Savage Wilderness [Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Geoffrey Howard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998

From the shores of Lake Champlain to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, the British and the French battle over the unclaimed territories of the West -- and experience the fury and passion of war.
-- "A superbly talented storyteller, Harold Coyle brings to the battles of the past the same authenticity and dramatic impact that distinguish his bestselling contemporary war novels". -- W.E.B. Griffin, author of the Brotherhood of War series

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

"Nobody knows war like Harold Coyle, and nobody writes it better," says Stephen Coonts, and the proof is that his books have sold ten million copies. Here he takes on the French and Indian War.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Coyle, a writer of military fiction, sets his ninth novel in the 1750s. British forces led by General Edward Braddock and aided by American colonial militias are battling the French and Indians (mainly the Algonquin and Caughnawaga tribes). Coyle presents a sweeping cast of characters. There's Ian McPherson, a Scot fighting in the Virginia Regiment led by a young Major George Washington; Megan O'Reilly, a "saucy Irish lass" whom McPherson eventually marries; Ensign Anton de Chevalier, a French-Canadian artillery officer who reads Voltaire and Rousseau; and Gingego and Toolah, Caughnawaga braves who have some pretty vicious moves with their tomahawks. This novel has just about everything that prompts less-than-sophisticated readers to buy it--love, war, bravery, and violence. And Coyle ties up everything neatly in the end; the good guys are the winners, the bad guys the losers. Best-selling author Coyle probably has another best-seller here. George Cohen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks; Unabridged edition (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786113049
• ISBN-13: 978-0786113040
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.4 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,005,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but incomplete, December 15, 1999

By 

Doug Vaughn - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Savage Wilderness (Mass Market Paperback)

While I enjoyed this book much more than Coyle's Civil War books - perhaps because I knew less of this history so was not as critical - I still feel that he is not totally comfortable with historical fiction. Apart from some obvious anachronisms, what seems most strained in this book is Coyle's effort to present fully rounded and believable native American characters. Unfortunately, as drawn, these characters have the stilted 'noble redman' quality that American Indians are frequently stereotyped with - even the 'bad' ones.

Still, Coyle's story is entertaining and his characters are, for the most part, engaging. I would have preferred more follow through - a more clear rounding out of the story so that one had some sense of what had happened to all the main characters. It seemed like a lot was left unresolved (so there can be a sequel?).

In any event, as Coyle continues down the path of historical fiction, each book seems to be better than the one before.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What about the Savages?, November 8, 2001

By 

Daniel R. Marcelain (Macomb, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Savage Wilderness (Mass Market Paperback)

This was an interesting book, as it told the story of several men during the French and Indian War. A British officer,a French officer, a Scot who fought as an enlisted British soldier and a Caughnawaga native. The story was well told and historically accurate and each character blossomed during the story, especially the native. But as I finished the book each was the fate of his own destiny, except the native. He completely vanished from the ending. I was very disappointed due to the fact that most of the beginning of the book focused so much on him. Even with that fact it is a fine book to enjoy.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An American history buff's unexpected find, November 9, 1997

By 

Robert F. Jakubowicz (Pittsfield, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Savage Wilderness (Hardcover)

American history books devote little space and attention to the Frech and Indian war. Coyle's panoramic backdrop for relating the story of this war along the colonial frontier from Lake George, NY to Ft. Dusquene (the eventual site of Pittsburg, PA) captures the historic essence of this, the last of the great colonial wars. Coyle deftly intertwines the exploits of four main characters - a French army officer, a colonial soldier of the Virginia militia, an Indian ally of the French, and a British army officer - to show: the basic French motive to simply lay claim to all of the unsettled areas of North America; the inept effort by ill-equipped and ill-trained colonial militia to oust the French and their Indian allies from their western frontier; the major role of the Indians in inflicting the worst rout ever experienced by a white force in the new world; and the ill-suited battle tactics of the regular English army in the dense forests of the frontier. Only the French decision not to continue