Vengeance and then quest for the Holy Grail brought Thomas to the battlefield years ago, he wanted to leave after those two motives but he wasn’t able to. Becoming a trusted man in the eyes of the king is not a small post after all also Thomas had nothing else to do in his life. So when he has presented the job he had no other option but to accept the offer.
Bernard Cornwell knits an entirely changed story here, far different than Harlequin and Vagabond. The main issue got solved years ago, now Thomas is sent on another mission by the king. Battle of Poitiers needs daring men like Thomas to show their courage in front of the enemy. England and France fought for almost a century and the battle of Poitiers proved to be a turning point of the war.
At the end of this war, the English army finally rallied together and put a stronghold on the land. The French king along with the elite squad of soldiers got arrested as a result of this heavy loss. Once again it was Thomas and his team of archers that played a vital role in the campaign. Bernard Cornwell has remained more historical and less fictional this time. The author has used some real tags of the war from history books, thus it can be treated as a separate book as it is not connected to the first three parts.
Change in narrator was also required because this one needed a bit concrete voice; Jack Hawkins has proved more than just accurate in this regard. Once again it is a nice book to have on the bookshelf for the weekend.
