Redoubt (Paperback, 2nd Revised edition)

After a short and bloody war on foreign soil, the Expeditionary Army of Ashkent is preparing to return home. Captain Jon Forge and his company, however, are assigned one more task - to oversee a workforce of enslaved Bantusai tribesmen as they replace a long lost bridge across the River Rooke, in the mountainous northern borders. With construction already underway, a band of fleeing trappers brings news of a fast approaching barbarian horde and Forge quickly realises his de facto commander, the devious Duke Burns, has send him and his men to their deaths. Despite the overwhelming odds them, Forge decides to stay and fight, buying time for the Ashkent Army to prepare for the coming invasion. With the help of a motley crew that includes the enigmatic Bantusai, the wily trappers and a lacklustre bureaucrat-cum-wizard named Portal, Forge and his men hastily set about rebuilding a dilapidated fort that stood guard over the river. Their doom, it seems, is inescapable: their redoubt - a patched-up tower house - will surely be their tomb... Redoubt is a hard-nosed fantasy in the tradition of Joe Abercrombie and Glen Cook's Black Company series. Praise for Redoubt Redoubt is a cracking fantasy adventure featuring a strong plot and well-realised characters and locations. The pieces fit together like dovetail-joints and the plain-speaking narrative fits the story perfectly. Recommended. Fantasy Book Review