Sword for Hire

Border Knight #1

by Griff Hosker

When his father is killed at Arsuf protecting King Richard, Thomas is knighted. His hopes of inheriting his family's manor are dashed when Prince John takes power in his brother's absence. With a handful of men Sir Thomas is forced to travel to Sweden where he joins The Jarl Birger Brosa fighting the Estonians, Karelians and Slavs. Fighting in a the harsh environment of a Baltic winter makes Sir Thomas and his men stronger. There he learns of further treachery and dishonour among Bishops, Kings and Princes who value thrones more than men.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, British Literature, Historical, Military Fiction, Suspense, War

296 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 17, 2017

About the author

I was born in 1950 in Lancashire and attended a boy’s grammar school. After qualifying as an English and Drama teacher in 1972, I worked in the North East of England for the next 35 years. During that time I did write, mainly plays, pantos and musicals for the students at the three schools in which I worked.

When I stopped teaching I set up my own consultancy firm and worked as an adviser in schools and colleges in the North East of England. The new Conservative Government ended that avenue of work and in 2010 I found that I had time on my hands; having started work at the age of 15 I found the lack of work not to my liking and used the time to research the Roman invasion of Britain and begin to create a novel. The result was The Sword of Cartimandua.

My decision to begin writing was one of the best I have ever taken.

griff-signature-360x57

Reviews

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Griff Hosker writes some of the best historical fiction available. His stories are always plausible (for the most part) and there is a measured amount of action, intrigue and romance. I have yet to read a book of his from any era of time that I did not enjoy and this book, the start of a four part series, is no different. I look forward to the remaining books in the series!

[Richard]

So, so, so bad. I cannot overstate how much I didn’t enjoy this book. I am absolutely confounded as to why it has such good reviews on GoodReads. I suppose I would recommend it to someone who: a) had a <11yo reading comprehension and / or b) was incapable of understanding any form of character or plot development.

I had a feeling it was bad from the first chapter and should have trusted my gut, so lesson learned in that respect.

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thomas is squiring for his father in the Holy Land during the Third Crusade when his father is killed and Thomas is knighted by King Richard himself for his heroic actions in battle. After some time Sir Thomas and a fellow knight are enlisted by a duplicitous noble to help find some buried treasure in a keep that he is familiar with.

"Sword for Hire" (2017) is the first episode in Hosker's "Border Wars" series and I am not really a fan. It appears that the author Griff Hosker has written 170+ similar historical fiction books across a wide variety of historical settings so he must have a large fanbase. As for this story, the context is fine but the prose and pacing are pretty bad.

As a random example: "We would have to wait. We took the opportunity of equipping ourselves for the journey home. We all had coins and there were too many to remain hidden. We converted some of them into goods. William and Petr bought themselves new suits of mail. I had mine repaired. We bought William a helmet like mine. We had new surcoats made. War and the ride to Aqua Bella had taken their toll. We had new cloaks made. I bought spices."

Lengthy uninteresting, unimmersive, staccato, near-fragmentary paragraphs like this pervade the read, even in the action sequences and in Thomas' inner thoughts as he tries to sort out the politics of his environment and his situation as he moves along his quest. It just gets kinda boring and I'd be shaking my head at times thinking wait, what's the point of all this.

Verdict: Not really a well-written narrative, I gave up on page 100 (of 244) for lack of interest.

Jeff's Rating: 1 / 5 (Boring)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13

[John Dixon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don’t overthink the read

Characters are a bit two-dimensional and unrealistic - the main character, Sir Thomas of Stockton is just too perfect (never lies, never tempted to deviate from doing what’s moral). But if you don’t overthink it, and ignore the simplistic “you can spot the good guys, as they wear white hats” plot, it’s a fun and undemanding read.

[David Grice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to read

I found this difficult to wade through. It could do with an editor, just to help with a bit of sentence construction. I spent most of my time mentally rebuilding each sentence, and I'm no writer. As for the dialogue: It was just painfully awkward. I definitely won't be reading the next one.

[Just Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had what i was looking for when i bought it: action, medieval things, a cunning character and a little bit of romance.

I liked the story quite a lot (which is what mainly attracts me to buy the sequel), but i find the writing of the book could be a lot better. Sometimes i needed to read two times the same oration to understand it because of the way it was made (this is what i found particularly unattractive in this book). It lacks a lot of descriptions. Places are somewhat described, but characters are mainly named only and have a little bit of their story told, nothing of how they look like or other details.

Also things are very straightfoward. Just a few words exchanged, maybe a combined action, and characters swear undying love and affection (not that literally, but you get the point).

[Marc Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Action, history, honor, war horses, standards and vicious enemies! Oh Boy!

One of the best authors of historical novels plying his trade. A hero who walks his talk and a band of men drawn to his courage and concern for their welfare. An enjoyable read.

[L J Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

This an excellent book, which surprised me as Hosker publishes an average of a dozen 300 page books each year. The battle scenes are very well-written. The plotting is extremely linear. There are no subplots whatsoever. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Jim Hartwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book.....couldn't put it down.

Couldn't put it down enjoyed it greatly....great author and story teller...Will order more of these...but no more reviews where I'm forced to write more than I want to!!!!

[ELzabeth Livingstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

A complete change of scenery and characters with a special type of leader. At one time l was an avid admirer of King Richard but that didn't last. Looking forward to reading more of our new leader and his 'merry' men!.

[Carl Grider · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked reading about this neglected time period. The writing is not spectacular but it does seem to give a feel of someone telling you what happened to them as opposed to having a lot of literary devices in play.

[Mike Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sword for Hire

What a great read, thoroughly enjoyed every page, wip roaring action with no details hidden during great battles. This book by Griff is a page turner. Congratulations Mr Hosker, you are my sort of author and I will be looking now. For the next book 8n the series.

[Medusa · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. It was okay but a bit heavy on the Christian chauvinism and male member measuring. A fast food meal that’s okay but is not very filling. I may or may or may not read any of his other stuff, much of which is on scribd and that’s how I found this one.

[John Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

!!!!

Loved the book.. is it me or was there a disturbing amount of exclamation marks in this book? Anyways!!! great story!!!Book 2 is great also!

[John Carstairs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed every page

Real page turner & I did enjoy every page. I look forward to starting the next one in the series.

[Mary Ann Stankovsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

Sort of a basic Laying out of a new series. Although interesting, this didn't really seem like enough to count as a whole story.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good first book in the series. I enjoyed the Border Knight series so much I have just started the Anarchy series.

[George Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Another first class story from Griff. Now ordering No.2 to take on holiday.
The I will be reading all the others in this amazing series.

[Steve Minnick · Rating 5 out of 5]

SWORD FOR HIRE - Griff Hosker gets better and better

I have nothing but praise for this book and this author. Great story, can’t wait to read the next book.

[John Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant series of books.

[Janet Way · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good resd

I have read quite a few of Griffs books, and this one was good too. Well researched and as good story line

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great story but poorly written.

[Lysander Mazee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adventurous tale with some nice historical details

[D-Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was rad!

[Maggies Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love the tales of Robin Hood or the Three Musketeers then you should find and read this book. This book is similar to the tale of Robin Hood where a young man returns from the Crusade only to find that all his families properties have been stolen by the evil sheriff and his equally evil stand in for the King who is still on the crusade. With nothing but his word he finds in his travels several other honorable men who join him as mercenaries for hire. So when he amasses enough funds he will return to reclaim his birthright. Was thoroughly entertaining and I look forward to the reading more of his adventures in the next book.

[seiersen j · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good and gripping story.