Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Essex Dogs by Dan Jones

13 reviews

spookfish's review

dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Profoundly disappointing. I only pushed myself to finish it so I felt I could review it fairly, my opinion has barely changed since the beginning though. The entire time slogging through this I was BEGGING that this had been drafted and edited way more. The quality of the writing moves from sloppy, to tolerably middle-of-the-road, either that or I simply got used to it as I got near the end. The rough language was overused and became grating, the problem with writing down swearing how it may be spoken, is that it makes it sound incredibly childish. Jones did not balance this well.
The characters, if you can even call them that, are hollow. Nothing more than stereotypes and a loose role to play. I cannot describe some characters beyond their name, because they have no character, they are simple 'Scotsman' etc. I did not care when any one of the supposed main characters died, I was not given a reason to care. There were moments where I wasn't sure if Jones was dancing with making

Romford

gay, which was perhaps the only thing that kept me intrigued. I'm still unsure if it was intended to come across this way, considering the fact that the environment in the novel is intensely homophobic (I cannot speak for any historical accuracy on this behaviour).
Something I gave the benefit of the doubt to early on but quickly lost hope for was the way Jones writes about his fat characters (namely Sir Robert). Argument could be made for historical attitudes towards them, and it being in character, however the prose which is disconnected from a voice also describes the fat characters as something grotesque, to recoil at. As the Essex Dogs are removed from Sir Robert's company, these descriptions lessen as the character is put in the background, but they are still there.
I will not be reading the rest of the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pandemic/Epidemic

directorpurry's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

olliev15's review

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i’m not usually a fan of battle fiction, and i really did not enjoy the battles in this book. however, some of the characters are absolutely amazingly written, and well worth sticking through the slower paced plot. 

Romford’s character development was very interesting, and really i wish there was more time spent on his character. Father was interesting in a mysterious way, and i wish we learnt more of his backstory. Northampton was iconic - every line of his was comedy gold even though it wasn’t suppose to be. and finally, Scotsman was ride or die  throughout, and it was heartwarming to read. 

so yeah. the plot was rather inconsequential to me, because the characters and their interactions was really what i was reading for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Drug use, Gore, Sexism, and Colonisation

sai_like_sigh's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Torture, and Excrement

Minor: Ableism, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

dreadspawn's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

katie0528's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book is not a grand tale of knights and chivalry and King Arthur. This is a tale of a group of foot soldiers during the 100 Years War, just trying to survive long enough to get paid as they're subjected to the horrors of medieval warfare and the whims of the kings and nobles who do not particularly care if they live or die. It's up to the leader of the Essex Dogs, Loveday, to keep his men alive as they pillage their way across France. But everyone single Dog has ghosts, Loveday included, which makes the task far easier said than done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement, and Vomit

main character deaths

laurajeangrace's review

adventurous dark informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Vomit

nyhofs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

mickey79's review

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

msamadms's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

My favourite book of the year. 

The moment I opened the page I couldn't stop reading. I love the historical detail and the wonderful bound of Dogs. I especially liked the foul mouth Northampton. I can't wait to read the next book in this series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and War