English Knight

Anarchy, Book 1

By: Griff Hosker

Narrated by: Malk Williams

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

The throne of England is slipping from King Henry’s grasp. His only son has drowned in the English Channel, and the predators are gathering ready to devour both England and Normandy.

When the last of King Harold’s housecarls returns to England to die, he brings with him a reluctant hero who will save the kingdom. Alfraed, son of Ridley, is the first of a new breed; he is an English knight.

English Knight is a fast-moving audiobook set in that most turbulent of times, The Anarchy. Filled with action and battles, this is the first in a series of chronicles painting a picture of a bloody time in English history when the only people you could rely on were your household warriors and you slept with a dagger beneath your bed.

©2015 Griff Hosker (P)2022 W. F. Howes Ltd

Great fun!

OK, so bear with me. This is the third novel I have read of his so far, and essentially all of the heroes seem to be the same thing. Masculine hero with plot armor, navigate through historical circumstances, and we get to meet other historical figures through them. I’ve read other authors that do that, and it just doesn’t work. But this author absolutely makes it work and somehow makes it lots of fun. He puts enough tension in there to keep it interesting, but you never really feel like the characters in tremendous danger.
But I don’t know, I’ve just really been enjoying the heck out of his stories. And he loves horses. All of his characters know lots of stuff about horses. So get ready to learn a lot about horses.

I’m a fan now

How thankful I am for this Author to continue this storyline….I look forward for this to control on.

Terrific

Excellent from start to finish . The author and narrator have combined their efforts into a truly amazing book that I will definitely recommend to all readers who enjoy historical novels.

It Gets better as it goes along

The story started out slowly, but it got more interesting as it went along. The next installment should introduce us to King Stephen and the Empress Maud.

great story

took me a bit to warm up too the narrator but truly loved the story. Griff did it again

action packed

Straightforward writing style. Easy to follow. Heavy on action and set in a very interesting period of English history

great book . great series by a top notch author

if you're into well written well researched historical fiction I highly recommend not only this book and series but all of Griff hoskers works. only issue is many of his series don't have all of the books recorded yet

Snoozefest

Halfway through and all of the characters are one dimensional. I'm still waiting for a major plot point. The premise is great, but the execution put me to sleep.

INSTA-KNIGHT - JUST ADD CONFLICT

This genre, were young warriors rise to station through trial by combat, can quickly become unbelievable if the author does not spend a few chapters giving his/her characters some sword-cred. The first two books of the Anarchy Series, by Griff Hosker, fall into this trap.

The main character, Alfraed, son of Ridley. has not earned his chops. He enters as a petulant punk and soon becomes a wise sage, with too few battles under his belt to deserve the constant and sappy stream of accolades spewed his way. This kid hasn't done enough to merit his sudden rise to wisdom and sword-prowess. His history (no spoilers here) does not make him a sword sage (no wu-shu sword-foo in Constantinople Hosker); the kid is merely fast, not martial!

These books are Hosker's early rejects (published while he writes some more good (current) stuff). His later work is fabulous. These in the Anarchy series are not (they were written in 2015...huh???). Why are these novels being released seven years after copyright? I think they were early rejects.

Do not buy the English Knight...don't start the series! It is really pedestrian, and...well...dull.

I give these novels two swords down for sword-play-battle-cliches and weak (dim-witted) antagonists.

Wrong performer

The Performers voice is hard to listen to, 1st person story telling is weird, main character is wildly unlikable, the story is rushed with no concept of the passage of time. The topic is cool but there is little to no substance. It’s like a child telling a story about a dream they had as a Knight.