This book holds the distinction of having probably the best rendered, best written battle scene I've ever read. It's slow and painful, purposefully so, and perfectly explains every part of the fight, so the reader is never confused or caught off guard by developments in the fighting. Every part of the army makes sense, their movements and their gambits.

This book renders mood wonderfully in general; the scenes with the dying infant (no spoilers), the miserable waiting months in the swamp, the final battle itself, all have distinct moods that are rendered inexorably in my memory.

Possibly my favorite Cornwell yet.