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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Packed with historical insight, bringing alive not only the war, but the lives of the common soldiers. Towards the end of the book the action really picks up with some terrific battle scenes, culminating with the Battle of Crécy. In this book Jones gives no hint of this budding ability in any way and is rather harsh in developing this character.

So up to the end I enjoyed the book and probably more than if I knew much about the Battle of Crecy which I do not. The Essex Dogs of the title are a 10-strong band of mercenaries hired by the nobleman Sir Robert Le Straunge to take part in King Edward III’s invasion of France. We see it especially in the Dogs' dealings with the noblemen who lead them, particularly people like Warwick and Northampton.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. This was not the story of glorious battle and chivalry but, a long hard slog through mud, blood and spilled guts. Dan Jones again in my opinion expertly manages to create the tone and atmosphere perfect for what it appears he was trying to achieve.

He’s never dry, he has a sense of humor that will make you laugh out loud, and he often focuses on what many of us are here for—history seen from the perspective of your average Joe. The narrator, soon established as Elliot Chase, then zooms out to address the reader directly, introducing the players—most importantly movie star Lana Farrar. With sword, axe and longbow, the Essex Dogs will fight, from the landing beaches of Normandy to the bloodsoaked field of Crécy. I did think that he portrayed violence very well and that’s about the only positive thing I have to say. There are some vivid descriptions of agonizing bowel movements as a result of the terrible food they had to eat.The story does illicit a certain window of the personalities and idea's of the time, but nevertheless still comes up a little short. If an author is going to start a historical fiction series I could think of no better era for such an endeavor than the Hundred Years War between England and France and that is what is delivered in this Essex Dogs series. There’s a strong echo of Spielberg’s WW2 epic Saving Private Ryan in the first pages of this book: the same desperate struggle to get out of the Normandy surf under fire; the same immediate requirement to get to grips with the defenders. Long marches, the waiting, the suffering of the peasants who see their harvest destroyed and their houses robbed - I guess nothing has changed very much since then.