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ephemeral_dawn's review
adventurous
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Drums of War By Edward Marston
Note: This review aims to be as comprehensive as possible, while trying also to remain as spoiler-free as possible.
INTRODUCTION:
Drums of War, by Edward Marston, is the second book in the Captain Dawson series – a story set in 1705, France, wherein Britain is (of course) at war with the French, and our gallant protagonist is charged with the dispensing of various adventurous duties that see him take on some daring feats, covering some considerable geographical distance in doing so.
After finishing this book, I confess I came away with very mixed feelings about it. While it was not awful, it also isn’t going to replace reputably better books like Sharpe by Bernard Cornwell, or the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O’Brien. I got this book second-hand for not much money in a book shop and it is perhaps for that reason alone, I don’t feel too sour about it.
PLOT:
The plot was generally well-paced, and I did not find myself having to wade through reams of boring padding to get on with the story. In this regard, it was written well. Things moved along smoothly, and each scene felt like it did in some way move the plot forwards, which was good.
However, in some cases, I think it went too far the other way and sacrificed what, in my opinion, would have been much-needed description for the sake of making the scene more vivid, or building more tension, etc. This was noticed nowhere more than in the battles for me, or the climax of a sub-plot, and they all-too-often felt quite underwhelming.
WRITING:
The writing was very readable, and quite accessible for younger readers (if their parents don’t mind some of the themes in the book. A small gripe for me, though, is that most things are explained very clearly - almost to the point of patronisingly – to the reader. If you imagine a contrived scene where we are told there’s 4 British soldiers and 1 French soldier, and the lonely Frenchman aims at the leader of the British men, it would be obvious to most people that he is outnumbered and had better surrender, or he will die. Drums of War would explain this to us, pointing out that that Frenchman had one shot and after that he would be at the mercy of the surviving three men, and that he would be better off surrendering. This, I feel, is a little insulting to the intelligence of the reader, and words could have been better used to make us feel suspense. “The Frenchmen’s hand trembled and he extended a finger out over his musket’s trigger, his glazed eyes fearful, but full of patriotic fury too” – something like this would not only better paint the scene, but also keep me wondering, “oh my word, will he shoot?”
On the subject of description, many of the scenes we find are given a brief description, enough that one can put together an image, but not enough to create a sense of being there. Descriptions of bigger events especially, like battles, were hit and miss for me, occasionally painting something of a vivid scene, but usually writing from a perspective that felt omnipotent and not grounded to any of the characters. We are told more often that “General A is 5.5 miles west of General B who is 2 miles north of Location A”, rather than something like, “General 1’s tired forces pressed on over open ground, baking in the searing sun, while General 2 put his men into position in the relative luxury of the shade of the woodlands, 2 miles south.” The latter is a scene I can better imagine, and makes the scene therefore feel more vivid to read. The consequence of an almost non-fiction-like account of names and places describing the battlefield like this meant that the tension was, to me, entirely lost, as the emotion was sucked out of the scene. At times it bordered on confusing as there were several names present of various commanders who had no real personality, and it made them hard to distinguish when mentioned.
Other plot points that were supposed to create tension and make the reader want to keep reading felt under-utilised in many cases. Chapters did end usually with an air of mystery or intrigue that enticed one to turn the page, but the book also spent a lot of time working up to some events that I found wholly underwhelming. Lots of planning and obstacles occupied a lengthy build-up to the final moment, which, when it came, was over in a flash, and never really felt that satisfying to me. Part of this was also due to the characters, which leads me on nicely to my next point.
CHARACTERS:
Settings and descriptions can get away with being a little lacking – our imaginations as readers may bridge this gap – but shallow characters make it hard to become invested in the story. While I did enjoy that this book was set in a real time in history, and featured some of the characters from said time, Drums of War came close to having a cast that I didn’t care about at all by the end of the book, and this was a shame.
The protagonist, Captain Dawson, is someone who we are quickly made aware of as a man who is perfectly skilled in almost everything he does. He finds himself in rather (what would be) tense situations and with ease seems to find a way out. He’s a man who comes across as being greatly confident, and who is portrayed to be humble, but he strikes me as too perfect, never really struggling in anything he does and never having any inner demons to contend with. He kills with relative ease and conveys worrying enthusiasm for battle to the point where one isn’t too sure whether he’s a psychopath (almost nobody can kill so easily in reality).
Dawson’s repeated success without much difficulty soon works against the book, as any build-up is easily disregarded by the reader who knows Dawson will be fine, and this makes Dawson look like a very boring character. His deeds become unimpressive and his constant success his detriment. He has no foil – the bad characters in the book seem to have almost no reason to be there other than to be the bad guy.
The enemies have little of a personality arc either. They seem to have no very convincing reason to be bad, and they don’t really drive the plot at all – the conflict between good and bad characters is less the drive than between Dawson and his struggles on missions.
Side characters added some flavour to the cast but could have been used to much better effect. Most often, they are in a scene as decoration but serve little function, really. They occasionally have feelings on the scene they are in, but we are told this, rather than shown it, in a way that – like so much else about this book – spells things out very clearly to the reader. We are told that one of them is scared, another is happy, another is sad, more than we are shown it. Most characters didn’t seem to undergo any compelling story arc, less still underwent any that were not predictable.
CONCLUSION:
The character development was so shallow in this Drums of War that for the most part I assumed it to be the first in the series, and trudged on thinking it would serve as an introduction ready for the real star of the show – the next book, but I was surprised to learn this was the second. It finished in such a way that I feel I could take a good guess how the next book starts, and regrettably I am not all too interested in reading it.
Only the last battle scene felt like it was written with any vigour and excitement. It wasn't like being there and it was laced with omnipotent descriptions far detached from the view of any of the characters serving to detach the reader similarly, but we could at least look down on a somewhat believably grim scene of carnage, even if only to see Dawson up to more heroics.
I didn’t want this review to be too critical and I realise I might have failed in that endeavour. I did like this book, but I thought it was only “alright”. I don’t regret reading it, I don’t feel cheated of my time and money, but I also can’t see myself ever reading it again, or going to read the other books in the series. This is one of those that you get cheap in a second-hand bookshop, and return it when you’re done with it. Personally, I’d have preferred some more depth to the characters especially though turmoil and conflict they endure externally and internally more than anything, but more vivid descriptions of scenes drawing on the senses would have helped to make the setting feel more real too. Occasionally, there is some good description dotted into the story, but for the most part it fails to invoke any real sense of reality or emotion in me.
andrew65's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
athos's review
3.0
I love the characters and the setting very much so. Looking forward to the next book in the series :)
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