Where the French and English Really Hated Each Other

1356 by Bernard Cornwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an exciting, thoroughly believable fictionalized account of the famous battle at Poitiers in 1356, the year named in the title. Bernard Cornwell is legendary for his careful research and period details, and he does not fail us here. Besides being a well-crafted work of historical fiction, though, it is plenty of fun, with lots of crossover for (say) a reader of fantasy.

The book threw me for a loop at first. I was well into it, scratching my head, wondering why the backstory was so dense, why the author was being so sparse with his exposition, feeling like I was missing something, playing catchup all the time. Then I looked into it and discovered this is the 4th book in a series. That's not on me, believe it or not--that's entirely on the publishers. There is no indication anywhere on the cover, in the blurb, or anywhere else that three novels precede this one, or that this is part of the "Grail Quest" series. The other books aren't printed on a page near the beginning with a "be sure to look for these titles" warning. That's annoying.

But I got through it, figuring it out well enough, and bought the other three novels to read out of order. At least I already know some of the characters that survive books 1-3, because they're present in book 4...

Anyway, it's a story set in the 100 Years War, with characters that include a greedy cardinal who wants to be pope, some brutal lords, and a bunch of regular-guy soldiers. The cardinal and his conspirators are looking for the sword Peter used in the Garden of Gethsemane to strike off a Roman soldier's ear, a relic supposed to be buried somewhere in France (though we learn in the notes at the back that the sword is believed to be in Poland, which Cornwell clearly thinks is not the actually case but is too polite to say so). Part of the story is about people searching out the sword, part is about Thomas and others protecting a couple women from brutal men, and the rest is about an outnumbered English/Gascon army trying to retreat or survive an unwanted battle near Poitiers.

The final battle is the best part, and the movement of armies in this part is surprisingly comprehensible--nicely done, Mr. Cornwell. That made up for some frustration early in the novel, when it seemed that the author started every scene so cold that it took paragraphs or pages to understand where we were and what we were doing. I wouldn't mind a little more exposition throughout, a little more context for whatever is happening, but that just isn't his style.

That's alright. A bit of struggle in the middle is well-rewarded by the end. I gave this 4 stars, but if there were half-points it'd be 4.5 from me.

Next I'll see how it all started, how it happened that Thomas ended up in France with a company of mercenaries. Should be good.

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