The Leopard Unleashed: Book 3 in the Wild Hunt series

Always a treat to read an historical novel by Elizabeth Chadwick. This is the third of the trilogy of Reenard, Lord of the Ravenstow Estate, following on from 'The Wild Hunt', and 'The Running Vixen'. This authoress never fails to please with her depth of knowledge and accuracy of times past, and I can't wait to lose myself in this book.

It took me a little while to get to the end of this as I got waylaid with another book and normal life! That being said I really enjoyed it, I felt that it ended the Ravenstow trilogy very well and loved the revisiting of characters from older books (always a little bittersweet as they age and their own stories conclude).I really liked that the book starts with Renard on crusade (something you get much more detail on in Chadwick's novel The Falcons of Montabard btw), it added an extra element and some unique experience to his character and more importantly introduces Olwen. Olwen I found fascinating and noticed I devoured the chapters she was in the fastest. I couldn't quite figure her out and would have loved to see her in the book a bit more.The main female character, Elene, I did like but found a bit tame at times, she almost felt like a pale imitation of Judith from the first book in the trilogy. She does however noticeably grow as a character throughout the book which was nice to follow.As always with an EC novel, there was a great amount of historical context to draw you in to the period, lighter than later novels but if you are looking for a lightly historical easy read then this is the book for you (I would recommend reading the trilogy in order so you are acquainted with all of the characters that pop up).

Extremely well written, with well rounded characters, she spins a very good yarn, and the historical detail and backdrop is fascinating. If you like historical fiction (tied to a good dose of authenticity) Elizabeth Chadwick is the author for you. Four down and fifteen (?) to go.

I have read nearly all of Elizabeth Chadwick’s medieval stories. Her research and attention to detail of how people went about their lives in those bygone days is amazing - and the Leopard Unleashed was up there among the best. Thank you.

Elizabeth Chadwick writes this story in a way that draws you in completely. I wasn't very interested in what went on the Welsh Marches but it was not long before she had me hooked with the character of Renard and the unfolding story was captivating. I loved it.

she is so good and with the added bonus of historical accuracy blended with a bit of writers poetic licence.

Interesting to read one of EC's earlier novels after her more recent books - great attention to detail and historical accuracies, as ever, and one could almost believe these Norman Marcher Lords truly existed. I read all three of the Wild Hunt series in succession and was sorry to part company from the characters portrayed in them at the end of this book.

Very descriptive and evocative of the times - a great read for avid fans of the historical novel