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A review by jacqueshol
Black Order by James Rollins
3.0
What could have been an enjoyable book was let down by either some poor research or lazy writing. Come on, Mr Rollins, surely you could have done better. I have read most of your books, thoroughly enjoyed it, but never felt as let down as I did reading this book.
As a South African, I can confirm that no citizen speaks Dutch in this country any longer - probably the case for almost a 100 years. It may have been confused with Afrikaans which is a derivative of Dutch. It may sound similar, but as an Afrikaans speaking person, I do not understand Dutch when it is spoken. Sure, I can mostly get the gist or context if I read it, but I would not understand it word for word. The point that I am trying to make is that people (Europeans) who have lived here in this country for generations would not speak Dutch. They would speak either English or Afrikaans.
Where on earth did the information of Blood River come from? If the author actually took the trouble of reading the Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blood_River), he would realise that he painted the events entirely incorrectly. If the author is going to play the race card as he did throughout the story, perhaps he should have done better research. The line "we owe the Voortrekkers for Blood River", would be laughable if not so damaging to a country already suffering tremendously under racism.
I understand this is a fictional story, but if one is going to set a novel against historical events, it should at least be done in generally the right context.
As a South African, I can confirm that no citizen speaks Dutch in this country any longer - probably the case for almost a 100 years. It may have been confused with Afrikaans which is a derivative of Dutch. It may sound similar, but as an Afrikaans speaking person, I do not understand Dutch when it is spoken. Sure, I can mostly get the gist or context if I read it, but I would not understand it word for word. The point that I am trying to make is that people (Europeans) who have lived here in this country for generations would not speak Dutch. They would speak either English or Afrikaans.
Where on earth did the information of Blood River come from? If the author actually took the trouble of reading the Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blood_River), he would realise that he painted the events entirely incorrectly. If the author is going to play the race card as he did throughout the story, perhaps he should have done better research. The line "we owe the Voortrekkers for Blood River", would be laughable if not so damaging to a country already suffering tremendously under racism.
I understand this is a fictional story, but if one is going to set a novel against historical events, it should at least be done in generally the right context.