BOOK REVIEW – BERNARD CORNWELL AZINCOURT 2008 Harper Collins.
A historic novel set against the backdrop of Henry 5th’s famous battle for control of France, driven by his near fanatical conviction that he was their divinely ordained monarch too.
The historic events are well known – an Anglo-Welsh army dominated by formidable longbow-men took on a French force that outnumbered them five to one and won. The novel captures the events well, with the main battle itself taking up a hundred pages of relentless action and detail, some of which gets a little repetitive. Some events are based on fact, such as Henry ordering the execution of prisoners to be able to have more of his men free to fight a fresh wave of French knights.
Behind this, lies a sub-plot about an archer, Nicholas Hook, a fugitive in England for killing a priest who raped an English girl, and with enemies from a long-standing family feud. Hook flees to France and witnesses the massacre of the French at Soissons, by English mercenaries and gains a tendency to hear the voices of the saints, Crispin & Crispinsen. (Mentioned in lip service to Shakespeare’s famous coverage of the same conflict) Hook saves a French girl, Mellisande, who will become his lover and a camp follower throughout his military adventures,
Back in England, Hook becomes a member of John Cornwelle’s band of archers and meets Henry 5th as they head for France and the great battle of the book’s title.
There are some great descriptions and considerable research involved, but characters have a habit of re-meeting in events hundreds of miles from where thy last met and crossed paths (and swords). There are too many coincidental encounters at times, and a tendency to melodrama, such as Melissanda being subjected to attempted rape by a deranged priest as the main battle goes on, though the way Hook resolves his conflict with the family he feuds against is very neat indeed.
A good book, though Cornwell has written better ones.
© Copyright. Arthur Chappell
LINK TO THIS PAGE http://arthurchappell.me.uk/book.review-bernard.cornwell-azincourt.htm
LINKS TO OTHER PEOPLES PAGES E-mail arthur@chappell7300.freeserve.co.uk
UPDATES MYSPACE - http://www.myspace.com/arthurchappell
FACEBOOK - http://profile.to/arthurchappell/
FACEBOOK BLOG http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blogpage.php?blogid=85623
MY BOOKS - http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=952521
MY TWITTER PAGE - http://twitter.com/arthurchappell