Welcome to the opening day of the blog tour for Forest of Foes by Matthew Harffy, the latest book in his Bernicia Chronicles series. 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
AD 652. Beobrand has been ordered to lead a group of pilgrims to the holy city of Rome. Chief among them is Wilfrid, a novice of the Church with some surprisingly important connections. Taking only Cynan and some of his best men, Beobrand hopes to make the journey through Frankia quickly and return to Northumbria without delay, though the road is long and perilous.
But where Beobrand treads, menace is never far behind. The lands of the Merovingian kings are rife with intrigue. The queen of Frankia is unpopular and her ambitious schemes, though benevolent, have made her powerful enemies. Soon Wilfrid, and Beobrand, are caught up in sinister plots against the royal house.
After interrupting a brutal ambush in a forest, Beobrand and his trusted gesithas find their lives on the line. Dark forces will stop at nothing to seize control of the Frankish throne, and Beobrand is thrown into a deadly race for survival through foreign lands where he cannot be sure who is friend and who is foe.
The only certainty is that if he is to save his men, thwart the plots, and unmask his enemies, blood will flow.
Format: Hardback (448 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 8th December 2022 Genre: Historical Fiction
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My Review
I first discovered Matthew Harffy’s Bernicia Chronicles when I read Storm of Steel, book six in the series. Since then I’ve read the two subsequent books – Fortress of Fury and For Lord and Land – and I’ve also been taking advantage of opportunities to acquire earlier books in the series. The latest is a copy of The Cross and the Curse which I spotted the other day in my local Oxfam bookshop. I also enjoyed the two books – A Time for Swords and A Night of Flames – that have appeared so far in the author’s other series, and just to prove I’m becoming a real Harffy groupie, I also loved the standalone Wolf of Wessex.
Forest of Foes sees Beobrand in Frankia far from his beloved Ubbanford, longing for his homeland but constrained by a promise he made at the end of the last book to a woman he feels drawn to but who is seemingly out of reach. Beobrand is starting to feel his age – he’s about to become a grandfather – but, although he may be battle-scarred, he remains a formidable warrior and a leader whom men will follow unerringly into battle. However each victory comes at a price and the faces of the men he has killed, of fallen comrades or of people he was unable to save often haunt him. It’s at times like these he needs his friend Cynan to rouse him from despondency.
Actually I liked the introspective Beobrand the author gives us in this book. We really get an insight into Beobrand the human being, not just the man of action. He’s a leader who carries the burden of responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of a community, and for the lives of the men who follow him. And he’s keenly aware he may not be able to save them all. He’s also, at times, a rather lonely man who regrets the breakdown in his relationship with his son, and mourns the woman he loved and lost. Of course, Beobrand the fearless – and to be feared – man of action is pretty brilliant too and that side of him is never far away. As one character observes, ‘Beobrand is no normal man. He is like a storm, or a raging tide. A force of nature’.
If you love the action scenes that have become one of the trademarks of the series, then you needn’t wait long for Beobrand’s cry of ‘To me, my gesithas’ as he summons the famed Black Shields to his side to embark upon yet another bloody encounter. There are plenty of bone-crunching, skull-splitting, shield-shattering encounters involving sword, spear and axe. However, Beobrand and his comrades find themselves in some pretty sticky situations, with the odds seemingly stacked against them. As Beobrand observes at one point, ‘We are far from home. We are but few, and we are surrounded by a forest of foes’. He is also reunited with a ‘monster’, a ruthless enemy from his past with whom he has scores to settle – and he’s not the only one. What’s more, as Beobrand will discover, your deadliest enemies may not be those you face across the shieldwall.
As always the meticulous detail really immerses the reader in the period. The author’s Historical Note provides fascinating information about the events that underpin the plot and also about the character of Wilfred who plays a key role in the book. It also contains a tantalising promise of ‘more action, adventure and intrigue, and just maybe, love and peace’. To borrow Beobrand’s favourite curse, by Tiw’s cock, I’ll be disappointed if there isn’t.
In three words: Action-packed, immersive, gripping
Try something similar: The Serpent King by Tim Hodkinson
About the Author
Matthew Harffy lived in Northumberland as a child and the area had a great impact on him. The rugged terrain, ruined castles and rocky coastline made it easy to imagine the past. Decades later, a documentary about Northumbria’s Golden Age sowed the kernel of an idea for a series of historical fiction novels. The first of them is the action-packed tale of vengeance and coming of age, The Serpent Sword.
Matthew has worked in the IT industry, where he spent all day writing and editing, just not the words that most interested him. Prior to that he worked in Spain as an English teacher and translator. Matthew lives in Wiltshire, England, with his wife and their two daughters.
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