HarperCollins Harlequin

Un autore che sa il fatto suo! . Le frasi scritte in questo libro riescono ad evocare immagini vivide e realistiche nella mente del lettore. Un ottimo mezzo per staccarsi dalle fatiche della vita reale ed imparare anche un po' di storia vista l'ambientazione mista tra realtà e finzione.Il mio primo libro di questo autore. Credo che continuerò la saga.Amazon come sempre ha offerto un ottimo servizio.

Ce roman historique est passionnant et reprend avec beaucoup de précision les débuts de l'un des événements les plus important de notre histoire, la guerre de cent ans vue à travers les aventures d'un archer anglais. Archers qui offrir la victoire, bataille après bataille, aux rois d'Angleterre. Un premier livre qui annonce une suite aux péripéties. de Thomas Hookton en Brittany, Normandy,gascony. Great book you will reading with more delight.William Davis

I chose this rating because "Azincourt" "1356" and "Harlequin" are much better than "Vagabond" and "Heretic" Bernard Cornwell has produced a thumping good read. I was a little disappointed with the relative brevity of the description of the action at Crecy, the momentous battle against the French at the start of the Hundred Years War but enthralled with the author's personalisation of mediaeval warfare and its brutality in the "Age of Chivalry". It depicts how the sparely populated realm of England, despite the constant threat to its security posed by perfidious Scots with their "Auld Alliance" with France, managed to carve out the Angevin empire and rule a third of France for more than two centuries by the domination of the battlefield by the English archer Having read all the novels of this period by the author, it is a pity that the activities of the principal character of Thomas of Hookton has apparently stopped. I sincerely hope that Bernard Cornwell launches another episode in the life of this compelling individual with further novels of this quality. I am definitely a fan. The same could also equally apply to Nicholas Hook,("Azincourt"). Is there not something you can do about this Mr Cornwell? Amazon's economic price levels has allowed me to collect all of the mediaeval stories in paperback.

Für meinen Geschmack etwas zuu viel Gewalt aber liest sich flott und spannend und vor allem kommt die Stimmung der Zeit gut rüber. Der Hass der Franzosen auf die Bogenschützen, das Gefühl in den Pfeil-Hagel zu reiten und der Konflikt der Frauen, die zu den Bogenschützen gehören.Cornwell hat viel Routine im Beschreiben von Gemetzeln, das merkt man .-)

All of Bernard Cornwell's novels bring history alive, embellishing the historical record with engaging story lines and colorful characters. But Cornwell even surpasses himself in "The Archer's Tale", a harrowing tale of love, betrayal and medieval battle. Especially battle. Cornwell captures the fury, the horrors, the stink and subterfuge of war as fought eyeball to eyeball in all it's bloody glory, an exceptionally violent and authentic rendering that while repelling in its brutality, attracts the reader with the same unavoidable magnetism that for millennia have drawn men to carnage.The story is told through the eyes of young Thomas, living in Hookton, a small sea town on England's southern coast. Raiding French forces plunder and raze Hookton, leading young Thomas, now an archer in the army of England's King Edward III, to western France in search of revenge and a mysterious relic stolen from Thomas' family by the French raiders. As England's maundering army literally slashes and burns it's way from Brittany to Normandy, Thomas' skills on and off the battlefield make for an entirely gripping read colored by a lively and believable cast on both sides of the battle lines, with multiple plot threads keeping the pages turning.But this is not simply a primer in bashing skulls and spilling guts, as the author shares his insight of the military genius of Edward III which left one third of France under English control and launched the Hundred Years War. "The Archer's Tale" is a lesson in the terror and impregnability of England's war bows and the men who pulled the strings, launching rains of steel so formidable that the only viable defense was to pray that England's arrows ran out before opposing troops were all slaughtered. English military victories at La Roche-Derrien and Caen are vividly told, and while the serious history buff may recall England's short, decisive, and bloody triumph at Crecy in 1346, Cornwall's account will surely sear this permanently in your conscious. The slaughter at Crecy is memorable in Edward's brilliance against an overwhelming number of French troops, but also in France's King Phillip's monumentally costly errors.Painstakingly researched and brilliantly told, this is a novel so compelling that had Bernard Cornwell taught our history lessons, we'd likely all be historians today. Can't wait to follow up with "The Vagabond".