This is a fine edition to the Osprey Campaign Series and typifies the attention to detail and excellent illustrations of the books. I almost gave this title four stars, however, there are some minor shortcomings in the book which lessened it's effect. To be fair to the author, the book itself is probably as well written as the subject will allow in the 96 page format used for the Osprey Campaign books. The problem is that the topic of Lake Peipus centers around a very confusing era of interlaced politics, religion, sociology, etc.. Unless the reader is already familiar with the scope of 12th century affairs, the book would almost need to be twice its size to properly explain the background to the campaign leading up to the battle. Despite this, David Nicolle attempts to devote a few pages to explaining the events leading up to the battle but does so in such a way as to leave the average reader confused. The author then goes on to address the campaign and actual battle of Lake Peipus with good detail. This book makes a great reference source or addition to the CS collection, but falls a bit short of conveying the big picture of the circumstances leading up to the battle. The wording tends to be a bit scholarly as well. With all of that said, I still enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone interested in 12th century warfare. Osprey has better books in the series and this one gets only 3 stars because the other books have set such a high standard.
