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Title: Redcoat by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 0-06-101264-5 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.46 (26 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Good flavor of the times
Comment: Bernard Cornwell's Redcoat takes place during the American Revolution, largely in and around Philadelphia. He uses numerous characters, both historic and fictional, to tell the story of the British occupation of that city. Their lives become a tangle of rebel and loyalist, love and hate.
Sir William Howe commands the Redcoats, but it is Sam Gilpin, a private in his army, whose story intertwines with that of Jonathan Becket, a young rebel with a club foot. They become friends and Sam helps Jonathan to survive a terrible leg wound. Both fall in love with Caroline Fisher. Complicating matters, Christopher Vane, a British officer, falls in love with Jonathan's widowed sister, Martha Crowl. Being a rebel herself, she spurns Vane's advances, and he swears vengeance on her.
In this work, Cornwell is at his best when describing the battles, other military matters, and the milieu in which they occur. He gives a very strong flavor of the times and the country.
Readers who enjoy this work, will also enjoy Cornwell's Sharpe series, for which he is rightly well known. For a less fictional account of the Revolutionary War period, Alan Eckert's narrative history, Wilderness War, is an exciting and accurate portrayal of the campaign against the Indians in the Western New York and Pennsylvania.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good, But Worthy of Another Effort
Comment: As both an avid reader and a Revolutionary War reenactor, it was with great anticipation that I first sought out, then read Bernard Cornwell's "Redcoat" not that long ago.
Although I had not read any of his "Sharpe's" series - based upon the Napoleonic-era British Army - the fact that Cornwell has been so well-received as a historical novelist gave me hope going into this book that he would capture the period of history with which I am so familliar. Now, having read "Redcoat," it is with slight disappointment that I must report only a moderate success.
Cornwell enfuses his novel with a contemprary style of historical fiction writing seen more recently in the works of Jeff Shaara (who recently wrote his own two-volume Revolutionary War series), which is to say that the reader experiences a "you-are-there" sense of history, meeting legendary characters as if meeting old friends on the street.
Throughout "Redcoat," we meet such famous historical figures on a regular basis - Sir William Howe, commander of His Majesty's Army in North America; Sir Henry Clinton, his successor; Rebel General Charles Lee; and, in a knowing, insider's wink at history, we even see Captain John Andre and Peggy Shippen introduced to each other, igniting a relationship which will later result in ignomy for both of them (but that, of course is another story).
Cornwell's description of battle sequences, too, are unparalleled for their realism and accuracy and include enough historical detail (such as the 40th Foot "going to ground" in the Chew House at the Battle of Germantown) to delight any student of the era.
Where Cornwell's effort falls short, however, is in his portrayal of his fictional characters - not in his peripheral figures, which appear as very real throughout, but his main protagonists, Sam Gilpin, Jonathan Becket, Martha Crowl and Caroline Fisher. Crowl is the best of all of these, as the righteous Patriot sympathiser trapped in British occupied Philadelphia. It is the pulp love triangle that develops between Gilpin, Becket and Fisher which comes across as flat in the otherwise worthy "Redcoat." Occupying much of the latter part of the book, this storyline threatens to sink the novel in a Ben Affleck-Pearl Harbor-like quagmire.
Still, there is much to recommend in "Redcoat," both for the historical enthusiast as well as for the fiction lover. Being more disposed to the former aspect myself, I could only have wished for more history and less pulp fiction, but that is more a matter of personal taste. Perhaps because this was one of Cornwell's earlier efforts - and first non-Sharpe novel - it seems a bit rough around the edges. It would be nice to see him revisit this era in future work.
Rating: 4
Summary: Solid Action Adventure
Comment: Not a Sharpe or Starbuck found in any page, which is an interesting change of pace for Bernard Cornwell. Nevertheless, "Redcoat" is enjoyable historical fiction and Cornwell serves up his usual excellent effort. The time is 1777 and the America colonists are rebelling against their British masters. General Sir William Howe leads the British contingent in the Americas. His task is to bring the colonies under control but the rebel-colonists have no intention of letting that happen. The General is surrounded by rebel sympathizers and spies. One of the most interesting items about this story is that the book's vantage-point is almost entirely from that of the British (which is rare, especially in the U.S.A.) I found this viewpoint refreshing.
The main character Sam Gilpin is a former stable boy turned British infantry soldier. Sam witnesses his brother's execution by the evil Sargent Scammell, a psychotic killer, and wisely decides that soldiering is not for him. Whereupon, Sam accepts a position as a personal servant to Captain Vane who is a social climbing career army officer. Since the British Army does not allow for soldiers to leave the service easily, Sam must somehow survive in this adverse environment. Probably what makes this book unusual is the intercourse between civilians and the military. In Cornwell's other stories you rarely witness discussions between soldiers and civilians.
Cornwell writes great fiction. He certainly had enough material to write a few stories about the revolutionary war but chose instead to write this one book. The way he ends the story it is clear that he intends no sequels, that is a shame because the Revolutionary War would be a natural landscape for his novels to appear. If you like this story I recommend the Sharpe series, especially "Sharpe's Company", "Sharpe's Regiment", and "Sharpe's Eagle". All are great books.
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Title: Bloody Ground : The Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles: Book Four (Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles) by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 006093719X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 18 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Copperhead by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 006093462X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 18 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Battle Flag : The Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles: Book Three (Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles) by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 0060937181 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 18 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Rebel : The Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles: Book One (Cornwell, Bernard. Starbuck Chronicles, V. 1.) by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 0060934611 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 18 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Sharpe's Christmas by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 0972222014 Publisher: Sharpe Appreciation Society Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
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