Longsword

Longsword #1

by David Pilling, More Visual (Illustrator), Carly Holmes (Editor)

England, 1266 AD. The kingdom lies in ruins after years of bitter civil war. Simon de Montfort is dead, slaughtered in battle, and his surviving followers fight on with the fury of despair. Known as the Disinherited, these landless men infest the forests and highways and prey on the common folk.

Hugh Longsword, a common soldier, fights for the King against the rebels who threaten to destroy England. He is taken into the service of the Lord Edward, King Henry’s eldest son, and made to work as a spy. Edward sends him into the wild north country, home to the most dangerous rebel captains: men such as Sir John d’Eyvill and his savage cousin Nicholas, known as the Beast for his cruelty.

While Hugh spies on these cut-throats, the King gathers all his forces to attack Kenilworth Castle, greatest of the rebel strongholds. Though hopelessly outnumbered, the defenders hurl defiance from the walls and refuse to surrender. One assault after another is repulsed, even as the north country slides into chaos and another band of Disinherited seize the Isle of Ely in the fens of Cambridgeshire. From their watery fastness they ride out to attack the Jews of Lincoln, burning deeds, slaughtering innocents and kidnapping the wealthiest for ransom.

One of those taken captive by the rebels is Esther, a widowed Jewess. She is carried away to Ely, where the Jews are treated with inhuman cruelty. Esther is rescued by Hugh, and they are hunted through the marshes by teams of soldiers and wolfhounds. Together they must survive all the dangers of a war-torn land, where law and justice are fallen away and only the strongest can hope to prosper.

Longsword is the latest historical adventure novel by David Pilling, author of Reiver, Soldier of Fortune, The Half-Hanged Man, Caesar’s Sword and many more novels and short stories.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Medieval, British Literature, Fiction, Historical

356 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 24, 2017

Reviews

[Blair Hodgkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set against the later phase of the Second Barons' War in medieval England, David Pilling presents a hero with a foot in both camps of the civil war fighting for his survival in a world of characters polarized by politics and self-interest in various ways. England has fought itself to a ruin and lawlessness is everywhere. Pilling excels in depicting the various types of character who can flourish in these circumstances as well as their victims. Battles, sieges and chases are skillfully wrought across these pages and violence is never far away. Pilling never flinches from showing the worst excesses men are capable of in times like these. This is fast-moving, exciting stuff, and as always with a David Pilling novel, it is thoroughly researched and historically plausible. Without getting into spoilers, there were some nice touches here that tied the story in with some of the legends of Robin Hood that circulate in connection with this time, a treat for an avid Robin Hood fan like myself. Highly recommended.

[Alison Bahmüller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in 13th century England and rich in historical detail, "Longsword" is a novel packed with action and intrigue, and with many interesting characters. The main characters are well-portrayed and realistic, and the fights and battles are well written and exciting. The original plot kept me turning pages. There is also a subtle sense of humour throughout, which I enjoyed.
A clever and captivating blend of fact and fiction - I enjoyed reading this book.

[i.s. wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too bad but not too great either. A mixture of history and fiction sometimes go well together but for me the story of Hugh Longsword was a little too much. How he managed to survive through all of this seemed a little too much of a stretch for me especially at the end when trying to fight Robert Deyvill or was it Robin Hood. I don’t think that I will be reading any more from this series.

[Michael Bully · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel seemed to open in a somewhat awkward fashion, and I abandoned it for a while. But then returned and got immersed in this tale of 13th century England.
De Montfort and the rebel barons were defeated at Evesham on 4th August 1265, and de Montfort was killed, and limbs of his body hacked off. The reign of Henry III was restored, his son Edward, who would ascend the throne as Edward I, had excelled himself on the battlefield.
But law and order does not prevail, pockets of de Montfort's followers carry on fighting,other opportunist outlaws are on the rampage. Kenilworth Castle is still held by the rebels.
Though Longsword is the lead character, the novel shifts between different groups amongst Royalists, Rebels, outlaws. The Jewish community are particularly prone to be victimised. And the novel features a particularly strong young Jewish widow, the nearest this tale gets to a 'leading lady'.
Overall the storyline is unpredictable apart from the key history events. A lot of the characters' attitudes and dialogues seem convincing for what is known about the 13th century. The fact that the Royalists won a major battle, but still have to bribe, persuade, and cajole the rebels to restore the king's authority, creates dilemmas and frictions remain unresolved. Certainly want to read more of the series.

[Ted P · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best aspect was learning about the historical setting of 1266. Haven't noticed many, if any, novels set in this period of Medieval England about DeMontfort and the remnant rebels in the years that followed. There was not much battle action but mostly smaller conflicts between the characters. There was so much jumping around for most of the book that it was hard to follow who the characters were beyond Hugh Longsword, king Henry, Lord Edward. Unlike the Norman invasion many years before this I think this time period was harder to understand as to who was English, French, Norman, etc and I did not feel the author explained it well.

[The Bauchler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bleak novel.

It has unlikable characters, depicts brutal happenings in a 'god-forsaken' age. The descriptions of the miserable lives of the characters will wear you down.

That said, by the end of the book the beginnings of a really interesting set of stories have been laid out.

This book, and the subsequent ones, covers the often overlooked aftermath of DeMontfort's failed rebellion in England, which for me is reason enough to give the series a go, having read very little of this period.

I gave it a 3* because the relentless misery really got to me, like few novels have done before, but I am still keen to read further.

[Nicholas Finch · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started well, but slowed down and dragged it's feet less than half way through.

The history of it is very well done, but the physical descriptions of huge chunks of this Medieval environment, are lost.

Occasional mentions of smells, colors, sensations and the like, are all there is, and for the most part you'd think the main character was wondering around naked, as there's something of a lack of physical description.

This made it rapidly very tedious.

I reached a point where I really didn't care all that much, and just stopped reading it.

[Veljko · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't buy books from this author. He is a fraudster! He writes short stories, than he disguises them in kindle pages as short books from 150 to 200 pages, when in reality they are maybe 100 real pages long. That would maybe be fine if they were cheap but they are not. They are all from 3.59 do 4.59. This is a fraud , especially when you can buy whole series on kindle for 1.19 that have from 600 to 2000 kindle pages.

[Victor Salinas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it !!

This book was very captivating from the start and the reality of the situations of war.The main characters are beautiful woven into the story line.the author did a wonderful job of detail and world building into a complete page Turner that I could not put down till the early morning.Great read and I highly recommend to anyone who is looking for a great story.

[ELzabeth Livingstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hello

Another part of our history'of which the royals did not show themselves in a particularly good light
Will be interesting to see how our main character matires. Needs to be a bit more realistic and a better fighter

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Historical Tale

Well written....action filled.....good plot with supurb characterization tied in a neat set of circumstances. Very good as well as very a entertaining read!

[Jerry Mercer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Story

Enjoyable tale that follows history to a large extent. The characters are realistic, the events are mostly relevant, the action and settings are believable. Good writing!

[Christopher Yellop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange start

The book seems to start very strangely but all is forgiven when a very good story evolves as you read on!

[Dave Hammett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another English Civil War

Good read, more names to remember! Covers a lot of ground so pay attention. Typical of modern novels it's one of many but I think I'll read the next one.

[Rose Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

So many books written about England and yet each has their own twist. These were hard, rough times for the populace, one wonders how the country sutvived

[kenneth murray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very good

A bit slow hero not very good.lost in the plot appears not to be needed in the tail as he fails together

[david p finlay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read.

Descriptive believable characters with a factual base. Looking forward to the next episode should be a fascinating read thanks for thefun!

[graham ames · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Book

Well written and enjoyed all of it.Didn't want to put it down until it was finished.Look forward to the next one.

[pierre bovington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice blend of history and fables.
1266 was an extraordinary year in English history.

[Frank G. Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn't read

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