Troy

An incredible view into life as a mariner in 18th Century Britain, the reader comes away with what life was like as well as the harrowing saga of the men and few survivors of the shipwreck on what must have seemed to be almost the other side of the world. Incredible story.

This book was, at times, a slog to get through, but there were some great action sequences and the clash of civilizations as Blackthorne struggles to understand life in feudal Japan was very interesting. The author did a great job in depicting the class roles and how important honor and respect are in feudal Japanese culture, and what it truly means to be ‘samurai’. I don’t think it was enough to make me want to seek out Part 2, though.

Thoroughly researched, this accounting of Henry V’s life explains in great detail his aspirations and principles, and sheds light on the lesser-known events that shaped who he became and ultimately the tremendous legacy he left behind. If there was ever a depiction of a medieval warrior king, Henry V embodied it perfectly.

Not a fan of the style of writing or the story, absolutely boring with way too much embellishment of descriptions of everything…very easy to just keep skipping ahead and you don’t miss much by doing so. That kills it for me. This was a DNF