Review by Roy Boyd

The Winged Hussar, introduced young Karlis, a Hussar (a Lithuanian Christian) who abandoned and later betrayed his own people to join a band of Ukranian Cossacks.

Into the Wolf’s Den opens with a flashback featuring Zahra, the object of our hero’s affections, and another Cossack, Emelyan, who also desires the beautiful and spirited archer. The scene being well and truly set, we move forward to rejoin Karlis and Co. as his boss Sachko (who sounds like one of the Three Stooges or Marx Brothers) leaves for a meeting of the governing council of the Cossacks, where he intends to petition the other leaders, and their headman, to allow Karlis to remain with his band as a Cossack.

Emelyan takes this opportunity to capture Zahra and confront Karlis, who he sees as having usurped his position among the Cossacks. And in a plot twist that’s not massively surprising, it transpires Emelyan is Sachko’s son.

Violence ensues, and the dramatic scenes are dynamic and exciting, just like before. However, these scenes are balanced with others that are political, or meditations on duty, honour, forgiveness and more besides. Fortunately, the quieter moments involve more than talking heads, and artists Ronan Toulhoat and Yoann Guillo inject mood and atmosphere into every scene. They use some of the more talky sequences to showcase beautiful scenery, whether it’s Cossack villages or the forest.

Writer Vincent Brugeas plots his story efficiently to provide an enjoyable mixture of action and quieter moments. As before, he supplies a fair amount of historical detail, but manages to work it effortlessly into the story, so we’re spared chunks of exposition. He displays a similarly light touch when it comes to his characters, giving all our main actors a convincing range of emotions and motivations, especially the villain of the piece.

While the book isn’t gruesomely violent, there is the threat of sexual violence, which is probably enough to warrant the 12+ rating.

This isn’t one of Cinebook’s Expresso titles – stories that are done and dusted in one or two volumes – though this tale could easily end here, with all major plot points wrapped up neatly. Or it could continue for many more volumes, as this set-up clearly has scope for many more stories. The publisher isn’t telling, though more of this enjoyable series would be welcome.