Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good First Novel in the 'Sharpe/Hornblower' Tradition, 3 Oct 2005
John Wilcox has produced an extremely readable, entertaining tale of action and adventure set during the lead-up to the Zulu Wars. However, the (eventual) hero of the piece, Lt. Simon Fonthill, has neither the dash nor the dangerous edge of a Bernard Cornwell 'Sharpe', nor does he possess the depth of characterisation of a 'Hornblower'. In fact, some of the supporting characters - particularly Jenkins 352 and Alice, are far more colourful and convincing. On a further positive note, key female characters are depicted as refreshingly liberated and strong. Mr Wilcox has certainly not resorted to period Victorian stereotypes of swooning and essentially weak and weeping maidens. To summarise, despite Fonthill's slightly understated characterisation, the book remains a very well researched,well-written and entertaining read. I look forward to the sequel, 'The Road to Kandahar', in which I hope to find Fonthill's character fleshed out into a more convincing, red-blooded persona more appropriate to his role in what essentially is a theatre of swashbuckling tales of 'derring-do'.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great read !!, 28 April 2006
I found this book by accident when browsing through Amazon and what a great find. This is the start of a new adventure hero in the veign of Sharpe and Hornblower. I think it is a shame when you have to compare one book with another authors (Bernard Cornwell, Simon Scarrow to name but a few), but in a packed market of Historical fiction comparisons are going to be made. This book stand on its own with its tale of the Battle of Rorke's Drift during the Zulu wars of 1879. Far more insight than the film Zulu which was a classic.
Well researched, well told with characters that will continue in the forthcoming adventures. I am sure as the books unfold the writers style will improve and the main players will slowly flesh out. Like Sharpe and Harper, Simon Fonthill and his trusty man servant Jenkins will go from strength to strength.
As with any 1st book in what is going to become a series there will be teething troubles but I found this to be a crisp refreshing tale of good old stiff upper lip and daring do.
I have ordered the next to books in this series and am looking forward to them. Ten out of Ten !!!!
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not too bad, 22 Nov 2005
I always feel obliged to write something on the reviews section after reading a book that I have bought, mainly due to the reccomendations of others on this site. Well, this book is worth a look, not in any way a great piece of literature, but worth reading. You can tell this is a new ish author, as the style clearly needs some working on to get it slicker, but that said, the story is pretty good, and the charracters have lots of room for development. As the other reviews state, this is similar to the Fancy Jack novels, but not quite as many interesting charracters. I am currently reading the next installment, the road to kandahar...
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