Hundred Years Triumph (Harlequin - Bernard Cornwell)

Member Name: Pinotage

Product:	Harlequin - Bernard Cornwell
Date:	27/01/01 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cracking fast paced tale - best since Sharpe

Disadvantages: none

Battle scenes have no better chronicler than Bernard Cornwell. The hundred year's war between the Kings of England and France offer him plenty of opportunity. It is a time where the chivalrous actions of mounted knights are fast giving way to the forerunner of modern war. Noblemen clad in thousand pounds worth of plate armour can be slaughtered at a distance by uncouth peasants armed with a bow and wooden arrow costing farthings.

Thomas is one such peasant. After a raiding party of French knights and their mercenaries ravage his home village he joins England's army in France. Tasked by his murdered father's dying breath he hopes to bring back a historic relic stolen from the church in the raid. Thomas has trained all his life to use England's long bow and joins a semi-independent group of archers contracted to an English lord fighting in the army of King Edward III and his son, the Black Prince.

Thomas is a callow youth, new to war and too willing to take direction from others. And this leads him into trouble, to love and drives the story.

Cornwell's deft tale grabs the reader in from the start and before you know it you are deep in a fast paced story of intrigue and battles across France. While the story never pauses for historical explanation fascinating facts weave through the text. And the tale gets more complex. The ruthless raid on Thomas's home was not as random as it first seemed and it appears Thomas's father has a mysterious past. Enemies sometimes become friends and allies can become enemies.

The book ends with Thomas fighting for his life in the battle of Crecy, the first major conflict in what was to become the Hundred Years War. We know more about the intrigue that Thomas has tangled himself in. But there are deep currents stirring of which we've seen just the surface.

Harlequin is the first book in a new series and it's a triumph. The best since Sharpe. There are more
battles to be fought and I cannot wait till the banners are next unfurled, the war cry of 'St George' is shouted and the French once again hear the hiss of massed arrows falling upon them.

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