Wolves of winter

The eponymous band of 14th-century British mercenaries from Essex Dogs returns in historian Jones's rousing and atmospheric sequel, which continues following the Dogs through the dawn of the Hundred Years' War. Loveday FitzTalbot and the surviving Dogs are seen where Jones left them at the end of the last book, pilfering the battlefield after a French rout at Crecy in 1346. Now, with their patron dead and the Earl of Northampton newly in charge, they are part of a large force laying siege to the French port of Calais. The Dogs are tasked with setting up a brothel in the siege town of Villeneuve. Loveday has a personal reason for wanting to enter Calais--to see if rumors are true that the Dogs' long missing captain is sheltering there. One of the novel's many sublots follows archer and apprentice cannoneer Romford, who's captured by the French, while another centers on a young Frenchwoman named Squelette, who disguises herself as a camp follower and finds work at the brothel, where she plots revenge against the English for murdering her family. Jones skillfully weaves together these and other strands as he juxtaposes scenes of incredible action with moments of black comedy and pathos. Readers will be panting for the Dogs' next adventure. Agent: Georgina Capel, Georgina Capel Assoc. (Jan.)

Having survived a brutal campaign in the Normandy town of Crécy that left 1,500 Frenchmen dead, the small band of soldiers-for-hire known as the Essex Dogs are sent by King Edward III of England to help erase the French from the walled port city of Calais. King Philippe of France, who had disbanded his army following the massive defeat in Crécy, has done a turnaround by installing a new army in Calais to turn back the English. Reduced to six in the aftermath of the parched and squalid Crécy war, the Dogs, an unruly mix of English, Welsh, and Scots, are not the crack, tightly bonded unit they were. Faded veteran Loveday FitzTalbot has departed the battlefield to search for the captain, who's vanished. The "gruff-tempered" Scotsman is a drunk. Romford, the troublemaking teenage archer, is haunted by the ghost of the dead priest, Father, and attacked (when not pursued) for his homosexuality. As before, the Dogs struggle with the impetuous demands of King Edward. Though the novel boasts less head-lopping, bone-crushing action than Essex Dogs (2023), it's no less a page-turner, with the addition of lively characters including Hircent, a stout Flemish warrior and brothel queen with nastier proclivities than any man, and the profit-minded pirate leader Jean Marant, who shrewdly plays both sides of the conflict. At its best, the book recalls Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall novels with its masterly control, period details, and understated humor. "Virtue, glory, chivalry--all that shit," says Northampton. "The tragedy is, a lot of them fucking believe it." Jones' entertaining second installment in a trilogy more than whets the appetite for the conclusion. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.