Tag Archives: Jack Fiskardo

#BookReview ‘The Wanton Road’ by JC Harvey @JCollissHarvey #historical #EnglishCivilWar

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1637 Picardy, France. A husband is widowed and must find a way to continue with life, for the sake of five-year old Ned and newborn James. The Wanton Road, fourth in the Jack Fiskardo series by JC Harvey, begins with the heartbreak of grief, a description of loss so deep it is immobilising. JC HarveyFiskardo is a soldier and he does go on, as readers of the previous three books know he will. Harvey has told Jack’s story from childhood. Now he is a widower, a single father, and all he knows is fighting so he sets off on his loyal horse M’sieu in search of employment. He heads for the much-contested Dutch town of Breda intending to offer his services as a discoverer, a scout, where he stumbles upon not only his old comrades the Dead Men but also his oldest enemy Carlo Fantom and a potential new love. Pris Holland is an intriguing heroine, feisty, brave, resourceful, she has her own shadows and pain to bear.
After a detour back to Picardy to collect his children, Jack heads for London where there is talk of war coming and possible employment. With the Thirty Years War coming to a stuttering close, it seems fitting that Harvey brings Fiskardo to England eventually to fight with the King against Parliament. This is a doomed task, as we know from the history books. Threads and characters from the previous books are woven together with the history of the period, entangled, twisted and re-imagined. The pages turn quickly without me noticing how absorbed I am in the story, whether it is the speed of battle or the slower intrigue of politics and love. Pris returns to London to her family, inn owners, brothel keepers, smugglers, and at occasional war with rivals the Skinner family. These enmities and loyalties bob in and out of the novel, bringing threat, rescue, safety, betrayal. Fiskardo, his soldiers and French servants find a new home at Varney, a country house near Oxford. There they feel secure, both boys grow and particularly James, premature, underweight, mis-shapen, thrives. But how long can this peace, and love, last before war returns again?
There are so many plot twists and turns it is difficult to describe the story and do it justice. Jack and Pris meet, they part, they’re together, they’re separated by war, they grieve. Just surrender yourself to the rollercoaster. The ending is magnificent; a fast-paced rush as Jack, who must finally confront his lifelong enemy if he is ever to live in peace, is chased from one safe haven to another.
Magnificent 5*.

Here are my reviews of the Jack Fiskardo series:-
THE SILVER WOLF #1FISKARDO’SWAR
THE DEAD MEN #2FISKARDO’SWAR
PEACE AND LOVE #3FISKARDO’SWAR

If you like this, try:-
‘Orphans of the Carnival’ by Carol Birch
‘Broken Faith’ by Toby Clements #2KINGMAKER
‘The Armour of Light’ by Ken Follett #4KINGSBRIDGE

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE WANTON ROAD by JC Harvey @JCollissHarvey https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-9UM via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Sophie Hannah

#BookReview ‘Peace and Love’ by JC Harvey @JCollissHarvey #historical

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Peace and Love by JC Harvey is third in the Jack Fiskardo historical adventure series but is a step aside from Jack’s story. It takes place in another century, telling the tale of the grandson of one of Jack’s rogues. I didn’t know what to expect, it is charming and short; only 125 pages. JC HarveyIn Uppsala province, Sweden in 1720, Magnus, the grandson of Jack Fiskardo’s youthful ensign, Karl-Christian von Lindeborg, is high-born, rich and alone. His bones ache. He is an old soldier with no place in the world. He drifts around his empty castle as day merges into day, emotionally shuttered to those around him. And then into his life with a bang arrives a ward, a young girl, the grand-daughter of his childhood teacher, Dr Excelsior, recently deceased. Magnus, who has never interracted with children, takes Elise into his castle, tells her she is safe and then forgets about her. Elise finds a place with the staff but feels adrift. Both know the situation is unsatisfactory, neither knows how to change it. Until one night, Elise sleepwalks and the two shy, introverted people begin to talk.
When the count’s sister arrives at the remote castle for a visit, she tells him Elise needs proper parenting as she is approaching marriageable age. And so Elise returns to Uppsala with Margrit and everything changes. The count’s life is empty again, without purpose. ‘And he missed her. No sooner was he accustomed to her than she was gone. He missed her more than if he had known her all her life; precisely because she had been plucked away when he had hardly come to know her at all.’
Peace and Love is a charming, unexpected step aside from the tales of Jack Fiskardo. There is a fleeting mention of Jack, a louring portrait in a long gallery, surrounded by his fellow fighters.
Next in the series is The Wanton Road.

Here are my reviews of the Jack Fiskardo series:-
THE SILVER WOLF #1FISKARDO’SWAR
THE DEAD MEN #2FISKARDO’SWAR
THE WANTON ROAD #4FISKARDO’SWAR

If you like this, try:-
‘Rush Oh!’ by Shirley Barrett
‘Orphans of the Carnival’ by Carol Birch
‘At the Edge of the Orchard’ by Tracy Chevalier

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview PEACE AND LOVE by JC Harvey @JCollissHarvey https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8IH via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Abir Mukherjee

#BookReview ‘The Dead Men’ by JC Harvey @JCollissHarvey #historical

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The Dead Men by JC Harvey is a rattling good tale set during the Thirty Years War. The best I’ve read for a long time. JC HarveySecond in the 17th century series about adventurer Jack Fiskardo that started with The Silver Wolf, in which we see the boy Jack become a man, the action in The Dead Men takes place between July 1630 to November 1631 when fighting was at its most brutal. There’s a useful Author Note at the beginning with a historical background to the period, which was gratefully received, as was the cast of characters. The scope of this series is huge and so needs large personalities to populate it. Jack Fiskardo is that man. Scarred, fierce, loyal, thoughtful and yes, a little intimidating, he is a fantastic hero. Yes, a romantic hero too. Harvey takes him and his band of ‘discoverers’, advance scouts in today’s military terms, across Eastern Europe to some of the most deadly fighting in the war. They stay alive, some of them, by their skills, their instincts, bravery and camaraderie. Many characters are familiar from The Silver Wolf – Zoltan, the Gemini, Ziggy, Kai as well as Mungo Sant and his ship the Guid Marie – plus new faces including Rafe Endicott, an English writer who sends reports back to London to be published in the coranto or newsletter ‘The Swedish Intelligencer.’ People at home are hungry for information about the war, the bloodshed, the victories, the murders and atrocities. And the heroes and legends.
Staying one step ahead of the front line, scrounging food, living wild in the woods from Northern Germany to Bohemia, the band of spies are on the trail of Jack’s sworn enemy Carlo Fantom. On the way, they meet friends and enemies, lovers and liars and even a pack of English actors, the Pilgrim Players who are rehearsing a much-redacted version of Romeo and Juliet. Jack and his discoverers are present at the scenes of some of the worst fighting of this period, including the destruction of Magdeburg in 1631. Along the way, Fiskardo kills many men and makes many loyal friends.
Harvey has a light hand at putting her mostly fictional characters into the historical war setting. Many of the myths really existed, including Carlo Fantom, and a horde of gold really did disappear in the middle of war.
The cast of characters is long but each is a rounded personality, a real person, from pig boy Pyotri in the Giant Mountains, on the border between Bohemia and Poland, to Victor Lopov, the timid former archivist of the Prince-Bishop of Prague.
A real joy to read.
As with the first book I found it paid to stop trying to remember all the characters and towns and allow myself to be carried along on the emotion of Jack Fiskardo’s quest. I’m now awaiting the next installment.

Here are my reviews of other books in the Jack Fiskardo series:-
THE SILVER WOLF #1FISKARDO’SWAR
PEACE AND LOVE #3FISKARDO’SWAR
THE WANTON ROAD #4FISKARDO’SWAR

If you like this, try:-
‘The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock’ by Imogen Hermes Gowar
‘The Surfacing’ by Cormac James
‘The City of Tears’ by Kate Mosse #2JOUBERT

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE DEAD MEN by JC Harvey @JCollissHarvey https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-6FS via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Suzanne Collins