This was an excellent guidebook or even a travelogue for Henry's reign. You'll find lots of key places and snippets of history of castles, churches and other buildings here and advice about how to follow in that footsteps of a Medieval King.
I also appreciated how the author largely refrained from judgement on her subject.

What I didn't like were some of the mistakes. I don't mean typos which can be overlooked. I mean things such as calling Richard II the "Uncle" of Henry IV. He was Henry's cousin. This was done repeatedly in the text and caused me to question the reliability of an otherwise very informative book.

Thanks to Pen and Sword for approving me for this title on Netgalley. This didn't influence my review and all opinions expressed herein are my own.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. Beautiful cover. I absolutely really enjoyed this book. It was a great take on Henry VIII life from infancy and up. If you are a Tudor fan like myself then I highly recommend.

Most books on Henry V centre on the infamous Battle of Agincourt, leaving an impression that this was all there was to Henry’s reign – even those that lambast Shakespeare for writing a play where he omits events between Agincourt and the Treaty of Troyes tend to follow the same structure, breezing over the intervening years.

Not so Deborah Fisher. In Henry V: A History of His Most Important Places and Events, Fisher traces his life through key locations. His birth in Monmouth, his teenage years in Wales, pivotal and favourite residences as king such as Kenilworth Castle, Harfleur where he began his first French campaign, Agincourt of course, the sieges at Rouen, Paris and Meaux, Troyes where he married Catherine de Valois, Vincennes where he died and Westminster Abbey where he was coronated and buried.

This is a fascinating approach to biography and, living in Australia as I am, I found it an exciting premise, giving me a chance to connect with locations I can’t travel to and see for myself. Unfortunately, I found the biography itself was not the strongest.

Fisher’s prose is lively and brisk. Under 200 pages, it is a succinct and short narrative of Henry’s life and reign, and while there is obvious simplification going on, the narrative doesn’t feel heavily compressed or missing something important. Fisher is even-handed in her approach to Henry, neither seeking to condemn him with great hostility or venerate him as a Great Man of History, though I would disagree with some of her assessments. I really enjoyed reading this – it’s an easy, engaging read and Fisher does really capture the span of Henry’s life from the somewhat obscure grandson of a duke to the usurper’s heir to the new king to the conqueror of France. There are no in-text citations beyond passing references to a few sources and the bibliography is only a selected bibliography but that seems to fit the focus and style of book well.

Unfortunately, however, this great strength is let down by some careless errors, repetition of discredited stories, typos and awkwardly phrased sentences. Fisher repeats the discredited narratives that the Earl of Salisbury fostered Henry (it seems he was fostered in the household of his maternal grandmother, Joan, Countess of Fitzalan), that Henry was briefly educated in Oxford (there is no contemporary evidence for this though Queen’s College still claims Henry as an alumni; medieval university students were those seeking an ecclesiastical or clerical career), and that Henry V’s tomb was opened to find the body of Richard Courtenay, Bishop of Norwich (Courtenay’s body was discovered during work on the pavement and is located near the turret of Henry V’s chantry; Henry’s tomb has never been opened). The paragraph about the confusion about Henry’s birthdate is confusing. Fisher seems to suggest we always knew he was born on 16 September, we just didn’t know the year when, in actual fact, the debate was between 16 September 1386 and 9 August 1387 and we still lack certainty for the date, though the year is now settled as being 1386 owing to his brother Thomas’s birth in late 1387. Richard II is consistently and wrongly referred to as Henry’s “uncle” when they were first cousins, once removed. Richard is also said to have been unmarried at the time of Henry’s birth – he had married Anne of Bohemia in 1382 and so they were four years married by the time Henry was born. Henry V’s sisters, Blanche and Philippa, are said not to have been survived by a legitimate child, but Blanche and her husband did have a son, Rupert, who died in 1426.

The typos are not too bad. There is the odd misspelt word or misplaced comma, and the most amusing was a sentence that read "yet again, Henry spent the 2019 Easter holiday in Normandy..." I did receive an ARC via Netgalley and do expect typos and formatting in ARCs but these typos are in the hardback edition I bought myself. Some index entries are also incorrect.

I am confused why this wasn’t published as part of Pen & Sword’s Following in the Footsteps series. Fisher’s text makes it clear that she had written it for the series, with numerous references made to the idea of “following” in Henry V’s “footsteps” and an appendix provided for all the possible sites one might visit to do so, with some practical travelling advice, under the title “How to Follow in the Footsteps of Henry of Monmouth”.

Personally, I would’ve liked some more photos to help me feel more connected to the places Fisher mentions, and I think some maps could have been of use – Fisher does refer to a map in her chapter on Agincourt, which makes it rather strange there isn’t one included! Again, this is true for the hardback as well as the ARC.

All up, I did enjoy reading this but there are too many errors in the biography sections for me to recommend it for people wanting an introduction to Henry V.

Read many books on the subject and this was in my top 3! The book takes its reader on a journey from the rural areas around Monmouth, where he was born, to Harlech Castle, where he put an end to Owain Glyndŵr's rebellion, and from his coronation at Westminster Abbey to his private retreat at Kenilworth. We see him seize Harfleur and take the long road to Calais, culminating in the Battle of Agincourt, one of the most spectacular victories ever won by an English army. We follow his continued campaigns in France, through his marriage to Catherine of Valois at Troyes, to his eventual, tragically premature, death at Vincennes

I have been on a nonfiction kick recently and this one stood out for many reasons. I loved the honesty and emotion. I felt like I was in the moment with the author and I felt like the articulation of the circumstances were easy to understand which I appreciated with such a complex issue.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of "Henry V" in exchange for an honest review. I thought that this was a very interesting and informative read. It's very straightforward and easy to follow. It covers Henry V's life from birth until death although the majority of the book focuses on his battles in France. What makes this book different from other biographies is that it not only follows Henry V's footsteps, but also provides information on the present day locations of Henry V's memorable moments. I personally think it was a great idea to bring the past and present together. It helps develop a greater understanding of what happened and why. I also appreciated the appendix on and pictures of important locations in Henry V's life. Anyone interested in British, French, European, or even military history should consider reading this book at least once. It's very straightforward and easy to follow.

This intriguing book brings King Henry V to life and enables readers to follow in his footsteps from Monmouth to Vincennes. You get a real sense of the man - his path to kingship, ambition, religion and ruthlessness. Deborah Fisher also gets rid of a few myths, such as that Henry won back France because of the Battle of Agincourt when it was really part of the war, although a great victory. His courting of Catherine also didn't occur straight after Agincourt.

The author describes all of the places associated with Henry vividly, and relates which medieval buildings and streets are still visible. She also provides a list of all the places at the end, and how to reach them by car and public transport.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Mostly entertaining. Very informative.
A little too much current tourism tips in book for me and sometimes the timeline wasn't linear, got confused a few times

An interesting introduction to King Henry V of England and the world he lived in, this book does an overall good job of summarizing Henry’s life events and where they took place. Careful attention is paid to locations Henry stayed, if they can be identified, and if the reader can see them today, along how what we see today compares with what Henry would have known. Sometimes this wanders a little, especially when we reached Paris I found it a little overwhelming in the number of buildings talked about (which weren’t always clear to me if Henry had even visited them) but overall it was a mix that worked well. Definitely a book that will interest the reader into exploring more books on Henry V and his world, and if possible going to some of the locations mentioned in the book.

I received an Arc of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This is a very interesting history book, in that it's a biography through places. It examines some of the most important places of Henry V's life and reign, and looks at the events that happened there. Unlike many other biographies, this one focuses on the places that still exist today, and what you can learn by visiting them yourself. The book wants you to draw your own conclusions; an open-ended history essentially, as every person will come away with different viewpoints and ideas. I think this was a refreshing look at Henry V, and I'll definitely be recommending it to people. It could even work as a travel guide if you so wished.