Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: War Fiction

COMMISSAR: A Novel of Civil War Russia by DV Chernov – Russian 20th Century Historical Fiction, Military Historical Fiction, War Fiction

DV Chernov delivers the first book of the Anna Sokolova series, an historical thriller Commissar: A Novel of Civil War Russia destined to capture readers’ attentions and have them coming back for more.

Chernov seamlessly blends historical figures with fictional characters in Commissar. Shining above them all is Anna Sokolova, a revolutionary who fights to protect the newly formed Cheka. Her idealistic goal is to improve the lives of her fellow countrymen.

Anna Sokolova steps off the pages as a gutsy and beautiful woman who is also vulnerable and idealistic. She will do anything it takes to find the British spy “Reilly,” a real character from history, who threatens her country’s new political system.

Chernov sets the scene in Moscow in 1918, after the revolution.

The big players in this international espionage thriller are broken down into two opposing forces: the Red and the White armies. However, outside influences from Britain and the United States complicate the struggles. Anna pursues the British spy, but he eludes capture even with her best agents’ intelligence.

Chernov expertly exposes the British and American desires of maintaining their outside capitalist ideologies within Russia. This forces the Reds to fight harder to preserve the newly formed government.

Anna’s romantic involvement with Sergei, her longtime friend and mentor, falls apart when Sergei becomes withdrawn and places the party over her. Anna’s family disappoints her as well. They intend to flee Russia to Switzerland and resume their bourgeoisie life of wealthy business owners. Anna stays behind and throws herself into her work. Will she ever catch the spy Reilly?

One day, Anna meets William, a representative of the American Red Cross, and with him plans the mission that will change her path forward. Together with Egorov and William, she drives a Rolls Royce, of all things, to southwestern Ukraine to entice a group of anarchists to help her catch the elusive Reilly.

There is another reason for her mission, one involving the Russian treasury and the Bolshevik cause.

Anna approaches Makhno, who helps her organize an ambush and attack of the heavily armed and guarded train transporting the gold, but he has two conditions. He gets all the gold as well as the train. Anna convinces him to split the gold 50/50, and she gets Reilly. Soon the mission details fall into place.

The mission unfolds in a tense battle that claims the life of Anna’s friend and comrade in arms, Egorov. The many deaths weigh on Anna. Coupled with another failure to capture Reilly, Anna’s confidence is rocked, which leaves her questioning the decisions made by her superiors and what the Bolsheviks have come to represent.

Even after her successful retrieval of three times the amount of gold she’d anticipated, Anna loses her drive for the cause. Her successful mission assures her a place in the government as a rising star, and as the winds of war change, the Reds gain control of the government.

Chernov’s masterful blending of fictional with non-fictional characters and events creates a blockbuster read. He gives us a high espionage thriller through the eyes of a daring protagonist, Anna Sokolova, and delivers a riveting story that will keep readers up into the night. Moreover, Chernov’s attention to detail will impress the most avid historian, and his storytelling will appeal to lovers of historical fiction and spy thrillers alike. Highly recommended

January 14, 2022
BLIND FAITH: THE GAUNTLET RUNNER BOOK VI by S. Thomas Bailey, a powerful historical fiction novel

Blind Faith: The Gauntlet Runner Book VI by S. Thomas Bailey is the latest in his award-winning series. This historical novel does well in carrying its readers through a part of the French and Indian War in 1759. We gain powerful insights, feeling the emotional swings and hazards faced by the characters. The author, a brilliant historian, weaves characters amidst historical facts, giving readers a view of the war’s colonist trackers and focuses on their leader, Jacob Murray––his tenacious endurance––and his dilemmas.

The side story of his wife Maggie establishes her as a pioneering heroine. Their deep characterization inspires admiration when we consider the many folks who came before us––to settle North America. The underlying current of love gives us hope as we traverse through the agony of war and the challenges of the wild.

Reader interest is captured on the first page. After the latest demoralizing battle defeat, Jacob’s compassion and disgust rises when he sees the pathos caused by inept British Officers. Jacob agonizes over his dilemma–stay and fight–or desert his men, including his son, to try to find his beloved wife, presumably lost to the north while searching for their child.

Commissioned by the British Army, Jacob, and his fellow colonists operate as trackers gathering vital information for the British. He’s not a military man, but a settler who must fight in a British war. He leads his men using wisdom and strength but obeys commanding officers because he must. The secondary characters weave into the story either to support Jacob and Maggie or to be their foes––all characters have their own unique journey.

The author truly resurrects the history of this war, making it alive and vivid. Readers are gripped within the reality of the fight. We feel the honor, courage, fear, horror, despair, and hope.

Readers slog with Jacob and his men through the wilderness. Utilizing body language and dialogue, the author shows emotion and moves the story ahead. We feel their fatigue. We witness the unrelenting threat of attacks from the French and native warriors.

In addition to battling human enemies, the men withstand rugged overgrown terrain and impassable waterways. They must obey officers of doubtful ability and endure the prejudice of the British against the lowly colonists. We see Jacob’s genius when he and his men work feverishly to prepare for the brutality of an advancing Canadian winter.

Maggie engages readers in her own chapters. She forges through the wilderness amidst hostile Indians, searching for her two-year-old son. Knowing she must shoot and kill to survive, Maggie pushes forward––on foot and in stolen canoes––against overwhelming odds. When hope waxes thin and she’s a captive of her circumstances, she ignores her suspicions and must trust others.

We experience her vivid trials (similar to Jacob’s) in the wild tangled forests leading along the St. Lawrence River. She must reach Quebec City. We navigate the trails, get stuck in the waterways, and feel the impact of weather. We sympathize with her exhaustion and isolation. We can hear her smacking the swarms of mosquitoes and black flies.

Jacob and Maggie can only groan inwardly, wondering about the fate of each other. Readers expect opposing forces during this mid-seventeen hundred French and Indian War. But a unique formidable foe arises––a traitor obsessed with revenge. He morphs within his growing depravity, turning into a deadly enemy spreading havoc and death.

When we read the last words of the story, we are pointed to the next book in the series; we are left hanging in the midst of a crisis. So close, but not quite done. This reviewer is willing to wait for the next book for the outcome.

Blind Faith by S. Thomas Bailey is an outstanding historical novel in its accuracy, craft, and ability to resurrect dynamic characters who are struggling to live another day.

July 9, 2016
AGNES CANON’S WAR by Deborah Lincoln — a Civil War Novel

Agnes Canon is too intelligent, and too stubborn, to let others make decisions for her. No matter what the consequences, her choices will be her own.

In this complex historical drama, schoolmarm Agnes Canon, refusing her father’s choice for a husband, leaves the safety of her Pennsylvania childhood home for the wilds of Missouri in the decade before the outbreak of the Civil War.

On the way she meets, and eventually weds, Jabez Robinson, a medical man who has seen the wonders of the world and war at its foulest. Living in a territory with loyalties on both sides as the national conflict heats up, Jabez and Agnes, equally matched in intellect and stubbornness, abhor the Southern institution of slavery, but also despise the greed and interference of the North. Their struggles are real, and the chaos endured will pit their marriage against a dramatically changing civilization.

Agnes is the pivotal character in this multi-layered story. She endures the pangs of childbirth and the deprivations of family life in a war zone. She watches as friends and neighbors go different ways in the war, and good men fight each other on the home front. She supports Jabez even as his publicly stated political ideals open them to harassment from violent, unprincipled militants.

Deborah Lincoln, who has based this novel on the life history of her great grandparents, writes with emotional intensity about dark times in an embattled landscape.

Unlike many Civil War sagas, this one takes no obvious sides. The focus is on Agnes—a vital, strong woman with feminist ideals, and Jabez, the only man smart and determined enough to gain her love. The romance is not overdrawn, though, and there is a complex skein of subplots providing scenes of rousing action and rich historical context.

Agnes Canon’s War reminds us that war produces equal measures of bravery and barbarism, and those in its midst who hang on to their principles are rare and admirable. An excellent read that explores love and societal schisms grown in the roots of cultural and political battles between the North and the South.

February 4, 2016