This has clearly been meticulously researched, paced and plotted. Deviations from the historical record were small but necessary to keep the plot moving forward. Iggulden states as much in his historical notes section at the end. Some characters were invented to replace apparent historical figures lost to time. Derry Brewer, the spy, for one, Thomas Woodchurch, an archer who leads a peasants revolt in France another.
There were many things to like about this book, the story itself, obviously, is gripping in its complexity, the characters fully realised and utterly believable. The settings were richly described and vividly brought to life.
But there were a few issues I had too. If you felt Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire had a load of characters to keep track of, Iggulden takes that idea and raises to a new height. Granted, historical fiction is bound by the players invloved, but there are so, so many here it does become quite a chore constantly flipping to the five (yes FIVE!) pages of family trees at the beginning of the volume.
Another issue was every character (bar Margaret of Anjou, but as the Queen of the King of England, she doesn't really count as French for most of the novel) was English, which not in itself a problem, but with so much of the book set in France, with the conflict between England and France front and central, we got no sense of the French POV. Every character was, according to the narrative, righteous in their anger at being asked, or forced, to leave France. Despite living on French land, stolen from French landowners by English soldiers. There was no opposition to this, just a portrayal of English invaders pissed off that their sojourn in the French sun was coming to an end. This just rubbed me the wrong way.
I still want to read the rest of the series, which is testament to Iggulden's prose and way of framing a story, so I guess those little foibles aren't enough to put me off.
There were many things to like about this book, the story itself, obviously, is gripping in its complexity, the characters fully realised and utterly believable. The settings were richly described and vividly brought to life.
But there were a few issues I had too. If you felt Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire had a load of characters to keep track of, Iggulden takes that idea and raises to a new height. Granted, historical fiction is bound by the players invloved, but there are so, so many here it does become quite a chore constantly flipping to the five (yes FIVE!) pages of family trees at the beginning of the volume.
Another issue was every character (bar Margaret of Anjou, but as the Queen of the King of England, she doesn't really count as French for most of the novel) was English, which not in itself a problem, but with so much of the book set in France, with the conflict between England and France front and central, we got no sense of the French POV. Every character was, according to the narrative, righteous in their anger at being asked, or forced, to leave France. Despite living on French land, stolen from French landowners by English soldiers. There was no opposition to this, just a portrayal of English invaders pissed off that their sojourn in the French sun was coming to an end. This just rubbed me the wrong way.
I still want to read the rest of the series, which is testament to Iggulden's prose and way of framing a story, so I guess those little foibles aren't enough to put me off.
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