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The Company of Archers

The Archers Story: Books I, II. III, IV, V, and VI

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This is a complete set of the first six books of the great action-packed medieval saga about the ambitious serf who rose to command a company of English archers during King Richard's crusade - and what happened after he led its survivors back to dangerous and gritty feudal England during a time when there was great upheaval in Britain as the barons rose against the king. This is great new saga about an archer and his family who fought for gold and treasure in an effort to rise in cruel and difficult feudal times - and how they did it. It will appeal to the fans of Bernard Cornwell, Jeffrey Archer, C.S. Forester. De Melo, Griff Hosker, Peter Darman, and Jerry Auteri.

This is British and English action & adventure of the medieval war & military historical fiction variety at its action-packed best.

747 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 23, 2015

591 people are currently reading
118 people want to read

About the author

Martin Archer

83 books49 followers
Military Veteran and a well known author under a different name.

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5 stars
220 (49%)
4 stars
137 (30%)
3 stars
63 (14%)
2 stars
12 (2%)
1 star
16 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
Profile Image for Charles  van Buren.
1,910 reviews307 followers
July 6, 2020
Review of Kindle edition
Publication Date: January 8, 2016
File Size: 2534 KB
Publisher: martinarcherV@gmail.com (January 8, 2016)
Print Length: 790 pages
Language:: English
Word Wise: Enabled
ASIN: B01ADZHHBG

I apologize for not writing the indepth review which I planned. Too much time has passed for me to remember details and I have no interest in rereading or even skimming this lengthy compilation of six novels in Martin Archer's series which begins with English archers in one of the crusades. I forget which one, I think maybe the third. I seem to remember Richard Lionheart making an appearance in the very beginning.

What I do remember is the confusion of left out words, spelling errors and generally poor grammar. I also remember thinking that this was a lot like one of those empire building games. The protagonists start with nothing and build their own little trading and fighting empire based on a Mediterranean island and a castle in England. There is constant fighting. They go over here and beat an unprepared, weak and/or inept enemy. Then they go over there and beat another one. In the next volume they do it all over again and grow their empire. As one may gather from the title the secret of their strength and success is English archers. So, why did I give it three stars if I feel this way about it? Well something kept me reading all six volumes. Mr. Archer is close to being good at this. Maybe if he got a good editor?
Profile Image for James Gault.
Author 15 books
September 7, 2021
Annoying

I am loathe to criticise a wonderful and engaging story - and this tale is just that. The frequent repetition, changes of tense mid sentence, even changes in font in different chapters and generally abysmal editing, though, become simply too annoying. That is despite acknowledging the author's valiant efforts to recreate an interesting form of old English dialogue.
Profile Image for Cheryl.
3 reviews
August 27, 2019
The storyline was intriguing at first, and I liked the historical setting and knowledge. I got lost on the many, many voyages and pillaging. The characters were not as strongly rendered as I'd like.
4 reviews
July 30, 2020
I really wanted to like these books as this period in history is one of the most fascinating. However, these books were a great disappointment. I literally forced myself to continue reading hoping the story line would improve. The characters were one dimensional at best and many were not fully realized such as William's son and his mistress. While supposedly the main characters' motivation for their actions was to provide a better life for William's son, it was hard to justify the pillaging, slaughter and piracy. And, 6 books could have been edited down to one. Not only was the action repetitive but boring.
Profile Image for Peggy .
71 reviews1 follower
March 10, 2018
Interesting stories.

These books are very entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed them, even though they are full of errors that would have been easily caught and corrected by even a mediocre editor. I would seriously suggest that Mr. Archer do something about this problem and then reissue the books; it would immediately improve his reputation to that of a writer of note who cares about the quality of his finished work.
Still, these stories do take the reader to the place and time right down to the heat, the chills, and the odors! Recommended.
6 reviews1 follower
October 7, 2018
Archer empire building

Action filled, exciting saga of deserted English archers using wit and their mighty Longbows to carve out an empire. The archer empire is templar
Iike in its use of medieval banking and passenger shipping, yet no pretence of religious aims here, rather the archers almost cultishly seek coin and castles as they secure their land and sea empire against all others.
Profile Image for Craig Becker.
154 reviews2 followers
October 26, 2019
Interesting historical perspective

I found it intriguing that theses stories were based on parchment from the time. The author did a good job of flushing out the stories. Many parts are repetitive but I enjoyed the character development of William and Thomas.
2 reviews
February 23, 2020
Great read

I enjoyed reading the Archers Story part one and went immediately to Kindle for part two. I will be recommending this series to my friends who enjoy reading novels of this time period.
1 review
April 16, 2020
Historic novel

Fascinating style. I was most impressed by the authors knowledge of food transport in 12th century navel vessels. Archer has researched his subject very well. This was a delightful read!
2 reviews
February 6, 2021
Good adventure set in the time of the Christian crusades. Interesting, balanced perspective on their politics.
But, the storytelling by the tale’s numerous players resulted in far too much repetition of the basic storyline.
4 reviews
March 13, 2021
Interesting action combined with strategic decisions create a page turning sequence of exciting action and unexpected plot development

Slightly repetitive sequences refresh the memory and assist in keeping the development of the numerous characters from confusing the reader
.
Profile Image for Paul.
2 reviews
August 7, 2022
I really enjoyed reading these books and will be reading all the others.
His style of writing is right up my street…is not it.
I will also be looking for the Soldiers and Marines books.
If you haven’t tried Martin Archer….please do ***** 5 stars
61 reviews
November 4, 2023
very enjoyable read

I loved the first five books immensely, however the last books had some seriously poor editing mistakes that required careful reading. On in all a great series. It he characters were well developed. It was a very fun read
1 review
August 26, 2018
I found it very enjoyable. A little difficult to keep track of the various characters, but that did not distract attention from the main story.
3 reviews13 followers
April 1, 2019
Medieval fiction

It was a good read with just enough details to be believable and great characters and plot twists. I can’t wait to read the sequel.
Profile Image for Byron.
73 reviews1 follower
July 20, 2020
The story line was quite good and would have been more engaging if there wasn't so much repetition. It became annoying to the point of completely distracting from the story line.
5 reviews
June 5, 2021
Good read

A fast paced novel. The characters are complex and the story appears to follow history fairly accurately. An interesting perspective on King Richard the lion hearted.
10 reviews2 followers
November 30, 2021
Great read!

Great book…really interesting battles and intrigue.
Keep up the great reads.

Hope to return for more adventures in the future.
Profile Image for antony .
359 reviews8 followers
May 8, 2017
Rollicking historical fiction stretching from England into Europe and across to the Middle East. Fast action and great characters. Rather than get eat individual book I read this collection on my kindle.

Easy to read and enjoyable. Fight in the shield wall, confront 20,000 for soldiers, attack castles, sail the seas and attack pirate ships. Steal gold and silver, save the lives of pilgrims and travel the known world. High on action and character, low on descriptions of violence and gore.

You will laugh, cry and cheer. I could not stop reading.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews

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