Iain Gale

This is one of the best historical fiction novels I've read yet - it follows very closely to actual events as they happened, merely fictionalising the unknown to portray events in a more gripping manner.

It covers 13 days, being the day before and the 12 days of the battle of El Alamein which is regarded as the turning point in world war 2 when Germany went from being on the offensive, to being on the defensive. It is the 12 days which caused the beginning of the collapse of Germany's Afrika Corps / Panzerarmee Afrika.

The book really portrays the sheer brutality and randomness of death during battle in a gritty and vivid manner. Well worth a look for someone looking to learn a bit more about history but struggles with non fiction, as well as those looking for a good war based novel.… (altro)

There are better and there are worse tales in the genre of men's fiction. This is better than average and worth a read for those interested in a backdrop of the Blenheim campaign. I have encountered relatively few fictional accounts of this, and while the main part of the book is not concerned with the battle, and when not concerned the elements that comprise History are thin, it does come through in the end to meet and complete our knowledge of the famous battle

In some places the hero is made to be as Cornwell's Sharpe, some would have it, but I don't think so. Though from a class that might never find a commission in the Guards purchased for him, as the author makes out, once he is an officer, in the most prestigious regiment, then many others would accept him as such. Unlike Sharpe, he never had served as one of the men, though before donning the uniform he would have been.

However our hero learns his trade well. Learned to command, and that separates the men from the boys as it were, and the officers from the rank and file. Given a mission that is rather nebulous, a plot device I think that could have been stronger, or ignored completely, the middle of the tale, of traveling about the countryside further firms up our understanding of our hero and his capabilities, but occasionally elements are inserted into the story that are tangent to the tale, trying to infuse the idea that conflict is drama, forgetting that this is a tale centered around war and that is more than enough conflict to create drama.

The series, in my estimation after the first book, is that it should be read and i have ordered the 2nd book. Should it be reread, I am not sure. It does not captivate me like a Hornblower and demand I read and reread it. But it was interesting. After all, what else is available fictionally about Marlborough?… (altro)

A terse, tense, straightforward account of the Battle of Waterloo (15-18 June, 1815), told from the perspective of five men, including Napoleon himself.

Iain Gale is to be commended - even without the sketches of battle plans at the start of each 'day', his approach is clear and personal, drawing the reader into individual and opposing corners of the battlefield. The defence of Hougoumont by McDonnell, who was named 'the bravest man in the British army' by Wellington; De Lancey assisting the Iron Duke himself; Napoleon and Marshal Ney matching the cunning and strategy of the Allied Army; and Ziethen of the Prussian army, who makes the right decision in the nick of time. Their respective chapters jostle for attention throughout, but together form a detailed history of a vicious and gory battle. And the sheer scale of the numbers involved - 50, 000 soldiers dead and wounded - is vividly described and almost inhumanly shocking. Men and horses are blown up, decapitated and disembowelled by cannonballs, run through, dismembered and maimed by bayonets and swords, and the lucky ones are shot dead. Gale pulls no punches with the violent truth of this historical battle.

The only quirk of this tale is the occasionally staccato pace of the writing, which is effective in places, and can sound like the clipped voice of a soldier - 'Biddle smiled. Barked the order, emphasizing and pronouning the last syllable. 'Bayonets' - but reads like an aversion to commas ('And then. Unthinkable. She pulled up.') After a while, the pace of the action carries the rhythm along, but the effect is jarring at first.

Although I am far from an expert on Waterloo, and Gale acknowledges that this is a novel and not a textbook, the characters are real and the victory of the Allied Army remains a brave and iconic event in history. Thrilling.… (altro)