Agincourt

The storytelling abilities of Bernard Cornwell are shimmering in this book; it's the first of his I've read.

I was astounded by the unadulterated force, the complete madness of medieval warfare, and the blood curdling relationships between characters in this book. I have incredibly tough skin but the coarseness of this narrative had me taking breaks to watch “Moana” with my 1-year-old at regular intervals.

Cornwell's finest achievement lies in the research he put into making this story as historically accurate as possible. Down to nearly every character, the names in the story are well researched historical figures from Henry V to Nick Hook. Any break from the historical research was well made and taken in small measure. This is truly historical fiction.

The story of the battle of Agincourt told from the perspective of an English archer. The archer's story isn't that great, but it is a vehicle for telling about events leading up to the battle, how the battle was fought, and for portraying some social conditions of 15th century England–all the interesting stuff. The descriptions of battle are grisly, but fascinating. If you wear the visor of your helmet down, for instance, you can't see what's happening around you, but if you wear it up you're vulnerable to being shot or stabbed in the eyes, since your opponents aim for anything uncovered by armor. Needless to say, many people in this book die from being stabbed in the eye or shot through the eye with an arrow or crossbow bolt.

In addition to the novel itself, this book has a nice selection of related material in the back. There is a brief essay about the use of longbows in English warfare and what it took to shoot a longbow well. Right after that is Henry V's Saint Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's play. Finally, there is an interview with the author about the battle of Agincourt – not informative compared to the essay on the longbow, but still interesting to read.

Overall, I enjoyed this, but I probably won't seek out more books by Bernard Cornwell.