I’m a long time lover of Terry Deary and all he has done for giving a funny and compelling voice to history and bringing it to life for the reader. When it comes to his new books, they are always a must read for me - they never let me down.

This one was no different, filled with humour but chock full of informative accounts and history. They are so easy to read and enjoyable too. Britain is no stranger to the enemies they’ve totalled up along the eras and split into easily digestible chunks, we go from the Romans, to Saxons to rivalries with the French, Dutch, Spanish, and well, pretty much everyone!

He had my loyalty ever since Horrible Histories and is one of the sole people I am to blame for my years long love and interest in history, sparked from childhood.

His books are always super fun and it’s another for the history shelf. I learnt a lot and enjoyed learning it along the way. No other author brings history to life as much as Terry Deary!

I’ve always loved Deary’s writing, and getting to read this early has been an absolute privilege. Deary’s books got me into history at a young age and I’ve been chasing the humour in his books for years, and finally found it again. He has a special talent of balancing humour and horrific history. I found myself laughing out loud at some of his jokes, then gasping pages later because of the awful history facts. Despite slipping in jokes here and there, he still maintains a level of respect for history which is something that so many historians struggle with. I also learned a lot reading this, so many fictional events that I thought were true, Deary taught me otherwise! I almost wish this book was longer, I’ll happily read anything he writes.

He’s done it again! You always know with a Terry Deary book that you will get a well researched, humorous history book that you can’t put down, and this very much follows that theme. I wish Mr Deary had been my history teacher, as he manages to turn topics which could very easily be very dry and boring, to be completely riveting, to the point you just can’t put the book down. Having been a fan of the authors since childhood, when I read all his horrible histories series, it’s been great to see his foray into adult history books in more recent history, whilst still retaining his trademark humour. I think this book is perfect for anyone who grew up reading the horrible histories series, due to the nostalgia you will feel whilst reading his newer books, but also anyone seriously interest in history, as the books are accurate and interesting, and never cross the line into being too irreverent. I’ve been looking forward to reading this book since I first heard it was in the pipeline, and I ever so glad I did read it. 10/10, I would 100% recommend, and also suggest it makes a great present too.