Customer Reviews

The Sepoy Mutiny (Alexander Sheridan Adventures) (Volume 2)

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This book is the second in a series of historical novels about the British East India Company, a mercantile corporation that essentially conquered and ruled India with the blessing of the British Crown and its own private armies. The novels are based closely on actual events (serving officers and traders wrote numerous eyewitness accounts) and provide a fascinating account of colonial adventurism in India, which would not be familiar to most American readers. This book evidently takes up where the first book left off, and it ends abruptly, probably where the third book begins, with the siege of Cawnpore. The subject of this book is a massive revolt by Hindu and particularly Muslim soldiers in the employ of the Company, reacting to religious insensitivities, with the intent of ending British rule. The main figure in the novel is Alexander Sheridan, a Captain in the colonial army, who is a capable, intelligent, and heroic character, unlike some of his superiors. I found this book to be delightful and thoroughly engrossing; I did not want to put it down. And I feel I learned a great deal about colonial India in the process. I look forward to reading other novels in the series and recommend it highly. By the way, I have read and enjoyed the Sharpe novels and others by Bernard Cornwall, who excels in describing battles, but I prefer Stuart, who provides more historical context.

The story is good and about one of my favorite time periods and areas of interest. The problem is that the text of this download was awful and hard to read. The quality of the scan of this book is also very poor. More quality assurance should have gone into the production. Vol 1 of the series was a much better quality. I would hesitate to buy this book or any from Kindle if the quality remains poor.

The Sheridan series is pretty weak. V.A. Stuart is no Bernard Cornwell. The author knows her history well enough, but the main character isn't very interesting, nor does he really do anything interesting, despite being involved in the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny. On the whole, I was glad I got these from the library rather than buying them.