Customer Reviews

Hornet's Sting

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Hornet's Sting is one of Derek Robinson's best books, right up with Piece of Cake. He mixes excellent charachters with thorough research and witty writing to bring a novel that is a real pleasure to read - one of those books that you don't want to end. Mr. Robinson tells the story of a British fighter squadron during the middle of WWI. He mixes in many charachters (he has to as so many die as they did during the war). His portrayl of military leadership rings true and the paradoxes of war are reminscent of Catch-22. His flying and battle scenes are gripping and enlightening, as is his writing on everyday life in the war and back in Britain. A four-page appendix is included that details his research and ties the book up. A great read.

Hornet's Sting, Derek Robinson's second novel in his trilogy on the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War, covers the fictional "Hornet Squadron" in the period January-November 1917. This was a very rough period in the war for the British, encompassing the costly battles around Arras and Passchendaele. In Hornet's Sting, the squadron is still commanded by Major Hugh Cleve-Cutler, who took over Hornet Squadron in the previous War Story. Cutler continues his role with considerable aplomb, at one point quipping, "I wish I'd never taken this bloody silly job. The war's all right, but the people are impossible." The squadron is initially equipped with the Sopwith Pup fighters, but gradually converts to the controversial Bristol Fighter, or "Bif." Hornet's Sting is easily as good as the final volume in the trilogy, Goshawk Squadron, and it is also one of Robinson's finest efforts to date. Indeed, Hornet's Sting is one fine war novel.

The first third of the volume focuses heavily on two new members of the squadron, two Russian lieutenants sent to Hornet Squadron to learn combat tactics on the Western Front. Initially, the two officers are barely qualified to fly and the squadron spends considerable effort nurse-maiding these two. Indeed, the British chain of command orders Major Cutler to "help" the senior Russian to become an "ace," an achievement of which he is clearly incapable. Robinson's insertion of these Russian characters is actually quite interesting in depicting the changes brought on inter-Allied relations by the Russian Revolution. Eventually, in a complete reversal, Cutler is ordered to stop protecting the Russians in combat and let nature and von Richtofen) takes its course.

Throughout his novels, Robinson displays a real gift for character development that is lacking in so many other books. The readers may not like all the characters - indeed there is always at least one malignant personality in evidence - but Robinson will make even his best characters as true-to-life as possible. The squadron adjutant (Captain Brazier) and squadron clerk (Sergeant Lacey) are still in place from the previous novel, and while they are certainly not likeable, they do enliven Hornet's Sting with their unique viewpoints. At one point, Brazier fondly recalls, "I suppressed a riot once [in India]. At the market place in Peshawar. And a very splendid suppression it was." On the other hand, Sergeant Lacey, who spends all his effort avoiding combat and enriching himself with petty thievery, is fully involved in the "case of the missing jam" - noting that, "the army can afford to lose millions of men, year after year. But not a few cases of strawberry jam. Jam matters." Lieutenant Paxton also returns from War Story - although he is much matured - and Robinson introduces the seemingly immortal Captain Stanley Woolley, who figures so prominently in Goshawk Squadron.

The middle third of the novel focuses heavily on the combat debut of the Bristol fighter. This aircraft, initially designed as a bomber or reconnaissance aircraft then turned into a fighter, was presented by the British High Command as giving the RFC a technological edge over their German opponents. Hornet Squadron is presented with six of the new fighters and trains intensively on them for several weeks. Unfortunately, the first combat action for the Bristol fighter was a disaster, with five of six shot down or crashed (Robinson based this on an actual incident). The affect of this disaster on the squadron is appalling and several of the "old hands" begin to deteriorate mentally when they realize how heavily the odds are stacked against them. Eventually, the "Bif" turned out to be a pretty good fighter, but the initial tactical doctrine was faulty - which shows how poor tactics can devalue a weapon system. Robinson makes his best points here about aviation doctrine in the First World War in this middle section of the book, particularly about the frightful wastefulness of the "deep offensive patrols" that squandered the lives of partly trained pilots. Robinson presents an RFC Commander - Trenchard - who prefers quantity (meaning many partly-trained pilots) over quality (taking the time to train them fully, but meaning fewer squadrons).

The final third of the book focuses on the Third Battle of Ypres and the relentless pressure placed on the squadron to support the ground troops. Both Paxton and a newcomer, the despised Mackenzie, figure prominently in this final act. Paxton crashes behind enemy lines and has considerable adventures. Mackenzie, a photogenic but bullying egomaniac, is seized upon by two American filmmakers as an excellent vehicle for presenting the glorious side of the war to the American public. Once again, Cutler is ordered to assist in the "manufacture of an ace" for public relations purposes. This final third of the volume starts to bog down a bit in subplots that have little to do with the squadron, and one senses Robinson running out of steam just as the Battle of Passchendaele is winding down. My only criticisms - and they are minor ones - are that Robinson sometimes gets carried away with minor subplots that go nowhere and that his female characters are universally annoying and detract from the characters to which they attach themselves. Indeed, Robinson always presents his female characters as overly sexually compliant (which is certainly an aviator stereotype of women) and emotionally troublesome. In Cleve-Cutler's case, his liaison with a one-legged aristocratic whore is so absurd that Robinson only compounds it by introducing a ménage a trois with an AWOL lieutenant (it's hard to believe that a straight-laced officer like Cutler would knowingly put up with an officer deserter for one second). Please, Derek Robinson, stick to aviation that you do so well and leave romance novels to other folks. Despite these distractions, Hornet's Sting is a first class war novel.

With "Hornet's Sting" Derek Robinson has again pulled it off. He's written a very fine book, which is exciting and hugely entertaining. Robinson knows his RFC: the men, the planes, the tactics and the strategies, and of course the dreaded adversary: the hun. He also knows his WW I: the allied infighting, the emerging importance of spin, as we would call it now: the use of propaganda and of other means for keeping up of morale at home as well as at the front. For in 1917 the allies did have a serious morale problem: the French army mutinied, after three years of horrible slaughter and the Russians backed out of the war, after having poisoned, stabbed, shot and drowned Rasputin and then deposed the tsar. The British also had to contend with rumblings in the ranks and in the population too: the strategies of generals Sir Douglas Haig and Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett (At ease, Blackadder...) cost too many lives.
Highly recommended,just as his other WW I and WW II books. IF only it would be reprinted. I read a copy of a mate of mine, but I'd like to have one myself. No problem, via Amazon, so I'm told, I can buy a used copy for $ 168,00!!!!!!! Yes, you did read correctly: ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY- EIGHT UNITED STATES DOLLARS!!!!!! Whoever is proposing offering the book at this price: you must be effing joking, mate!!!. This is scandalous, bloody outrageous racketeering!!!! Please go and stick the book up your tail-end Charlie!!!!

I bought this after devouring Goshawk Squadron, A Piece of Cake & A Good Clean Fight. I was not disappointed and found myself hungering for more.

For any reader that desires a more realistic look at the air war of WW1 without being depressed into near suicide with the sheer futility of the actions of the whole scene, this is the book to read.

I would suggest reading Goshawk Squadron first, if only for the additional backgound. Having said that im quite confident that I would not have enjoyed this wonderful piece of work any less had this been the first of Derek Robinson's books that I picked up...

Derek Robinson has cornered the market in military aviation novels, and according to the critics quoted on the covers of his books he is much, much more than that, somewhere between Joseph Heller and Eric Maria Remarque on the scale of military fiction. His books are scathingly funny, but they are not satires; they are well-researched and brutally realistic, but they are not somber meditations on the futility of modern war; they have action, yet they are not thrillers.

HORNET'S STING is one of his best, right up there with PIECE OF CAKE and WAR STORY. Many characters from the earlier books reappear, and as usual Mr Robinson is absolutely ruthless in his treatment of them. He knows the first rule of realistic storytelling: never place the well-being of your characters above the requirements of the plot. By the time HORNET'S STING is only halfway through, half the characters will be dead; that's just the way it was on the Western Front in 1917, when a young pilot's life expectency in the air was about twenty minutes.

There is a large cast of characters occupying Hornet Squadron. Among the more colorful are Major Cleve-Cutler the commanding officer, who regularly brews vats of homemade liquor for his pilots - the Hornet's Sting of the title; Sergeant Lacey, the eloquent pacifist clerk who runs a black market with dead pilots' cheque-books; MacKenzie, a dashing and photogenic novice pilot determined to enjoy his war; and Woolley, the jaded veteran of the earlier GOSHAWK SQUADRON. Only a few of them make it out alive.

In the end, the plot hinges on plum jam, specifically, two hundred pounds of it that have gone missing, and which the British Army wants back. Young men die in horrifying numbers, both in the trenches at Ypres and in the air, new aeroplanes and tactics are proved dangerously risky, and a Russian duke messily dispatches his would-be assassins, but what really causes trouble is that missing consignment of plum jam. The real villain in the story is not the German army, but the mindless bureaucracy that is keeping the war alive despite the efforts of everyone involved in it.

Derek Robinson is a specialist in the ensemble-cast-fighter-squadron-every-one-dies-by-the-end novel. The basic plot of this genre can be summed up very simply: During a lull in the fighting, we are introduced to the individual members of a fighter squadron, with all of their quirks, conflict, and so on. A big push begins, the fighting becomes intense, and many of these characters die. Replacements come, we get to know them, and some of them die as well. One character always goes insane. At least one character falls in love (this character usually dies). At least one character survives, becoming stronger, but more cynical. The book generally ends at the height of the battle.

His best book of this type was "Piece of Cake," (set during the first twelve months of World War Two, and culminating in the Battle of Britain), which had wonderful character development and great action sequences. "War Story," which involves some of the same characters as "Hornet's Sting," was also very good. Well, the action sequences of "Hornet's Sting" are terrific, but I found the character development weak this time. It feels as though Robinson is simply rehashing the old formula, and that formula appears to be going stale.

Robinson's historical research is quite good, although it always irks me that he insists on calling the squadron "Hornet Squadron." The British were never much given to painting their aircraft in the First World War, and they certainly never gave their squadrons colorful names. Numbers tended to suffice.

Other than that, it's a quick and very entertaining read. But for my money, I would stick with "Piece of Cake" and "War Story." The material is simply fresher, and better.