Scan barcode
topshell's review against another edition
2.0
I am a fan and defender of Walter Scott, and the Marquess of Montrose is a bit of a historical hero of mine, so this should have suited me well. Sadly it didn't live up to hopes or expectations. The basis for a plot is set down early on but then seems to be forgotten until it is hastily resurrected in the closing chapters. Bits of historical fact are hastily inserted at times in between. Most of the first half of the book concerns the activities of Major Dalgetty. The major is a comic character, but comedy is not one of Sir Walter's strong points - at least at the distance of 200 years. One of the Major's humorous characteristics is that other characters in the book all find him deadly boring. The risk here of course is that the reader does too - and so it was. I'm not sure the timescales work either. For these to work the Major's little adventures must take the same time as whole of Montrose's first campaign of 1644 - theoretically possible but it doesn't ring true. All in all a novel that doesn't enhance Sir Walter's well deserved reputation as a historical novelist and maybe best overlooked.
More...