The Border Captains (1995)
WILDERNESS CROSSROADS
The fledgling United States has survived the Revolutionary War. And with the turn of the new century, settlers are poised to continue their westward thrust through the dark and bloody killing ground of Kentucky. But in their path stands the British military's might, and an even more menacing and worthy foe -- the brilliant, brave, and legendary Native American chief Tecumseh. The War of 1812 is about to begin. And in the hands of such American heroes as "Mad" Anthony Wayne, William Henry Harrison, Henry Clay, and Daniel Boone ... with the trigger fingers of a buckskin-clad army ... and in the courage, daring and determination of frontiersman Nathaniel "Flintlock" Jones ... history is to be made, a wilderness to be won, and a spellbinding saga of the American past is to be brought to pulse-pounding, unforgettable life ... The Border Captains is the second epic historical novel of the Flintlock trilogy, written by the acclaimed author of the High Country frontier novels. KINDLE EDITION
September 3, 2015 |
1995 by Jason Manning
Signet Books (New York) 352 pp ISBN: 0-451-18287-1 In retrospect I think this could have been a somewhat better novel than it turned out to be. As there were two protagonists -- Nathaniel Jones and Jonathan Groves -- I employed the old epistolary plot device (telling some of the story in the form of letters) to help distinguish between the parallel narratives. Perhaps the best-known example of this is Bram Stoker's Dracula.. (I would try this again in Falconer's Law, with better results.) My fascination with the history of this period may have led me to overload the story with a bit too many historical facts. What worked for James Fenimore Cooper back in his day might have slowed the pace of The Border Captains a bit too much at times. All in all though, I liked the story -- and the cover, which struck me as more dynamic than that of the first novel in the trilogy, Flintlock.
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