Customer Reviews

Blue Lights: Or, Hot Work in the Soudan: A Tale of Soldier Life in Several of Its Phases (R. M. Ballantyne Collection)

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Nineteen-year-old Miles Martin storms out of his English house in anger and is swept away into an adventure such as he could never have imagined. He joins the army as a private, meets the religious "Blue Lights," and is shipped with his companions to Egypt. Here Miles grows closer to God and his companions, fights the enemy, endures the horrendous climate, and is captured by the vicious Arabs.

I was very impressed by the many moral lessons learned in this book and the amount of Christianity - especially the theme that when in time of trouble, the characters get their strength from God. It is also historically sound, with many, many of the remarkable incidents having been related to Ballantyne by eye-witnesses. There is a lot of violence because it is about a war, but it is delicately handled and most of the men have a good view on war in general (killing to save lives, not just to take them). Miles is an excellent main character because he is nowhere near perfect but he is convicted about his sinful nature and grows throughout the story. Blue Lights is well-written, frequently amusing and often touching, so I highly recommend it to teens and older.