Customer Reviews

Man of War (Matthew Hervey 09)

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The new hero's name is Matthew Hervey, and when the series started he was a cornet (lowest ranking commissioned officer) in the 6th cavalry regiment, serving at Waterloo. By the time this book is set he's had many adventures in India, Burma, the Peninsula and even losing his beloved first wife in the white wilderness of North America. What makes this installment different from the previous is the amount of time we spend with Hervey's very good friend, Capt Peto, RN. Peto commands a ship of the line in a battle between a mixed Anglo-French-Russian squadron and Turkish squadron at Navarino Bay in southern Greece. The allies are committed to forcing the Turks from Greece. I had known that there was a naval battle at Navarino, but I had no idea of when or why, so this filled in a gap in my knowledge. Anyway, the chapters alternate between Peto's activities and those of Hervey. Hervey is in trouble with the members of the government who think that used his regiment too forcefully against rioters. A board of inquiry is scheduled, and the man supposed to lead it is the husband of Hervey's mistress! Does he or does he not know by whom he's been cuckolded? Hervey is also planning on remarrying--this time a woman who seems a mite frigid and against whom his friends warn him. How will this work out. Peto's personal life is also fraught. He's engaged to Hervey's sister Elizabeth; only she's fallen in love with someone else, and her desire to end the engagement with Peto has led to a breach with her brother. Peto is seriously wounded at Navarino and frees her from the engagement. Does he have another prospect on the horizon? Admiral Coddrington's youngest daughter has been a passenger on Peto's ship and it's soon evident that she's most admiring the Navy and anyone in it, especially Peto. She nurses him after his wound and writes to the admiralties of all the allies to get awards for his valor.

It seems that all I have dwelt on here are the heroes' personal lives, but there is plenty of action too. The battle of Navarino is fought in bloody detail. While Hervey doesn't have a real battle to fight, he's involved in maneuvers against a British infantry regiment that's as exciting as the real thing.

I must say a word about the author, Allan Mallinson. He is a retired colonel of a cavalry regiment in the British army. He was a fan of the Sharpe series and decided that what the world needed was a series about the cavalry when they still had real horses. He knows what he writes about when it comes to the military. Mallinson also has written a history of the British cavalry regiments. In this novel he seems to also entering Patrick O'Brien's domain. Another thing I like about Mallinson's style is his commmand of the diction of the period.

This is the most recent book in an excellent series. It puts Hervey in a series of conflicts in the period post-Waterloo. The author, a retired Brigadier, is clearly an excellent researcher as well as a former cavalry commander. Mallinson's background use of the politics and society of that period in English history is superb. It's worth understanding the differences in language (as opposed to modern American usage) to discover the richness of his writing.

Highly recommended.

Man of War was, for me, a return to the bad old days of Rumours of War: choppy storylines and writing unable to rise above structual flaws in the novel. That's not to say its badly written - its not - but just that it cannot carry Mallinson's aspirations, which appear to be to write the perfect Patrick O'Brien/Jane Austen pastiche, only without all the zombies. Seriously, its duty this, duty that, visit the fiance, screw the mistress, travel somewhere, travel somewhere else, dinner at the Club...it goes on. And on.

Why so harsh? Well, see the cover - Hervey (I assume) on horseback, sabre in hand, charging...somewhere, at something. [Spoiler alert!] The reason you can't see any more than that, is that during the book the closest Hervey gets to an action scene (including the mistress visit mentioned above) is during some war games, and it's a bunch of redcoats Hervey is running at to capture the Dorney bridge [End spoiler]. This sequence is actually relevant to the wider story arc of Hervey's military progression, but when the climax of his story is a wedding...its not military historical fiction anymore.

To make up for this lack of action, Captain Peto takes up the heavy lifting, captaining the fictional 120-gun First Rate Prince Rupert, strangely a heavier gunned ship than I thought the British ships of the day were. Peto's story is to rejoice in his engagement to Elizabeth Hervey while carrying an Admiral's 13 year old daughter to Malta, prior to proceeding on to confront the Turks. Thus there is a bit of nautical action here, which is competantly done, and then a climactic battle at the end. Its almost like Peto is the hero of this book, not Hervey. Actually, he's a better man than Hervey too it appears, and I am starting to wish Mallinson had spent the last 9 books covering off the Peto adventures into which Hervey occasionally appears, not vice versa.

For all my complaints, its not a stinker of a book, its just missing that little bit that marks something out as top shelf. Its not a crime to fail to be as good as O'Brien. I'll keep going with Hervey - I have to, I bought all 10 books at once - but the ratio of words to deeds is starting to worry me. In addition, throwing in a reference to "Lord Bulwer-Lytton" may be historically accurate and plausible, but tends to make an unsatisfied reader think dark thoughts, as does titling a chapter "The Reverse of the Medal" after one of the Aubrey - Maturin series. Its not a good idea to first remind readers of a better book, and then of a bad writing award. Both little nods to the reader were better left out after the first draft, I think.

Here's to hoping Warrior, book 10, has a little less conversation, and a little more action.