Some great reviews of

Forever the Colours

 

A great review from, With Rifle And Pack, a group of qualified and amateur historians dedicated to creating podcasts and articles discussing various historical topics that fascinate us, as well as reviewing books and war games from the prehistoric period right through to modern day.

 

Check out their review of my book and other historical works at:

 

http://www.withrifleandpack.com/forward-march---book-reviews/forever-the-colours

 

Original review on the With Rifle and Pack website.

Forever the Colours is a fascinating blend of military history fiction and science fiction. The story begins in the present day with the main character, Tommy Evans, fighting for the British Army in Afghanistan. The author, Richard Thomas, paints a picture of life in the Army, and of the relationship between Tommy and his fellow soldiers, as well as their interaction with their officers. Tommy is very much a modern, working-class kind of guy, moderately educated but completely at home in the Army and comfortable in the male-dominated environment. During an attack on the base, Tommy sustains a head injury. When he wakes up, he's being transported in a horse and cart, and so begins his timeslip adventure in 1880's Afghanistan.

Thomas does a grand job of comparing and contrasting military life in the present day and in the past. We see that although life has changed in many ways, relationships were not in fact so different back then. Tommy makes friends with several rank-and-file soldiers as well as some officers, has a boxing match, gets drunk, and goes into battle, and all this is drawn with accurate historical information, conjuring up a vivid picture of nineteenth-century army life. Thomas uses common language of the day, and while some of the British accents may prove challenging for American readers, Thomas is skilled at explaining the wide variety of upper- and lower-class and regional differences between the officers and the men.

The last third or so of the book concentrates on the battle of Maiwand itself, and I especially loved this section, which reminded me of Cornwell's Sharpe novels, and indeed made me want to re-read them all! The Afghan advance, the cannons, the hand-to-hand combat, the destruction, the filth and confusion of battle, the retreat of the regiment, and the deaths of those Tommy had grown to know was all described in great detail.

It's a fun novel with a unique twist in the timeslip element, and it's handled very well. Tommy's modern-day evaluation of the past techniques of warfare and his own historical knowledge of the battle enables Richard Thomas to draw comparisons between the two periods for the reader, and this provides an added bonus to what is already an interesting account of the battle.
I enjoyed the book, and would recommend it to anyone interested in the period, or those who love military fiction such as Cornwell's Sharpe series, Forester's Hornblower books, or O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin novels.