Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell

Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Nicholas Hook is an Englishman, an archer and an outlaw.

After falling foul of a rapacious priest he escapes hanging by joining a band of archers fighting in France. He witnesses treachery and massacre at Soissons and hears the voices of the twin saints of that town, Crispin and Crispinian, before he returns to England where he relates his story to King Henry V and finds a place for himself in the company of Sir John Cornwell where he will return to France to fight again. He will take part in the costly and lengthy siege of Harfleur where disease is the greatest enemy, and eventually in the mud of the field of Azincourt where six thousand English longbow men will face an French army that outnumbers them by more than five to one.

This is perhaps Bernard Cornwell's most visceral and bloody book, which as anyone who has ever picked up a Sharpe novel will know is quite an achievement. With his usual attention to vivid historical detail Cornwell really brings the horrors of medieval warfare to life and gives a compelling account of one of the greatest battles of all time, that the French still refer to as the 'Unfortunate Day'.

Perhaps a bit grimmer and not quite as swashbuckling as some of Cornwell's other books, but a good read nonetheless.



View all my reviews.