Tannat

Well that was bloody.

I found the book as a whole to be a bit of a slog, although not as bad as that field at Agincourt.  The battle itself was interesting, and I liked the character of Sir John Cornewaille, but I wasn’t terribly enamoured of Nick Hook, the main character.  I actually found the whole backstory of his blood feud with the Perrills to be almost like filler.  It was like a shallow veneer of human interest on the historical setting rather than something that helped flesh out Hook’s character.

There were also some instances with regards to the social setting that I felt could have used some stronger research.  Maybe I’m being too critical and maybe I'm wrong, but some of the setting wasn’t consistent with what I’ve read in other sources, e.g. the marriage ceremony and I thought archery was more of a requirement in England than Cornwell seems to imply.  I wouldn’t have found this so distracting, however, if I’d been more engaged with the characters.