Just Finished Reading: Savage Wilderness by Harold Coyle

North America: 1754. After surviving the battle of Culloden in his native Scotland, Ian McPherson is transported to the Virginia Colonies in indentured servitude. On the termination of his four year term he’s offered a new profession and is tempted with the promise of his own land and a future in the New World. With mixed motives he joins the newly formed Militia led by Lieutenant Colonel George Washington. Facing both Indian attacks on the Frontier and the ever present threat of French forces moving south from New France (aka Canada) McPherson quickly learns the fighting skills necessary to survive in the dense forests of North America. The forces sent by Britain to defend her colonies do not fare so well. Trained to fight on the battlefields of Europe and led by uncaring or incompetent officers they are defeated time and again by more adaptable and better led French forces. Only as the years drag on and the stakes grow large do substantial enough British forces arrive to throw the French back. But not before the mutilated corpses of homesteaders, American Rangers and Redcoats multiply.

This book attracted me because of several things. I’ve read this author before and know that he produces very readable works. The cover – not the one above unfortunately – shows a scene very reminiscent of one of my favourite bits in the movie ‘Last of the Mohicans’ and it was about a place and period of history I know little about. Funnily the movie reference cropped up quite a few times as the scenes of battle and commanders in the field sparked memory after memory. The author’s notes in my version suggest that much of the background was historical fact. So I guess that the movie had quite a bit of fact mixed in too. It did at times feel like I was having déjà vu – but definitely in a good way. About the only grumble I had was the portrayal of the British officers as universally privileged (almost certainly true), narrow minded, hide-bound, stupid bigots. Whilst I suspect that some of this is also true – like I said not knowing much about the period – I can’t believe that not one man had any redeeming aspects. The proto-Americans and even the French were in contrast rounded characters with interesting flaws and, again universally, honourable traits. Maybe, being a Brit, I was more sensitive than his American readership would be expected to be but I did think he layered the anti-British sentiment a bit too thickly. Saying that, such a rather minor annoyance did not detract from an exciting and sometimes gruesome novel of America’s pre-Revolutionary past. It was a real page turner and I enjoyed it a great deal. This is the first book in an extended run of historical novels and I hope that they are all as good as this one.