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Summary: Coyle is still one of the best
Review: If you are a history fan and know little of the French and Indian War, you will love this book. Masterfully written, with vivid characters and great battles.
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Summary: The best Historical Fiction I have read in 30 years
Review: Mr. Coyle captured my heart and mind with this book. From the start I was totally unable to put this book down. It took me three days to read it, the only time I was able to put it down was to eat and sleep. He, as no other author is able to do, stood the hair on the back of my neck up and sent cold chills down my spine. Thank you Mr. Coyle for your great novel!
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Summary: Savage Reading
Review: Once again this Harold Coyle starts with lots of promise but quickly fades into mediocrity. There are too many characters and all the various plot lines suffer accordingly. We are given glimpses of the French Indian War but that is all. With 125 pages to go and 3 more years of war the author suddenly drops two characters and their plot lines and races through the remaining acts of the war to conquer New France. The fight on the Plains of Abraham before the gates of Quebec is a mere after thought. The campaigns against Louisbourg are totally overlooked. We get to read about the after effects of raiding parties but we don't get to see any raids. At one point the author describes a scene of canabalism performed on captive white settlers by a character who up to this point had been anything but a "savage". In my opinion, while the novel covers a historical period I believe it is a bad representation of both the British and Native Indians. At one point the author has two characters postulating a future revolt in the America's against the British. While the roots of America's revolution can indeed be found in the French Indian War, the feeling of resentment did not come to the fore till after the conclusion of the war when Britain set about making the colonies pay for their defence. This novel had great potential but is sadly lacking in the end result.
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Summary: Very entertaining and educational.
Review: One of the few novels written about the French and Indian War (I would like to see more written about this time period). This is a book about a French and British officer, an Indian French ally and a Virginia militia man and how there lives intertwine during the French and Indian Wars. This is a great read and I recommend it highly.
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Summary: A one dimensional story with some good battle scenes
Review: This book did not hold my attention, although I have read the majority of previous work by Coyle, and am interested in this time period. Based on the French and Indian war, twenty years prior to the American Revolution. I was unable to relate to the conflict that the main characters were struggling with. Conflict between what each man thought was important, (Vengenance, Glory, Duty) and personal freedom and fulfillment. The characters were wooden and never fully developed. The ending came with a sense that the book was written as a lead in for another story about the Revolutionary War. A story that you get the sense is coming from the author. All the characters were left looking toward a future in 20 years when the new American identity would struggle for its freedom. Coyle's attention to detail is as superb as ever, and was the one saving grace of the book that allowed me to stay with it. Although their seemed to be a little too much attention paid to the concept of scalping. If you like history, you will probably be able to make it through this one. If you like Coyle, I'm afraid you might be disappointed as I was.
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Summary: History does indeed tend to repeat itself.
Review: This is my introduction to Harold W. Coyle's writing because of my earlier readings of the colonial life in America. The Prologue and Chapter 1 could have been omitted, as they were at an earlier time and not American in any way. It would have been better to start with Chapter 2 as the background info could have been incorporated into the intros. He admits that his assistant did all the detailed research for this volume. Why, then does he take credit for the entire book?I can't see much documented or which needs to be so. I kept wondering what had been research and what from his imagination. There was a discrepancy at the very beginning in his rendition of the Native American who was converted to Christianity. Is it true that they regard any person not Indian as 'white'? That's strange, to say the least. We endured such savage blood-thirsty cruelty in this account of a useless war. But, most of them are -- as they occur. It is the consequences some years on down the road which make them neccesary at that time. I was most frustrated with this writer's use of prepositions at the end of long, rambling sentences. Maybe he knows what he has in mind, but it gets lost along the way.
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Summary: There has always been wars, savage wars.
Review: This is my introduction to Harold W. Coyle's writing because of my earlier readings of the colonial life in America. The Prologue and Chapter 1 could have been omitted, as they were at an earlier time and not American in any way. It would have been better to start with Chapter 2 -- just my opinion. He admits that his assistant did all the detailed research for this volume. Why, then does he take credit for the entire book? There was a discrepancy at the very beginning in his rendition of the Native American who was converted to Christianity. Is it true that they regard any person not Indian as 'white'? That's strange, to say the least.
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Summary: What about the Savages?
Review: This was an interesting book, as it told the story of several men during the French and Indian War. A British officer,a French officer, a Scot who fought as an enlisted British soldier and a Caughnawaga native. The story was well told and historically accurate and each character blossomed during the story, especially the native. But as I finished the book each was the fate of his own destiny, except the native. He completely vanished from the ending. I was very disappointed due to the fact that most of the beginning of the book focused so much on him. Even with that fact it is a fine book to enjoy.
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Summary: Entertaining but incomplete
Review: While I enjoyed this book much more than Coyle's Civil War books - perhaps because I knew less of this history so was not as critical - I still feel that he is not totally comfortable with historical fiction. Apart from some obvious anachronisms, what seems most strained in this book is Coyle's effort to present fully rounded and believable native American characters. Unfortunately, as drawn, these characters have the stilted 'noble redman' quality that American Indians are frequently stereotyped with - even the 'bad' ones. Still, Coyle's story is entertaining and his characters are, for the most part, engaging. I would have preferred more follow through - a more clear rounding out of the story so that one had some sense of what had happened to all the main characters. It seemed like a lot was left unresolved (so there can be a sequel?). In any event, as Coyle continues down the path of historical fiction, each book seems to be better than the one before.
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