Genre: Historical fiction
Publisher: Random House
Pub date: 23 June 2011
Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

THE LAST ENGLISHMAN. THE FIRST FREEDOM FIGHTER. THE FORGOTTEN HERO.

1062. King Edward has no heirs and, across the sea in Normandy, William the Bastard is preparing to seize the throne.

As the King’s court is rife with squabbling and scheming, the nation’s hopes of resisting the Normans lie with one man: the warrior Hereward.

But Hereward has been outlawed and is on the run. Can he keep his freedom and his life in order to save the land he loves?

After reading 1066 by G.K. Holloway I was intrigued about this era so when I saw the opportunity to read this I jumped at it.

It is 1062 and Alric, a monk finds himself hunted by men intent on retribution for the murder they believe he committed. When it looks as though all hope has gone an unlikely saviour in the form of Hereward comes to his rescue. The men have completely opposite views of life, fighting and survival but a bond is struck between the unlikely duo.

Together they face multiple threats and hardships as they both try to survive.

Before reading this I had never heard of Hereward but I am so glad I chose to read this. I am amazed to read that this was a debut novel, the writing is brilliant.

This is definitely not for the squeamish, there’s a lot of fighting, blood and vivid injuries but I was sucked in to the story from the beginning and I loved it. The fighting scenes are incredible you can almost see the battles taking place.

A storm of iron, Hereward’s sword hacked right and left, high, for the shoulder blade, horizontally towards the ribcage. Struggling to stand his ground, the wild-haired mercenary dodged each blow and tried to bring his own weapon to bear.

The descriptives of Mercia and the fens was so vivid I could picture the marshland and swamps. The characters develop very well throughout and Alric became a quick favourite of mine. Hereward himself took a little to warm up to but by the end of the book I loved him.

Having read the authors note I now have a little more knowledge about Hereward but I cannot wait to jump straight in to book two and am pleased to see this is part of a series and I will certainly be reading the rest of the series.

For anyone who enjoys historical fiction and very vivid characters i would highly recommend this!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Herewald is available here

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