A Discovering Diamonds review of The Conquistador's Horse by Barry Cole

AMAZON UK £6.99

AMAZON US $4.19  

AMAZON CA $5.02

Young adult / US Settlement

early 16^th Century

North America, Arkansas River

It is always difficult to review a Young Adult book because the parameters are entirely different from the adult genre, as are the potential readers. This book is aimed at 10 – 14 year old children and so it seems churlish to mention the amount of repetition in the story or the couple of footnotes which normally spoil (for me) a full-on adult story.

Nevertheless I enjoyed the book very much; it tells of Tall Bull, a young Cheyenne warrior who, on a raid that goes wrong, sees a horse for the first time in his life. Finding that he can approach the animal and eventually ride it for a short while, he is thrown and the horse runs away. But the experience stays with him as he grows to full adulthood and, once again during an attempt to find the buffalo herds, he encounters another horse and takes it back to his tribe. 

This is a very simplistic tale and a good story for the age group it is aimed at. However, it is only seventy-seven pages long, with an even shorter, unconnected, story included coming out at just over one-hundred pages in total – which is probably fine for a ten-year-old reading-span length but  I do query the price for such a short-length children’s book as being a little too high.

The cover is very striking, which is good to attract younger readers, and the subject matter is ideal for both boys and girls.

© Richard Tearle

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Home Before The Leaves Fall by N L Collier

Shortlisted for Book of the Month

AMAZON UK £7.64

AMAZON US $ 11.95

AMAZON CA $18.56

Family Drama

1914-1916

 WWI The Western Front

We all know the scenario: war breaks out in Europe and hundreds of thousands of young men from all walks of life enlist with hope, enthusiasm and the naïve belief that 'all will be over by Christmas'. Except in this book, the main protagonists are German students.

Franz Becker is our narrator and together with his student friends, principally Karl von Leussow, they enlist with all due patriotism. After minimal training, they are sent to Ypres and the horrors, the nightmares, the comradeship and their hatred of the enemy (the Tommies) begins.

One theme runs through the book: Karl decides to accept the role of sniper because he is a superb shot, but Franz disapproves and the conflict sometimes threatens their deep friendship. The violence throughout is detailed but never overly graphic and the language is, well, shall we say, vivid. But it is the language of soldiers and adds to the overall authenticity.

Two things stand out for me in this book: one is the wonderful characterisation of even minor players, all without stereotyping, and the way the author keeps up the pace to hold the readers' interest from start to finish.

The ending won't give you any answers but I understand that there will be another book carrying on from this one – although this will be a hard act to follow.

Quite simply, probably the best novel I have read on this subject and one of the best I have read in any field of Historical Fiction.

© Richard Tearle

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