Essex Dogs

Really enjoyed this book, a ragtag group of soldiers storming France during the start of the hundred years war. The main group reminded me of the First Law Northmen and I enjoyed their dynamic. The action scenes were great; particularly the opening scene which is clearly inspired by the opening of Saving Private Ryan; and the final battle which was really exciting.

I do think that the book needed more. It felt bare bones in terms of character, plot, and descriptions. Lovejoy and a couple others of the Dogs were more well defined, but with their being 10 Essex Dogs, some of them are just...there. And the rest of the English army are all pretty bland. I will definitely read the sequel though!

As a lover of Jones's non-fiction works (Powers & Thrones is sublime), I really wanted to like his first taste of fiction, but this book just comes up flat. Conceptually, I am taken by the illustration of the quick historical war narratives, and to his credit, Jones knows his history - the story feels authentic to the historical setting and allows the reader to join in the campaign to some degree

But ultimately, it falls short of being truly engaging fiction. Characters are flat, stereotypical, and above all uninteresting. Scenic descriptions are underwhelming and don't capture the feeling of being in France. I hear that the second book improves on these areas, and I may get to it at some point.