Book Review: The Fort - Bernard Cornwell

Much of what I know about the American Revolutionary War is about George Washington’s famous victories at Trenton, New Jersey and the one that finally brought the rebels victory, in Yorktown, Virginia, where the British expected to sail away on a fleet coming to their rescue, but where a French armada beat them to it, forcing Cornwallis’ armies to surrender.

Little did I know that whilst Washington’s Continental Army pushed south, pursuing the reeling British forces, there were other, less glorious events taking place, like the Penobscot Expedition into what is now a part of Maine, but, in those days, belonged to Massachusetts. A force of ships and men was to enter the harbour and reclaim the territory, which the British had named New Ireland. The British – actually Scottish Highlanders for the most part – had built Fort George on the Majabigwaduce Peninsula at the opening of Penobscot Bay.

Told through the eyes of men like Paul Revere and John Moore, later a British hero and at that time a wet-behind-the-eyes lieutenant, Cornwell tells of the siege laid by the Americans and of how so many things went wrong. There was indecision, ego battles, cowardice, a difference of opinions between land and sea commanders on just about every matter, a combination of which led to a disastrous defeat against a numerically inferior enemy. 

The failed Penobscot Expedition has been called the United States’ worst naval disaster prior to Pearl Harbour. The manner in which the British, who would have doubtless suffered a crushing loss were it not for so much indecision and infighting amongst the American commanders, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat was incredible. Cornwell’s brilliant ability to capture the mood of events is as good as ever. You can almost reach out and cut the tension with a knife when the Americans are squabbling. It fairly springs off the page. So do the battle scenes. 

As per usual, Cornwell is expert at bringing the story to life. The one difference between this and his Richard Sharpe novels is that the campaign, being as complex as it was, with naval and land forces on both sides, and other civilians playing a part, has less time to delve into things from a minutely personal level, as he’s done so well with Sharpe. Characters in The Fort are treated with broader brush strokes, though I still felt a connection with all of them, particularly Lieutenant John Moore in his first battle.

Paul Revere, famous for the midnight ride to warn Lexington that the British were coming, is portrayed as somewhat arrogant, and certainly not good at taking orders. At the end of the doomed expedition, when the American ships are trapped by a British force that has sailed up from New York City, he decides against using his vessel to rescue crewmen on American ships in favour of escaping safely with his personal baggage in tow. It is an ugly black mark against a man who shall regardless be remembered as a true patriot. 

And The Fort is a great book.

Book Review: Gallows Thief - Bernard Cornwell

Bernard Cornwell easily slots into my Top Five list of favourite authors – along with, in no particular order, Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, Jeff Shaara and James Holland – but this is the first book of his I’ve read that hasn’t involved a conflict featuring muskets and cannonballs. I’ve devoured the Sharpe series (Napoleonic Wars), loved every second of the Starbuck Chronicles (American Civil War) and didn’t mind the standalone novel Redcoat (American Revolution) either.

Enter, Gallows Thief, which I got for Christmas a few years back and gathered dust on my shelf until, wanting something a little different but still fairly familiar, I reached for it last week, and, like with those other great Cornwell tales, loved every second of it.

Rider Sandman, Cornwell’s main character, is a former Army captain, who served in the Spain and Portugal before distinguishing himself at the Battle of Waterloo, but, two years after Napoleon’s final defeat and exile, Sandman finds himself penniless and his family’s name has been disgraced, thanks to the questionable actions of his late father. What little money he earns goes to his mother and sister.

When Sandman is offered the job of a government investigator to discover whether a man condemned to death by hanging for the murder of a woman is actually guilty and deserved of his punishment, he takes it, and finds himself stepping into a world of corruption and shadiness, dealing with secret gentlemen’s clubs and tangled conspiracies whilst trying to salvage his engagement, which, due to his family’s disgrace, he was forced to break off, a situation that has made him less than positive about life, and worried about rumours that his former fiancé might have found a new man to marry.

There’s enough mentions and recollections of Sandman’s days fighting Napoleon’s armies that you can’t help but think back to Richard Sharpe’s exploits on those same battlefields – and there are a few names that tie Sandman’s world into the continuity Cornwell built around his famous rifleman, just as the author inserted French cavalry officer Colonel Lassan, Sharpe’s son with Lucille, into the Starbuck Chronicles first as a Northern observer then a sometime-rider with the Confederacy.

The end of the book is satisfying, and comes quickly enough, with a twist that I didn’t see coming, and although you don’t actually read about how Sandman’s life turns itself around, you’re left with the distinct impression that the captain will be just fine.

Cornwell has so much on his writing plate, but I hope he has a chance to write another Rider Sandman adventure because the first one was great!

Book Review: Ned Kelly - Peter FitzSimons

Not sure why I didn’t enjoy this book. I love history, and one of the eras I find most interesting is Australia in the late 1800s through World War One and into the Roaring Twenties. 

So much of our country’s heritage had it’s beginning in those rough days before Federation, including the Kelly Gang – Ned Kelly, Steve Hart, Joe Byrne and Ned’s younger brother Dan – whose exploits seemed to grip the nation until the gang’s demise at the Siege of Glenrowan in rural Victoria, and Kelly’s subsequent death by hanging, are, for better or worse, always going to be an important part of our country’s history.

This was the first Peter FitzSimons book I’ve read. My dad’s read most of what the rugby player turned journalist has released, and I’ve got Tobruk and Kokoda on my eReader, ready to delve into later. From the way a lot of people, my old man included, rave about FitzSimons’ work, I was expecting a whole lot more than what I got.

I have a rule for reading: I won’t abandon a title until I’ve read at least a hundred pages. Some books – particularly long ones, like Tom Clancy’s work – really don’t get going before the century page mark is reached. For me, Ned Kelly never really got going at all. I found myself forever bogged down. It didn’t hold my attention really well at all – not even during the climactic siege. I didn’t like the chopping and changing of points-of-view, either.

Maybe it was information overload. The book’s title is Ned Kelly, but there’s so much about police officers, some who are very minor functionaries, and others with only minimal involvement that the Kelly gang are sometimes relegated to being a forgotten group of antagonists. It’s information overload. So much minute detail that I could really have done without. 

Somewhat frustratingly, FitzSimons has written a lot of the book using the same manner of speaking as was used during the time the Kelly gang were at their best/worst. I found it increasingly annoying as I got deeper in.

All of that said, I won’t give up on FitzSimons yet. Even the greatest authors in history write a bad book – or, at least one not as good as the others – every now and again. All those people, like my dad, who love his translation of history can’t be completely wrong. I’ll read Kokoda with an open mind and hope that it catapults me into the Peter FitzSimons Fan Club.

Movie Review: Pompeii

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Kit Harington & Emily Browning

In A Few Words: A historical action/drama about the residents of Pompeii just before and during the eruption of Mt Vesuvius.

Rating: 7/10

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Directorial finesse is not a word you would generally associate with films by Paul W.S. Anderson. Indeed, there is little subtlety to be found during Pompeii 3D, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Most famous for his series of Resident Evil films, starring his wife Milla Jolovich, Anderson has carte blanche to create a world and destroy it as spectacularly – and violently – as possible.

In Pompeii 3D, there is a similar mission statement, this one dictated by the course of history, and you cannot deny that the final destruction of the seaside resort city is anything but spectacular film-making. 3D effects are used well, and although historians believe that the city’s eventual and total destruction took two agonising days, Pompeii 3D shows it all happening a great deal quicker than that.

In a breathtaking span of about forty-five minutes, Mt Vesuvius blows it’s top and the population of the city beneath it is doomed to a fiery end. Parts of the film looked more like the sci-fi that Anderson is used to directing, with meteors streaking across the sky as red hot lava rolled down the steep slope towards the town and thick black smoke billows towards the heavens, blotting out the sun as the populace, full of panic, heads for the harbour, the hills, anywhere they can to try and escape. Inevitably, though, there is no escape. It’s epic stuff, Mother Nature’s wrath, destruction on the grandest of scales.

The volcano starts rumbling early in the film, as citizens are lost in cracks opened by the tremors, and in the city’s gladiator arena, where men fight and die, the murmurs from Mt Vesuvius, a portent of things to come, interrupt a tournament that is being hosted by the city’s ruler, Severus. In town for those festivities is a Roman politician named Corvus (Sutherland), famous for wiping out an entire tribe of Celtic horsemen years before. All, that is, except one a boy, who was captured by slave traders. 

Seventeen years later, and the boy, Milo (Harington), has become a man, and a handy gladiator. Milo is in the tournament over which Corvus, who had designs on marrying Severus’ young daughter Cassia (Browning), who has returned early from a year in Rome, and Milo desires revenge. As it turns out, he also desires Cassia – and the attraction is mutual – which earns him further enmity from Corvus, who resorts to blackmailing Cassia’s parents to ensure he gets what he wants: their daughter. The two have a history.

The gladiator combat scenes are impressive, perhaps the best part of the film other than the destruction of the city, but the scenes between Milo and Cassia seem like they were thrown in to attract the eyeballs of those who enjoy a little romance with their historical dramas. You know, the same types who enjoyed Pearl Harbour and Titanic for more than the sinking or bombing. 

The fact that the two doomed lovers have very little time together before Mt Vesuvius blows it’s top doesn’t help, either. The film could have run for longer and fleshed out the romance story a little more, but it’s a minor quibble from me, because I wasn’t actually there for that subplot. All I wanted to see was how the town met it’s lava-streaked end.

In the face of the volcanic eruption, Milo and Corvus battle – you could see that coming a mile away – for the woman they both love, and, in Milo’s case, to avenge his tribe’s slaughter and…well, you probably realise which of those two fares better. It’s rather standard stuff, borrowing from swords-and-sandals epics of years gone by. Though somewhat formulaic, it’s still exciting, particularly with a backdrop of the Vesuvius eruption.

The only problem with films like this is that you know how it ends. Pompeii is covered by ash and lava, and remains, to this day, a fascinating place for historians and tourists alike, and even though the ending was obvious, the last few scenes are surprisingly depressing – you’re not exactly walking out of the cinema with a smile on your face.

Not the greatest film ever, but solid entertainment. If you’re looking for something that’s easy to watch on a Friday night, Pompeii 3D is a good choice.

Bullet Dodged - Sydney Avoid a 0-3 Start

It wasn’t the sort of weather you might expect for what could be called an apocalyptic sort of match-up between two teams who know that going 0-3 to start an AFL season – even a long season – would not be at all conducive to playing finals football. Where there should perhaps have been dark storm clouds gathering on the fringes of horizon around the picturesque Adelaide Oval, there were instead clear blue skies and unfettered sunshine. In short, it was a perfect day for football.

At least to begin the day. For, after four quarters of football, someone’s season would be on shaky ground. Although it was billed as the Match of Round, it really wasn’t, not with Collingwood and Geelong to square off at the MCG tonight, but what this football game certainly featured was a titanic struggle between two desperate teams.

Adelaide Oval looked tremendous. The revamped grandstands, the traditional hill, the vintage scoreboard and the 19^th Man, as Dwayne Russell has apparently taken to calling the Crows fans when they were in full voice – I wonder if he has been watching a little too much Seattle Seahawks football over the summer – was up and about. It had the feel of a late-season game between two teams on the outer and looking in, still hunting for a spot in the Finals. 

It was good footy, and there were good signs early from the Swans. The players who had been less than their usually-impressive selves in the first two games, losses to GWS and then Collingwood, were getting the football and, more importantly, making good decisions when they had it. McVeigh, Parker, Kennedy, McGlynn and O’Keefe looked like different guys.

If the Swans had been underdone during their first two games of the season, they look to have found their fitness. Doubtless, the thought of going to three games without a win has spurred them on. The midfield, that vaunted Rolls Royce of the football team, was slick and fast, precise and surgical. It was an encouraging start.

Leading by five goals at the first break, the Swans had to know the Crows would come. And they did, with a flourish. If they handed the scoreboard advantage to the most dominant team of the quarter, then Adelaide would have held the lead at half-time and perhaps again at the final change, for they were superb in general play, limiting the Swans for the most part, though a combination of a woeful lack of scoreboard pressure – they had the majority of the ball and the Inside 50s, but could not convert – and equally woeful turnovers kept the Swans in the game and in the lead.

Oh, the Crows were close. They had momentum fully on their side in the third, coming within two points, and it seemed like Uncle Mo might propel the home team to the lead. It was a deafening home field advantage then, the 19^th Man up and about. 

Yet, this was to be Sydney’s day. It seemed that whenever the team needed a steadying goal, it came. Invariably, it came via one of the old hands: Jack, McVeigh or one of those new-old hands like Luke Parker. Harry Cunningham showed his ability to kick a clutch goal or two in his best performance for the Swans. 

Oh, and there’s that guy who wears #23 for the Swans. I think he came across in the off-season in a trade that was somewhat off the radar. What’s his name again? That’s right…Lance Franklin. Buddy finished with four goals and nine scoring assists to his name. As he looked better against Collingwood than against GWS, Buddy looked better against Adelaide than he did against the Magpies. He seems to be gelling with his midfield, and certainly got the best delivery from them that he’s ever seen. 

There were flashes of Franklin’s individual brilliance, too. His ability to kick a long ball is a joy to behold. It was the imposing Buddy of old. Most encouraging of all? Seeing him in the defensive end making tackles late in the first half, when the Crows were pressing for another goal. That’s the sort of play that will endear you to the Swans, famous for their working-class, all-in attitude.

Yet, the star of the day was definitely Parker, who kicked four, popped up to do some beautiful defensive work and apparently had the footy on a string, rolling up twenty-six touches. It seemed that every moment the Swans needed something, it eventuated only after #26 took possession of the footy. If it had been his idea during the week to take the Swans team on his shoulder and will them across the line, then it worked. It worked brilliantly.

Parker’s third goal of the game was the fourth straight for the Swans after the Crows crept to within two points midway through the third, and the fourth was all Sydney, all the time. The resurgent Bloods kicked seven unanswered to storm home for a 63-point win that didn’t look anywhere near as secure at three-quarter time. Jarrad McVeigh took an incredible mark to start the onslaught, and sub Gary Rohan was a timely injection of pace throughout.  Sydney, the team who looked winded and impotent in the last quarter against Collingwood, were full of run and precision and killer instinct this week. The 19^th Man was pretty quiet by that stage.

Adelaide were woeful in the final term, and at times Sydney looked as though they were playing an intra-club scrimmage, such was the lack of compete from their opposition. By way of that last-quarter capitulation. It will be a long week for Brenton Sanderson and the Adelaide Football Club. Like the media in Sydney has been tough on Franklin and the Swans, the South Australian media will shine a spotlight on another week where the Crows were in the game in the third quarter, and completely fell apart in the fourth.

On the other side, it will be sighs of relief and a sense, perhaps, that things are coming together for the Swans. A week without innuendo and rumour in the press will be a welcome change. Perhaps Buddy might get lauded for his strong four-goal game – shock, horror, I know – though the lion’s share of press coverage should go to Parker, who was outstanding in every way possible. So was Kennedy, whose twenty-eight touches nicely complimented what Parker did.

Rumours of Sydney’s demise (some fuelled by Melbourne’s media corps, who are still stung by Franklin’s desire to leave it’s fishbowl-like environment) has been greatly exaggerated, and the Swans have a nice chance to build. Buddy will get better again and with two games at the Sydney Cricket Ground in as many weeks – North Melbourne next Sunday, Fremantle on Easter Saturday – the Swans can re-stake their claim to a top four spot, and settle down a somewhat nervous fan base. 

Based on what I saw today and last night, there’s no reason to think that the Swans won’t give Fremantle a massive shake, particularly on the close confines of the SCG, which the team in red and white play better than anyone else. With Melbourne and Brisbane to come after that, the mid-season run is setting itself up very nicely.

Breathe easy now, Swans fans. That pall of doom and gloom just might be lifting.