Very well researched and very well written I highly recommend this book by Dan Jones who gives us the full story of this warrior king from birth to death. Excellent.
My thanks to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for this eARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

If any king needed a biography, it’s a Henry. Much of that mythos is bound up in Shakespeare, St Crispin’s Day and the idea of England as a lion-hearted country. Jones has form in this area and he takes a masterly, well-researched look at the king.

The inciting incident is The Battle Of Shrewsbury, in 1403. A teenaged Henry is putting down the Welsh rebels, when he takes an arrow in the face. The details of its removal are gory, but nothing in comparison to the grit and gore of medieval England, with burning of heretics, a rebel hanged twelve times in twelve different cities and pregnant woman left for wolves. Faint hearted readers, tread carefully.

The attempt is to reposition Henry as a man, not a warrior. And it succeeds in that, depicting him as someone who loved books and music, not the favourite of his Father, but becomes king of a turbulent England and prosecutes a brutal war with France.

Agincourt is portrayed as the middle; not the end of a campaign. Henry marries Catherine (after being offered her at 7, 9 and 12). He dies at the age of 35, either of smallpox or dysentery. Jones has succeeded in an essay of a man, not a king. It’s published by Head Of Zeus on September 12th and I thank them for a preview copy. #henryv

A young dynamic medieval warrior king. A glorious English victory at Agincourt. A reign cut short by a premature early death.
In this highly readable account written in the present tense, TV historian Dan Jones gets behind the truth of a 15th century ruler made famous by Shakespeare, Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh. Jones doesn't gloss over his brutal treatment of French prisoners and Lollards.

Henry V by Dan Jones

I love history and really enjoy reading about it . For some reason I have never read beyond Henry V111 (other than ancient history vikings , ancient Britain etc , so reading this was a joy.
Dan has a great way of making it all very interesting .