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 rebuild a remote and long-abandoned bridge. With construction already underway, a band of fleeing trappers brings news of a fast-approaching barbarian horde and the Captain quickly realises that his de facto commander, the devious Duke Burns, has sent him and his men into a deadly trap. Should the company stay or retreat? Despite the overwhelming odds stacked against them, Forge – ever the hard-headed professional soldier – decides to stay. With the help of a motley crew that includes the enigmatic Bantusai, the wily trappers, and a lacklustre wizard-cum-bureaucrat named Portal, the Captain and his men hastily set about rebuilding the dilapidated fort next to the bridge and prepare to make a stand. Their doom, it seems, is inescapable: their redoubt - a patched-up tower house – will surely be their tomb...
Part hardboiled war novel, part epic fantasy, Redoubt is a gripping, darkly witty riff on the age-old story of men fighting against the odds. With its realistic battle scenes and gritty portrayal of soldiers at war, this is fantasy writing at its hard-hitting best.
