Agincourt

A Novel

De: Bernard Cornwell

Narrado por: Charles Keating

data-redactor-tag=""em"">Agincourt is classic Cornwell…[with] attention to historical detail, well-paced action, and descriptive writing that is a pleasure to read."" —data-redactor-tag=""em"">Bostondata-redactor-tag=""em""> Globe

Bernard Cornwell, the data-redactor-tag=""em"">New York Times bestselling “reigning king of historical fiction"" (data-redactor-tag=""em"">USA Today), tackles his most thrilling, rich, and enthralling subject yet—the heroic tale of data-redactor-tag=""em"">Agincourt. The epic battle immortalized by William Shakespeare in his classic data-redactor-tag=""em"">Henry V is the background for this breathtaking tale of heroism, love, devotion, and duty from the legendary author of the Richard Sharpe novels and the Saxon Tales. This extraordinary adventure will captivate from page one, proving once again and most powerfully, as author Lee Child attests, that “nobody in the world does this stuff better than Cornwell.""

©2009 Bernard Cornwell; (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers

Don't miss it.

If you like historical fiction at all, do not miss this book. It is absolutely amazing. No body disputes the historical accuracy of the book, so there is that and the way Cornwell brings it to life is fanttastic.

The book is engaging from the first sentence. The characters are likeable (I like a main character I can root for =), the descriptions are amazing (beware of listening to the battles while driving, you might find yourself speeding way, way too much, oh, and don't, listen, do not chopped vegetables while listening to the battles!) and the reader is great!

To help you decide whether you will like what I like, here's other authors I like: Connie Willis, Terry Pratchett, Ruth Downie, Patrick O'Brian, plus the usual suspects: Dickens, Steinbeck, Hemingway and them =]

very fine in all ways

one of the best historical fictions I've ever read and I normally don't like fiction. listening to it was as good too. Cornwells writing and imagination are a treasure. Keating's performance and reading are superb.

Warring and swearing

I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard listening to people glorify war and relish it, all the while “swearing like troopers”. Ordinarily a serious subject with loads of visceral horror (the research done is certainly solid - for the history buffs) I found I could somehow make it through the details of gory events. So if you are on the whole sensitive about language or scenes depicting violence you may feel (understandably) that a book titled after a place of a famous battle may not be the thing for you, or you could give it a try because (as I discovered) this author does it all without wading in the muck for its own sake - there is humor and appreciation of the nuances of the time, and the pacing never allows you to dwell on any one aspect for too long. Even the swearing seems wrapped up imperceptibly into the tumult of persons and events. I came for the story (historical fiction) and had a really good time listening.
Spoiler Alert - Thanks very much to B. Cornwell for not killing Sir John. That would have made me feel like I lost a friend. Some characters are too good to be real and also, for the same reason, to die.
And yes, unfortunately the music is awful. The narration is good.

Good story, mostly true, so mediocre ending

Good, historically accurate background, with a decent story of good and bad, and in between, characters overlaying it all... Anti climatic ending, though... I didn't even realize it was ending, until I happened to see the time remaining...

Words not Music

I don't need loud music to signal a thrilling part of the story, the words do that. Bernard Cornwell is a master storyteller.