Waiting on Wednesday – War Cry by Ian Ross

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. In my latest Waiting on Wednesday, I look at an impressive historical fiction sequel coming out later this year that I am very excited for with War Cry by Ian Ross.

War Cry Cover

Earlier this year I had the great pleasure of reading the very fun and very captivating historical fiction novel, Battle Song by a new-to-me author, Ian Ross, who had previously written several intriguing Roman historical fiction books. Battle Song was an outstanding novel that followed a young squire, Adam de Norton, who was forced into the service of a rogue knight, Sir Robert de Dunstanville. The naïve Adam was soon taught the reality of life under the tutelage of Robert, who specialised in using guile and underhanded strategy to profit from the tourney scene, while also working to recover his lost lands. This intriguing novel eventually turned into a full war story as Sir Robert and Adam return to England during Simon de Montfort’s rebellion against King Henry III and are forced to choose a side in the deadly civil war that followed.

I had an amazing time with Battle Song when I read it this year and there are so many great elements to it, including its complex characters, the fantastic adventure narrative, and all the cool historical detail, especially as Ross dived into a particularly interesting and underfeatured English civil war. This ended up being one of the best books I read in the first half of 2023, and I was very interested to see if Ross was planning to follow up Battle Song in the future. Well, it looks like Ross has been working overtime with his writing as a second novel is coming out in December of this year. This book, the second entry in the de Norton trilogy, will be titled War Cry and looks set to take the protagonists of Battle Song on another deadly adventure.

Plot Synopsis:

1265

England has a new master.

Simon de Montfort’s victory at the Battle of Lewes has made him king in all but name. He has vowed to restore the rights and liberties of the kingdom, but now even his friends grow wary of his power.

As old alliances break down, new rebellions gather strength. The captive king’s supporters muster, vowing to overthrow the new regime.

Meanwhile Adam de Norton, who won the honour of knighthood on the field at Lewes, has reclaimed his ancestral lands. A peaceful and prosperous future lies before him – until he receives a summons he cannot refuse.

War is inevitable. But this time, will Adam be on the winning side?

I really like the sound of this upcoming sequel, mainly because it looks like War Cry is going to dive even deeper into the events surrounding Simon de-Montfort’s rebellion, which is really quite fascinating. I look forward to seeing Ross explain this part of history even further and it will be even more interesting to see where the various characters introduced in the first book, particularly Adam and Richard, end up, especially with a new rebellion around the corner. Honestly, as long as War Cry contains all the great action and intrigue of the first book, as well as keeps exploring the amazing characters, I’ll be pretty damn happy, so I’m very much looking forward to this book.

Look, after all the fun I had reading Battle Song earlier this year there is no way that I’m not going to dive into War Cry the second I get my hands on it. I’m hoping that this awesome sounding sequel will be just as exciting and captivating as the first book and I’m very much in the mood for more historical action and adventure this year. As such, War Cry is now very high up on my 2023 to-read list and I have no doubt that it will turn out to be particularly amazing novel.