This was one of those rare books that I was reluctant to finish, as doing so means having to leave the story only partly told, and I await the publication of the next volume eagerly, but it is also a book I would recommend to anyone with an interest in history, or someone who wants a cracking good read! Read more Obviously, as this is the first of an intended series, there is still a lot of the story to be told, but the finale does leave you wanting to read more. The story of Jack Cade also provides you with an insight into the anger and fear felt by most of the population at the time, and their sense of injustice and betrayal, while at the same time leaving you fretting over the safety of the queen.The author has done a wonderful job of weaving together the threads of the story to give a consistent whole, while drawing on so many viewpoints, while also allowing the characters to develop along with the plots - and there is a lot of plotting and scheming going on, from factions trying to protect the throne and from those trying to unseat its occupant.
There are also plenty of battle scenes in this book that will leave you with a good understanding of why the French hated to face English archers, and of just how much skill and training it took to be an archer ( although a true understanding only comes the first time you try and draw back a longbow! ). Much in the way the story unfolded at the time, you are slowly drawn into the lives of the disparate characters at the heart of the book, and given reasons to care what happens to them, with some beautifully drawn depictions of the turbulence of the time, and a real sense of what the events would mean to those caught up in them, as well as being shown how the characters were shaped and moulded by their participation. Rather than telling the story from the viewpoint of either Henry VI or Richard, Duke of York, as most historical fiction seems to do, Iggulden focuses on the minor characters, showing their feelings and their struggles as they are caught up in the unfolding drama, and how their lives are drastically changed by their masters actions and inactions. Conn Iggulden sheds light on a turbulent period of English history with a very readable work on the origins of one of the biggest power struggles in the history of the crown by focusing on the lesser characters and using their stories to illuminate the growing struggle between the descendents of Edward III.
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