Saturday, March 28, 2009

Historical adventure - Bernard Cornwell's Agincourt

I didn't think I'd find myself so enamoured of English history, but after my spate of reading covering different periods from Napolonic to Elizabethean period, I find myself reading Cornwell's latest book, Agincourt.

Cornwell's book is a fictional account of one of most dramatic victories in British history:King Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.
It focuses how the English archers proved decisive in delivering battlefield victories over much larger and better equipped French legions.

I found the description of the archers and their professional standing among the army fascinating. The battle scenes, sieges of Harfleur and Soissons, are well drawn.

However, some parts of it are quite overblown, particularly the revenge story line and I would have liked some more subtley and nuance.

But overall a rollicking good read.

1 comment:

scp said...

I'm still stuck in Tudor times, but want to read more about The War of the Roses period. Should get out Shakespeare I know, but I want to read something PG prose like. I know, after I was all snooty about PG being too accessible!