By the time we reach the Battle of Agincourt, he is a leader of men, a husband, and a true warrior. He begins the story as a young, very naive forester who becomes an outlaw and gets exiled to France. After all, it takes the voices of saints to urge him on to commit noble deeds! But Nicolas is just so earnest, especially toward the end of the book, that he won me over almost without Cornwell's help. I rather liked Nicolas, and that surprises me, because he seems like a rapscallion and-sometimes-a coward. Azincourt demonstrates this skill perfectly with the character of Nicolas Hook, an archer who finds himself at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Give him a time period, any time period, and a battle, and he will find a character and a story that fits. That is the most enduring and endearing thing about Cornwell: his remarkable versatility as a writer of historical fiction. This is the first Bernard Cornwell book I've reviewed on Goodreads, which means it is entirely too long since I have read a Bernard Cornwell book! I'm a casual fan of Cornwell, having read some of his books-I'm particularly fond of his Arthurian trilogy, and I like his Hundred Years' War stuff-and eschewing others-like the Sharpe series, or the Starbuck series, because those two historical periods appeal less to me.
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