Book 16 started, Book 14 finished
Liberty 1784: The Second War for Independence by Robert Conroy
Published by Baen Books, March 2014
NOTE: This book was provided by the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
This is my 4th book by Conroy and this one shows he has grown as a writer. The writing style in this book is much different from 1945, written 7 years ago and even from Castro’s Bomb and Himmler’s War written 3 years ago. It’s less self-conscious; it pays less attention to the Great Men involved and the History that was changed and pays more attention to the characters as people and their lives as the story unfolds. There are still the great men and there are still great events but they tend not to be the primary focus.
The turning point for this timeline is the Battle of Yorktown. A British supply fleet was not defeated prior to the battle so it was able to resupply Cornwallis and Washington was defeated. This started a series of events that ended with the colonies’ surrender, Washington’s beheading in London, most of our Founding Fathers imprisoned in Jamaica and the rest fleeing west the remnants of the Continental Army not captured and likewise imprisoned. It’s a decent turning point.
After this, the American colonies are under an increasingly tight rule from Britain with known rebels in hiding or fled. Rumors abound of a place near present-day Chicago called Liberty that is a rebel stronghold and something of a pressure valve for the colonies as well as an irritating thorn in the British sides. At the same time the French Revolution is also occurring but with British help for the monarchy; they are worried that these republican uprisings will boil over to Britain and are anxious to stamp them out.
This story, then, is the British determined to stamp out the American rebel stronghold before doing the same to the rebels in France and preserving their way of life. It is told primarily from the perspective of everyday men and women on the side of the Rebels and from a British Major for the British. The British are a bit of a caricature of the opinions of the 18th Century Georgian nobility and the American rebels for the most part are all Fine Upstanding people; but it works well. There’s enough humanity in the British and enough foolishness and self-centeredness in the Americans to make it work.
I did like that the characters spoke like people and not like dry historical figures. However, there were times when their language went a bit too modern and it just felt wrong. For example, in one scene, Abigail Morgan, wife of a US Representative from our timeline and a member of the Virginia upper classes, said to a room full of other women, “Fairer and weaker sex my ass.” That’s just too modern and too blunt. But, that sort of thing, while there, wasn’t commonplace.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. I found the premise acceptable. I’m happy that Conroy stepped away from the mid-20th Century. He knows that era well, but it’s been done quite a bit in alternate histories. The story itself was entertaining and well written. I will look forward to future books from him.
4 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment