Tizi Cozy Corner: Book review : The Heart of a Hussar by Griffin Brady

The Heart of a Hussar
The Winged Warrior #1
by Griffin Brady

My rating: ★★★★★
😃A wonderful read: 5 full stars so well deserved !

It's an amazing historical fiction. An adventure romance so very compelling and I really think it's the best novel I read so far this year.

I would like to start by saying that I usually choose shorter novels (around 300 pages or a little more), but the setting, different from the usual, immediately attracted me and if at the beginning I started reading the first sentences, with the fear that I would bored because it was too long and too different from my usual readings ( historical mysteries and clean romances), I have to tell you that I was involved in the story from the very first page to the last one!

____ THE PLOT IN SHORT __ Muscovy, 1610.
Jacek Dąbrowski is a twenty-two-year-old Polish nobleman, cavalry officer of the legendary Winged Hussars, who dreams of gaining land possessions thanks to his valor and military merits.
One day, during a military campaign on Muscovite soil, then an enemy of Poland, he saves fifteen-year-old Oliwia and her little brother from the clutches of soldiers who were looting and razing a village to the ground.

Since the two young people are without parents and relatives, Lord Eryk, the commander, decides to take them to his castle where he will make them his proteges.

The return journey is long and Jacek and Oliwia, traveling on the same horse, begin to get to know each other and without knowing it, they lay the foundations of what will be a strong bond.

Between military campaigns and life at the castle, obvious rivalries and dangerous enemies hidden in the shadows, parties and courtships, passionate kisses, dreams and disappointments, this gripping story takes place over 4 years, until the moment Jacek realizes that the his dream has changed, but just at that moment fate plays a bad joke...

_________________________

__NOT A STANDALONE__
WARNING : FINAL CLIFFHANGER
__THERE IS A SEQUEL____
Before starting to read the novel, I read some reviews (all enthusiastic, but this sometimes turns out to be a trap because then I create too many expectations).
Thanks to the reviews I understood that the book would end with a cliffhanger__ something that I usually don't like at all__ but here I wanted to take a leap into the dark, because the setting and the subjects of the story, the legendary winged Hussars of Poland in the 17th century, intrigued me too much !
If we add that there was the tag #romance, my heart was already kidnapped.

(In the author's defense I must admit that she wrote this in the first pages of the book and the sequel was published only a month after the release of the first volume, because it was supposed to be a duology)
In my case I consider myself lucky to have already found a third volume which the author has decided to write in 2023.

___ ABOUT WINGED HUSSARS ____
They were a heavy cavalry formation active in Poland and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1503 to 1702.
A distinctive feature of the Husaria were the "wings", wooden supports decorated with feathers, secured to their saddles or to the rear plates of their armour, which were intended to demoralize the enemy during a charge.
The hussars ranked as the elite of Polish cavalry, in fact they were all from noble families and they were raised since childhood to ride and to the use of many different weapons.

It has been very interesting to learn all these things about that military body and on a European territory of which I know little or nothing and of which I only know the fate of the post-war period of the 20th century.
I really didn't imagine that the Kingdom of Poland would be so powerful at that time.

___ BATTLES , SOLDIERS and TACTICS, ARMOUR and WEAPONRY __
What I didn't expect were the descriptions of battles, actions and military strategies, descriptions of weapons and traditional outfits of the time (both for soldiers and civilians) and I certainly didn't expect that they would fascinate me so much and that I would have found it very stimulating, really impressive.

I've read other books with battles and only the author Stella Riley managed to fascinate me, while other authors bored me deeply and if I had known before that there were so many battles described, I probably wouldn't have read the book... but I'm glad I didn't know BECAUSE THE AUTHOR DID AN EXCEPTIONAL JOB!!
Griffin Brady managed to combine all her historical and technical knowledge with the magic of fiction, creating within me great suspense, emotions and full participation in the scenes I was reading, as if a time machine had teleported me exactly there, in that place, at that time and with those people!

Each weapon, outfit and noble and military hierarchy was written with its original name and explained already during the story, BUT DON'T BE AFRAID OF GETTING CONFUSED,
for the reader's convenience, the author has also included a small dictionary for each word cited in Polish.
You will even find another chapter that will help you pronounce the names (after the first ten pages, everything will become very easy).

____ THE CHARACTERS __
Both the two main characters and the side ones are developed excellently.

We are able to see not only the physical appearance of each one, but also their character traits, their emotions, their thoughts, their aspirations and fears, their will to resist adversity and to conquer what they dream of.
The author managed to make them so intense that they seem real.

The dialogues are brilliant, often interspersed with short thoughts written in italics, which have the advantage of completing the dialogues and making the scene that the characters are experiencing vivid.

Some ironic banter between Jacek and his best friend Henryk or between the soldiers or between Jacek and Oliwia... give a light touch from time to time and entertains the reader.

___THE LOVE STORY___
as regards the romantic part, it appears just after 50% of the book, while in the first half some romantic premises are created, but the main characters are not exactly aware of it.

I admit that in the first half of the book, I was constantly wondering when the protagonists would fall in love and at a certain point I thought that the tag #romance was not appropriate for this fiction.
This was only for 5 seconds, because as soon as the two protagonists began to realize that they were attracted to each other, I was rewarded for all the waiting and the second part of the book is largely dedicated to the feelings of love of the two young people.
BUT NO BOREDOM, you will in fact find funny scenes, exciting scenes, you will suffer together with them and even more you will hope together with them.

___ JEALOUSY, INTRIGUE AND CONSPIRACY ___
In addition to the enemies in battle, the protagonists find themselves involved in difficult events, due to jealousy and presumption, envy and the desire for power and revenge, the arrogance and selfishness of some characters.

These situations create a lot of tension during the story, until reaching a climax that will determine definitive (or almost definitive) turning points not only for Jacek and Oliwia, but also for other main characters.

So the novel is compelling not only for what concerns the action and the romantic aspect, but also thanks to other elements cleverly inserted as a subplot.

---> Historical fiction SUITABLE FOR EVERYONE, even teenagers. ---> Despite the time period and the theme, the author managed to write the novel with: _ Clean language (or at most swear words which nowadays are not swear words) _ Sweet and romantic kisses _ Battles and deaths without gruesome descriptions

___ DO I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK? ___ yes, I recommend it 100% if you love historical fiction.

Don't be scared by the fact that you also have to read the sequel to feel completely satisfied, you will turn the pages one after the other, completely fascinated by everything that is told by the author and experienced by the characters!

I've already started reading book #2 and I can't wait to read #3 too.

___ THANKS FOR READING MY OPINION, I hope that my English, full of flaws (it is not my mother tongue), has not ruined too much of what was intended to be praise for this novel and my thanks to the writer.

THE SEQUEL :
BOOK #2 "A Hussar's Promise": read my review

_______________ A little off-topic:
while I was reading, my Jacek had the features of a young Henry Cavill ( picture from the Tudors ), because his description corresponds to dark hair, sapphire blue eyes and a frown in his gaze.
with the qualities of a great warrior and a man of sound principles that the writer gave him and the appearance of Henry Cavill, how could I not fall in love with him? 😉