Book Review - Agincourt

Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle That Made England by Juliet Barker


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book took me forever to finish! Not because it wasn't good or anything, but just because I was so busy with school that I never had time with it. Of course, because the political situations that the book discusses are so complicated, it was a little difficult for me to remember all that was going on and who everyone was with since I spent so much time not reading the book.

Putting my confusion aside, I really thought this was a great book. The politics behind the battle were complicated, but Barker was always very clear about what she was talking about. The book was never dry, but always exciting and engaging. I loved how she would sometimes talk about aspects of medieval life that were just tangentially related to the main historical action that was happening. It really fleshed out the time period that she was talking about, so you had a much broader picture of medieval society than what was just related to the battle.

One thing that I both appreciated and found a little anticlimactic was how short the description of the battle itself was. I liked that she wasn't obsessive about describing battle tactics - I think I would have become really bored if she did - but the shortness of the battle made the book a little anticlimactic. Otherwise, this was a great book.

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