Where Thomas Fights the Battle of Crecy

Harlequin by Bernard Cornwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a very well constructed historical novel set in the time of war. I liked almost everything here.

This is the third novel by Cornwell I have read, and I'll admit it took me this long to adapt to his rhythm, to learn how to follow his prose. I liked but didn't love his writing at first, finding it quite a chore to follow what was important and not focus on the rest. I didn't feel like I was working as hard this time.

Set during the 100 Years War, taking place mostly in France, it tells about Thomas, a young English man in a band of archers. Much of the story is about fighting smaller battles, looting, tearing up the countryside, coming into conflict with fighters on both sides of the war, but it ends with full retelling of the Battle of Crecy. (I didn't realize until recently that I conflated Crecy and Agincourt, constantly thinking I knew something about one that turned out to be true about the other. Much clearer in my head now.) :) It's very well done. Cornwell has a knack for telling a story from two perspectives: a narrow, personal one, and a larger, bird's-eye one. Most of the big battle is told from Thomas's perspective, but we see how the whole thing unfolds. It reminds me of Waterloo as recounted in Les Miserables, and though it's not as extensive as that one--thank god--it is still a massive set piece that the whole novel is building to.

Thomas has other goals besides just surviving. He is searching for a relic stolen from his home town, and also wants to get revenge against the man who killed his father. He has also fallen in love with a French woman he protected, so he wants to take care of her as well as her family. These goals are sometimes conflicting, and added to that is the personal enmity of an English nobleman who hates Thomas.

Cornwell handles all of these conflicts, twisting them together, letting the pace increase from beginning to end, keeping all of them in mind. It's well done, very entertaining, and I enjoyed it. His careful scholarship regarding Medieval fighting as well as history in general give the whole thing genuine verisimilitude (which I apparently can't spell but can appreciate). The ending works well, and though a lot is lost, because this is a violent story, we are still left with a sense of hope and a hint of happiness.

Recommended for readers of history, especially military history.

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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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Where a Roman Legion Finds Themselves in a Strange World

The Misplaced Legion by Harry Turtledove
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A solid portal fantasy (I think it'd be classified that way) with lots of excellent research and knowledge behind it. Four stars.

It's better than "pretty okay," which is what a 3-star book is, but it's a slightly optimistic 4 coming from me. I'm rooting for the book and series, TBH. It's not as exciting through the middle section as I would like, though it's still interesting, and it doesn't have a true ending, which I would much prefer, and those things make it a little less fun for me. It's not precisely a cliffhanger (IMO, I mean, though I admit I quibble) because the book ends at a natural break in the story, a chapter end anyway, where there's a slight pause in the action, but the next book in the series will find our heroes in a tough spot and have to start on the following day for sure. They have their backs up against a cliff, let's say, though they aren't hanging from it...

See, I quibble.

But I like the characters and the premise and the setting and I suspect the second novel will be able to get going with less throat-clearing and world-building. I hope.

The premise is that a whole Roman legion finds itself in a new world (after magic accidentally happens) and they have to learn how to survive there. It is a world that looks a lot like a later Byzantine empire does in our world, with nations that resemble Normans and Vikings and Greeks, though there's lots of magic and other elements unique to that place. The Romans are special here because they have a system of discipline that isn't matched in Videssos, though the author doesn't play that up too too much. In fact, the biggest disappointment in the novel is waiting for the Romans to be awesome, to make a big difference, and though they have a few small successes in that line, they don't kick ass the way I hoped. I think, I imagine, I expect we'll see that in different ways in the sequels.

I like Harry Turtledove and think he's very creative and skillful, so I'm hoping he comes through in the rest of the books. Swords crossed.

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Spoiler: the last bit's the best part

Control Point by Myke Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I knew the author (from a distance) before I knew his writing. He's entertaining and provocative on a panel, and his twitter feed is worth following. I have found the author to be very intense to the point of confrontational on virtually every topic, but his opinions are generally well-informed and he has a knack for a brutal self-honesty that is disarming. It is more for these reasons than because of interest in the books that I bought and read this novel. And, as it turns out, it's good.

A lot is made of the military accuracy in this author's writing, and I agree that that's a plus, giving the fantasy elements a cool new look. Also, this is a very creative imagining of a world that has suddenly exploded with magic being confronted by military strength, and that premise supplies a lot of the fun. (A military fantasy of this type is not utterly new and unique, perhaps, but pretty new to me.) There is room for many more stories here, a wide canvas, and that's exciting.

However, to be honest, there were elements of this novel I disliked, and I almost felt led to assigning it a lower rating overall. [slight spoilers.] The middle of the novel is muddled; the main character flips his world view and his goals back and forth in a disorienting way, and we're asked to change our sympathies along with him. In the end I'm not sure who should have a claim on our sympathy. That can be a positive, making it thematically ambiguous, kinda like real life, but in an action-packed genre novel it often feels less like nuance and more like we're being tricked. (Or the author was changing his mind as he wrote.) I didn't like that aspect.

And in that middle section, Britton goes through a lengthy training that is analogous to the dull early part of traditional fantasy novels where the newly-minted magic-user learns how to handle his power, often with the help of a wizard type. Here, it is done in a sort of boot camp, which has its appeal, being a different flavor, but it still suffers from being too slow, too much like a long introduction. It's an origin story, which we probably need to kick off the series, but it's so full of his failures and suffering at the hands of brutal trainers and commanders, a barrage of bummers that isn't any fun, that I really wanted it to move on.

Thankfully, it does move on, and gets really good, and is much more fun to read.

I hung in there, and rolled with the main character, and got the payoff. The last 50 pages is where the best action occurs and when the clearest conflicts are addressed. (When the main character tries to do a thing, and then does the thing, and you're still wondering if it was right or wrong to do the thing, your motivation as a reader becomes challenged. It's nice when you can finally root for the character to DO THE THING!) In the final sequence, the action moves forward again instead of sideways, with a much more entertaining and satisfying mix of setbacks and successes. I would've liked more of this, but you know, it's all good.

So, IMO, it's a good novel, a solid 3 stars, an optimistic 4. But if the series continues the way the first novel ends it will absolutely be worth hanging in there, because that was pretty awesome. Here's to hoping.

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