth is in Palestine, amid the bare hills inland from Haifa, breaking the rocky soil of an unyielding land before it breaks her.

With her comrades, her fellow kibbutzniks, she will build a better world. There will be green grass, orange trees and pomegranates, a land that is their own and no one else’s.

So they till their fields, dig their wells, build their homes and forge a new way of living, fiercely proud of their shared pursuit of a dream.

But as one generation begets another, the dream unravels, twisted into a dark tapestry of secrets and lies; sacrificed for revenge, forbidden love and murder.

Format: Hardback (400 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 14th September 2023 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find Adama on Goodreads

Purchase links 
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Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK 
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My Review

Until I read other reviews of the book, I didn’t realise Adama was the second in a trilogy, the follow-up to Maror. However, I don’t think it’s essential to have read the earlier book although it would probably be helpful to fill in any gaps in your knowledge about the foundation of the state of Israel. Big gaps, in my case.

Having read the chapter that opens part one of the book, you might be forgiven for thinking – as I did – that Adama was a thriller not a work of historical fiction. In fact, you’d be partially right because throughout the book there is intrigue, betrayal and drama as well as a moving story charting the experiences of generations of one family. It made it a page-turner for me.

Following the death of her mother, Hanna finds a box containing old photographs and documents that sees her embark on a search for information about Esther’s past and her family history. It also provides a distraction from the recent breakdown of a relationship. Thereafter the book moves back and forth over the decades recounting events in the life of Ruth, her family, her lovers and other members of her kibbutz with the full picture only gradually emerging.

At times, Ruth’s utter commitment to preserving the kibbutz seems to border on obsession, especially as it becomes clear what she has been prepared to do to in order to protect it. She’s courageous but also single-minded, even ruthless. For her, the end justifies the means. At one point Ruth says, ‘I gave up everything for this land… I sacrificed’. But others’ sacrifice is giving up their lives. Their stories are dramatic, powerful and sometimes harrowing.

The book depicts Israel’s often violent struggle for survival including the brutality of British occupation during which refugees attempting to cross to Palestine from Europe in small boats were intercepted and sent to camps in Cyprus. (Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.)

I had a vague concept of what a kibbutz was but had no idea of the extent of their collective nature when they were first established. ‘They believed in sharing – land, crops, property and love. The kibbutz was going to be a new way of life… No more jealousy and no more ownership of things, but somewhere where things could be finally different.’ One example of that difference is that children lived separately from their parents (who had no financial responsibility for them) and were raised and educated communally. The book explores the conflict between the natural instincts of motherhood and commitment to the principles of the kibbutz. Ruth’s sister, Shosana, provides a counterpoint to Ruth’s unwavering beliefs. Initially a place of refuge for Shosana after her experiences during the Second World War, the kibbutz becomes a source of savagery.

By the end of the book, Hanna may not have learned everything she hoped but author leaves the reader with a striking image of the characters they have come to know.

The publisher’s description of Adama as a ‘sweeping historical epic’ is spot on. At the moment, it looks a dead cert to be among my books of the year and it has made me keen to explore the author’s backlist, including reading Maror.

I received a digital review copy courtesy of Head of Zeus via NetGalley.

In three words: Powerful, gripping, moving

About the Author

Lavie Tidhar was born just ten miles from Armageddon and grew up on a kibbutz in northern Israel. He has since made his home in London, where he is currently a Visiting Professor and Writer in Residence at Richmond University. He won the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize for Best British Fiction, was twice longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award and was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger Award and the Rome Prize. He co-wrote Art and War: Poetry, Pulp and Politics in Israeli Fiction, and is a columnist for the Washington Post. (Photo: Goodreads author page)

Connect with Lavie
Website | Twitter