Wolves of Winter – MJ Porter

Here’s the blurb:

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…

Purchase link

Amazon: https://tidd.ly/45jbT8S

My Review

Wolves of Winter takes readers to the aftermath of the English ‘triumph’ at the Battle of Crecy and reunites readers with those of the Essex Dogs who yet live. Far from the promise of returning home with their forty days pay for fighting in the English king’s army, our remaining Dogs find themselves directed to Calais, which the English king has decided must be taken from French hands. What ensues is a harsh portrayal of the life of fighting men, mere pawns in the hands of the English king, his son and their battle commanders.

This is not a tale filled with lighter moments. Our Dogs are world-weary and frustrated. Loveday is bedevilled by a face from the past, young Romford is a mess, and the others have their own problems as well. They haven’t even managed to make any extra cash from war booty because they’re too slow to try and sell their captured weapons, and the king has ordered all French weapons must be handed over to prevent them being sold to their enemy.

Told from multiple points of view, both from those inside Calais and those without, and also from someone who’s lost all thanks to the English, the story feels somewhat disconnected on occasion. There are also some characters who don’t fare well, and indeed, whose part in the story seems to serve little purpose (it’s somewhat unfortunate that these are two of the only three female characters mentioned).

This isn’t a simple story of a siege. Every party has a self-interest in the success or failure of the siege or in withstanding the siege. It’s multi-layered and fulfilling on a number of levels. It does lack some of the lighter moments from Essex Dogs. Northampton, a larger-than-life character, doesn’t feature as much, and he is a bit of a miss.

The eventual ending of the siege and the final moments of the book are particularly poignant, but it does leave me wondering whether we can even talk of the Essex Dogs any more or if they have simply become a few individuals with loyalty to no one but themselves. Perhaps that, then, is the meaning behind the title. I will have to wait and see when book 3 in the trilogy is released.

Wolves of Winter is a harsh tale of war and depravation – and how the machinations of the nobility and ruling family impact the lives of those they command or wish to overthrow. And behind the royalty and nobility are those with the money who truly hold all the cards.

Check out my review for book 1 in the series.

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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