Reader’s Diary

Allan Mallinson

Matthew Hervey is back and Alan Mallinson’s writing keeps improving. In “Regimental Affair” the newly-promoted Hervey finally enjoys newlywed bliss but has to cope with a cowardly, despotic superior and the strains of domestic duties against Luddites and smugglers.

I was worried that the lack of a major war would result in a dull book, but since, like Patrick O’Brian and unlike Richard Cornwell, Mallinson writes of character and society, this is an absorbing, though relatively tame book.

As much as I enjoy Mallinson’s writing, and as good as the book is, I didn’t like the ending. Mallinson does something terrible to Hervey and leaves the him - and the reader - hanging. I hope the next volume appears soon.

Kevin J. Anderson

What if Captain Nemo was a real person and Jules Verne his biographer? That’s the premise of “Captain Nemo”, which tells the tale of two childhood friends, Verne and Nemo, and the woman that they both love. Their unrequited love for the heroine provides the book’s unifying plot.

Anderson does a good job of weaving incidents from Verne’s most famous works into Nemo’s biography, but anyone who enjoys Verne’s creations may begin to wonder whether the time wouldn’t have been better spent re-reading the originals. On the other hand, Anderson, unlike Verne, shows us what really would happen to the occupants of a shell shot from a giant cannon (hint: it’s not pretty).

Anderson has too much “tell” and not enough “show”. For instance, rather than let the reader observe the contrast between Verne’s timidity and Nemo’s adventuresome nature, Anderson bludgeons the reader with the idea. The book is based on a great concept, but weakly executed.

Allan Mallinson

Matthew Hervey, hero of Mallinson’s first book (“A Close Run Thing”), newly promoted and appointed aide-de-camp to the duke of Wellington, is dispatched to India on a special mission for the duke himself. Hervey delays his marriage, endures a six-month voyage and finds himself in a complex military and diplomatic situation in a strange foreign land. There’s plenty of exotic detail and fast-paced adventure, but there is also character development and a serious attempt to portray the time and place. Hervey, unlike the usual action hero, tries to live up to an historically appropriate code of behavior. Mallinson is not (yet) a Patrick O’Brian-caliber writer, but “Honorable Company” rises above the simple Richard Sharpe-style costume thriller.

Anton Myrer

This is the story of a small town boy who enlists in the Army in 1916, receives a battlefield commission on the Western Front, and ends his career in Vietnam. Its hero, Sam Damon, is a paragon of military virtue, a fictional hero who stops just short of being unbelievable. This is a huge, sprawling novel full of people and events. It’s a very satisfying book about character, leadership, and decades of US military history. “Once an Eagle” is a substantial, literary book akin to Wouk’s “Winds of War” and “War and Remembrance”, though it is more narrowly - and tightly - focused than Wouk’s double masterpiece.

For much of his career Damon, a man devoted to his calling (not too strong a word in his case) and to the men he leads, is pitted against an opportunistic, soulless officer - Courtney Massengale. The conflict between the two, which comes to a head in the Pacific in World War Two, is not a simple “good guy/bad guy” plot device, rather it’s a way for Myrer to develop his themes of leadership and service. While there is plenty of action, Myrer does not ignore the costs, both to the fighting men and to their families. The book’s only weakness, a minor one, is the Vietnam ending. Damon, improbably brought out of retirement, is too old for that war; a conclusion set just after World War Two or during the Korean conflict would have been more plausible.

S. M. Stirling

This is an alternate history adventure set in 2025, 150 years after the earth was devastated by the “Fall”, a cataclysmic meteor strike. The British Empire survives, based in India, a remnant of France lives on in Algeria, and Russia has become a nation of devil-worshipping cannibals. British culture is Victorian and technology is Edwardian with the addition of some “steam punk” elements (massive mechanical computers, for example). As interesting as the background is, the story - in which a young cavalry captain defends the Empire and its ruling family against an evil Russian spymaster - plods a bit. The book redeems itself in the final chapters, however, when the pace picks up during a battle on and among giant airships.

Stirling’s world creation skills are first rate but “The Peshawar Lancers” doesn’t show half the writing ability that was evident in his “Islander” series. One final note: read the appendices first - they don’t give the plot away but do provide background information that should have been in the body of the book.