Where has this book been hiding for the last 9 years?! I absolutely loved it! James Wilde has, with one book, launched himself into my "authors I do not want to miss" list. The writing is so smooth, the imagery created is vivid, and the plot is intense - not to mention the characters are so solid they practically jump from the page. My jaw dropped at least 3 times during reading. Absolutely frickin' awesome! My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a free copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Hereward (the Wake) is an English hero that most of the British of today, are unaware of. I was vaguely aware of the name, but not of his amazing life story and heroic deeds. The book covers a pivotal period in British history when William (the Bastard) successfully invaded and conquered England. Hereward was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman who becomes the leader of the resistance against the barbaric and unjust Norman rule. He was truly a man for his time, intelligent, a battle-hardened warrior, an inspirational military leader who inspired fear in his enemies and great respect from his allies. To borrow a very apt quote ‘One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist’ Clearly James Wilde, the author, has undertaken some intense research into the protagonist. Most of the key moments and main characters described in the book are seemingly factual and are backed up by primary sources of the day. After reading the book I needed to understand more about this forgotten hero and undertook some basic research on Hereward – alway a good sign of a well written historical novel! The characters fully come to life in the book, and even the heroes are skilfully shown to have many facets to their complex multi-layered personalities. I can honestly say that I haven’t enjoyed a book quite so much in a long while, and I intend to read the other novels in the series. Congratulations to the author.

James Wilde's book starts with a bang, as Alric, a monk, is chased from the burning ruins of a village by Harald Redteeth and his viking raiders. His first meeting with Hereward is wildly memorable, an image of a berserker warrior whose ferocity is matched only by his cunning. The year is 1062 and England is a land of many kingdoms. As the years pass, Hereward finds himself betrayed and disowned by those who should be closest to him, eventually forcing him to leave the country and go to Flanders (still accompanied by Alric), where he becomes a sword-for-hire. In the meantime, his adoptive brother Redwald has risen high in the court of King Harold. As Redwald continues his relentless climb, we see Hereward begin to change, to shackle his demons and grow into a fighter who makes plans and considers tactics instead of being a half-crazed monster with bloodlust. And all too soon, it is 1066... I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The characters are true to themselves, consistent but not unchanging. Hereward, Redwald, Alric, Redteeth - all of them come to life through the page, even those who might not get much 'screentime'. The fights and battles are fast, furious and merciless, leaving a breathless sense of how it may have been to have fought on those battlefields. There are tender moments too, but in the main this a rugged action book about one of England's forgotten heroes. If I have a quibble, it would be that on occasion, Hereward steps a little over the line from hero to superhero (fighting off a wolfpack bare-handed springs to mind), but if there is the odd stray into what might be termed historical fantasy, then it's done artfully and never to the point where the reader laughs and puts the book aside. I loved it and I can't wait to read the next installment.

I usually really like historical fiction, so I thought this would be right up my street, but I never got into it at all. I found both the dialogue and the action repetitive - just a series of violent encounters punctuated by Hereward dramatically declaring that he's not a hero and he doesn't care who dies. For a historical novel, I also felt it lacked a lot of the necessary historical detail that gives it a sense of place and time. Overall it was okay but I probably won't read the sequels.