Tag: david wragg

Book Review: The Company of the Wolf – David Wragg

Book Review: The Company of the Wolf – David Wragg

by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 0 Leave a Comment


Series: Tales of the Plains #2
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Pages: 529
Find it: Goodreads Waterstones
Source: The author kindly gave me a copy of this book
Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis

Seeking a better life, Ree and Javani have traveled west into the mountains, and left their pasts – and their troubles – behind. But new places bring new problems, and when they stumble across a lone traveler under bandit attack, they make the mistake of lending a hand.

Forced to take refuge in the traveler’s village, they quickly find allies among the lush, wooded hills. But then the true nature of the bandits is revealed.

With winter approaching and a vengeful company of mercenaries circling like wolves, Ree and Javani must uncover the secrets of this peaceful valley . . . or risk the ruin of it all.

Review

The Company of the Wolf is the second installment in David Wragg’s The Tales of the Plains series. Following on from the events in book one, we follow Ree and Javani as they travel across the mountains in search of a new life. When they encounter someone being beaten up by bandits, they end up stepping in. They seek refuge in a nearby village Ar Ramas, only to discover the bandits are a mercenary company who provide “protection” for the village. When the company comes knocking Ree and Javani discover there is far more going on than meets the eye and must work together before the village is torn apart.

I absolutely adored book one in this series, it was gripping, action packed and had a great mix of humour and heartbreak. I think if it’s possible, I loved book two even more. I could not put The Company of the Wolf down and I think this is my favourite David Wragg book published so far. This is such a compelling story, it was well paced and I was glued to the book as I watched Ree and Javani attempt to unravel the secrets behind Ar Ramas. The world building is well developed and there is tons of action to keep the reader on the edge of their seat. I really enjoyed the way Wragg weaved in some humorous moments and I found myself laughing even when the characters were in the midst of something intense and deadly.

With this second installment comes a host of new characters and each one felt exceptionally crafted. I really liked all the villagers, though Anri in particular stole the show for me. I loved the dynamic between him and Javani and thought they were brilliant together. The introduction of Captain Manatas as a new POV character was really gripping and I liked that it gave the reader the chance to see things from both sides of the conflict. The story continues to explore the mother-daughter relationship between Ree and Javani which was really fascinating, particularly as Javani is growing into a young woman.

Overall The Company of the Wolf is a brilliant, engaging sequel and one I did not want to put down. I cannot recommend this series enough and if you’ve read book one you absolutely need to pick up book two. This will without a doubt be on my top ten list for 2024 and I cannot wait to see where Wragg takes the story in book three.

Book Review: The Hunters – David Wragg

Book Review: The Hunters – David Wragg

by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 0 Leave a Comment


Release date: July 20 2023
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Pages: 384
Find it: Goodreads Waterstones
Source: The publisher kindly sent me a copy of this book to review
Rating: 4.25/5 stars

Synopsis

Ree is a woman with a violent past – a past she is eager to put behind her. After years of wandering, she and her niece, Javani, have built a small farm in mining country, at the edge of the known world, and Ree is keeping her head down.

But one day two groups of professional killers arrive in town, looking for a young girl and an older woman. A deadly chase through deserts, mountains, and mines begins. And Ree will have to discover her former self if she is to keep them both alive.

Review

David Wragg’s The Hunters is a fast paced and addictive story that follows Ree and her twelve year old niece Javani. After many years moving from place to place, they have settled on a farm in a mining community in the middle of nowhere. When a group of killers comes to the town looking for a young girl and an older woman, Ree and Javani are forced to flee across the desert and mountains. A deadly chase occurs, but will Ree be able to keep them both alive and keep her secrets intact?

David Wragg is such a fantastic writer and I knew going in that I was going to love this one. The story is full of twists and surprise moments and there’s plenty of action and edge of your seat moments. Wragg has a writing style that’s really gripping and there were lots of times I told myself I should put this book down but ended up reading one more chapter. The witty dialogue works really well and the sandy desert setting really comes to life in Wragg’s prose.

The Hunters has some really compelling characters and I found myself really growing attached to Ree, Javani and of course Aki and Anashe. The characters are really well crafted and it was really interesting the way family dynamics were explored between these characters. While there are some light hearted moments in the story, there are also plenty of dark and gritty moments too. The Hunters is the first book in this series and I can’t wait to see where Wragg takes the story next. If you’ve read The Black Hawks you’ll absolutely fall in love with The Hunters . If you’re looking for a fast paced, blood thirsty fantasy tale to sink your teeth into, you definitely don’t want to miss this one.

Blog Tour: The Black Hawks – David Wragg

Blog Tour: The Black Hawks – David Wragg

by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

BOOK REVIEW - 2019-10-02T210848.437
Synopsis

Copy of book cover (74)Dark, thrilling, and hilarious, The Black Hawks is an epic adventure perfect for fans of Joe Abercrombie and Scott Lynch.

Life as a knight is not what Vedren Chel imagined. Bound by oath to a dead-end job in the service of a lazy step-uncle, Chel no longer dreams of glory – he dreams of going home.

When invaders throw the kingdom into turmoil, Chel finds opportunity in the chaos: if he escorts a stranded prince to safety, Chel will be released from his oath.

All he has to do is drag the brat from one side of the country to the other, through war and wilderness, chased all the way by ruthless assassins.

With killers on your trail, you need killers watching your back. You need the Black Hawk Company – mercenaries, fighters without equal, a squabbling, scrapping pack of rogues.

Prepare to join the Black Hawks.

Q&A

 1. For those that haven’t checked out The Black Hawks yet, how would you sum it up?

Hi! The Black Hawks is a work of (extremely) low fantasy, about a young man who falls in with a feeble prince and a dysfunctional mercenary company, and tries to save the kingdom in his own inept but well-intentioned fashion. It has intrigue, shocks, ambushes, wolves, weather and a whole lot of furious swearing.

2. What was your inspiration for book?

The story is both a misty-eyed love-letter and a contrarian take on the kind of fantasy I grew up reading. It’s firmly quest fantasy with a journey (both geographical and emotional) at its heart, but also a reaction to all the things I found wearing or just a bit naff about Classic Fantasy Works – the main character has no particular skills or knowledge, he’s just a young fellow with some ideals, and most of the characters in the world are just trying to get by.

3. What drew you to writing fantasy books?

I adore genre fiction, and my early life was steeped in all things fantastic and science-fictional. I grew up on SFF books, pen & paper RPGS, board games and video games (I dread to think how many hours I’ve sunk into computer RPGs over the last decade alone), and I couldn’t imagine writing anything else. Second-world fantasy in particular is fascinating as a way to explore themes and ideas – the other side of the coin from SF in that regard – but sometimes you just want to put characters in ridiculous situations and enjoy what happens next.

4. What was the writing process like for the book? Did you map everything out or just let it flow?

I wrote the first draft in 2015, when I was young and full of hope, based on an idea that had been kicking around for at least 5 years before that (I wrote some other stuff in-between as practice). I mapped out what I thought would be a quick-ish outline, spent several months reading research (13th Century Georgia and northern Turkey, for reference) and drawing up maps and family trees, then went for it. It took about 9 months, and stuck *more-or-less* to the outline. Then after a quick hiatus to have another child, I started planning the sequel.

5. What have you found hardest about writing The Black Hawks?

The opening. One problem with having an idea in your head for a long time is that it becomes part of your narrative bedrock, never to be questioned, and the rest of your work builds up from there. This can make it a real challenge when you realise that the weakest ideas are the earliest ones, and they could do with tweaking or replacing, because you’ve built a ridiculous narrative house of cards on top of it and the slightest change will bring the entire plot crashing down. I hope I’ve learned something from the process!

6. What are you working on next?

Black Hawks 2 is now with my editor, and I’m currently working on a standalone follow-up in the same world, set a while after the events of the second book. It’s set in the wild, untamed plains to the far north, and is a sort of fantasy western: think True Grit meets Terminator 2, with a bit of Fury Road thrown in, but with swords.

7. Finally can you recommend a good book you’ve read recently?

A Stranger in Olondria, by Sofia Somatar. It’s both a ghost story and an adventure, with spectacular, lyrical prose and an abiding respect for the power of the written word at its core, and about the closest thing to a literary hallucination I’ve experienced.

Massive thank you to David for answering my questions – The Black Hawks is publishing today from HarperVoyager.
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