I picked this one up on a whim and I think the first mistake I made was in expecting something along the lines of "Sharpe" but with extra horses. Which this definitely isn't.
The style is deliberately old-fashioned to begin with and the writer seems to put a lot of time and effort into describing the world of 1814 and the inner workings of a Light Cavalry Regiment in particular. The author is - or was at time of publication - a serving cavalryman so that's understandable.
Mallinson also gives us a little of Ireland's ongoing woes and a little of Hervey's attempts to understand fathom the mind of the oposite sex and a certain amount of theology.
And it's all decently put together but when I read about Waterloo I don't want the action to be something that mostly happens offscreen. Read Bernard Cornwell and you practically can smell the powder and feel the exhilaration as the Union Brigade begin their doomed charge across the valley. Here, the highlight of Matthew Hervey's Waterloo is escaping some lancers on his way to deliver a message.
I suppose it's unfair to Allan Mallinson to compare his first book to one of the acknowledged Grand Masters and I'll try a couple of his later books to see if I'm more impressed.
"A Close Run Thing" is not quite the book I was looking for. Decent enough but in a book about the Napoleonic Wars I expect a bit more... war.
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