Hi everybody! Today I'm going to be reviewing the series "By The Hands of Men", written and provided to me by Roy Griffis. I'll be reviewing the first two books, The Old World and Into The Flames. The third book comes out in May.
To make sure I don't mix up the two books in my head (it happens to the best of us), I'll review the first book before I read the second.
To make sure I don't mix up the two books in my head (it happens to the best of us), I'll review the first book before I read the second.
The Old World:
As you guys may have noticed from the type of books that I usually review, historical fiction usually isn't my thing. Well, I'm happy to say this book has changed my mind. The book opens with Charlotte, a young Russian nurse during World War One. She is stationed in France at Base Hospital 12, along with her friend Kathleen. The book tells Charlotte's story of war, love, and death. Yes, love: Robert is a soldier who is promoted as head of the hospital. But Charlotte meets him before that, while working at the "emergency hospital" a few miles from the front lines. He helped her sew a man's vein back together. True love on the battlefield, am I right? Charlotte is a character you can connect with. She's not perfect: even though she's caring, selfless, and beautiful, she's also haunted from her time on the battlefield. “When the twisted, maimed soldiers began to fade in her consciousness as individual human beings made in a Holy image and began to resemble thrashing, quivering bags of meat, Charlotte forced herself to remember beauty in the world.” Robert is handsome, honest, passionate, and fiercely protective of Charlotte (when someone calls her a whore, he throws the man against a wall--but in the end this only hurts Robert. More on that later). As for the supporting characters, I felt like some of them were characterized much more than others. On the other hand, this is wartime so some of them end up dead anyway (RIP the kitten). Kathleen is Charlotte's closet friend, but she only shows up in a few scenes. I feel like her main point in the novel was her monologue about Robert, right before she leaves the hospital. The Matron, on the other hand, plays a large role in Charlotte's maturing over the novel. The Matron is the head nurse at the hospital, and her and Charlotte's relationship can only be described as mother-daughter by the end of the book.
At one point in the book, Robert finds a young boy who's sheltering a kitten. Ignace is an orphan and he saw a group of boys trying to hurt a kitten, so he saved it. He ends up at the hospital where he, Charlotte, and Robert work together to heal the kitten. Eventually, the Matron joins in. But one night, the Germans bomb the camp and Ignace and the kitten die. In each other's arms. It's ok, heres a Kleenex. Jeez. Worst part of the book.
And then there's Alice. Oh, Alice. From the beginning, I didn't like Alice. And guess what? At the end, I liked Alice even less. She was a complaining, tattling, ungrateful, hateful, scheming little jerk. During the air raid, Robert comes rushing into the tent Charlotte, Alice and Kathleen share. He says, "I had to see..that you were unharmed." And guess who answers? Alice. Girl back off, he's talking to Charlotte and you know that. Alice, being the helpful and calm person she is, runs away during the middle of the air raid. When Robert brings her back, Charlotte makes her hide in the trench. Alice responds with, "I'll never forget what you did to me. I'll never forgive you." What? Saving your life? Yeah I know, I'm upset too.
Throughout the book the theme of the horror of war was repeated. At one point, Robert and a Welshman are on the battlefield. The Welshman spots two donkeys who are fatally injured, and in such pain. As the man crawls across the battlefield to the donkeys, Robert follows. The Welshman puts one donkey out of its misery, but before he can finish the job, a German fatally shoots him (ouch). His last wish to Robert? Shoot the last donkey. Robert wavers, seeing a German aiming a grenade at him. He shoots the donkey. His reasoning? "It was the only innocent thing on the field." Robert realized that it wasn't the donkey's fault. How was the donkey to know what had happened to it? It was the humans, fighting among themselves for the purpose of who could kill the most. War sucks. (If you do want a dose of humanity, Google the Christmas Truce of 1914. In the book, Robert was part of it.)
One of the critiques of this book I do have is you have to have some background knowledge. The Germans are referred to as the Bosch and the Huns several times, which confused me. I know some about the Bolsheviks, but it would have been nice to have a little more info thrown in there in the book. It is a historical fiction books, but books like this are supposed to make you want to research more, not force you to. On that note, I did have my interest piqued at some points, which is good.
Without revealing too much of the plot, the ending came as a shock to me. It's definitely a cliffhanger, so be prepared. But unlike some cliffhangers, it didn't feel forced or unrealistic just to force me to read the second book. While not suspenseful (spoiler: it's thought that Charlotte is dead, but to the reader it's obvious she isn't because this is a series, duh) it was emotional and almost tragic. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. While there were a few parts where the plot dragged, or the characters disappointed, for the most part the imagery, character development, and plot were simply amazing. The time period is very interesting and I can't wait to see where Charlotte and Robert go in the next book.
As you guys may have noticed from the type of books that I usually review, historical fiction usually isn't my thing. Well, I'm happy to say this book has changed my mind. The book opens with Charlotte, a young Russian nurse during World War One. She is stationed in France at Base Hospital 12, along with her friend Kathleen. The book tells Charlotte's story of war, love, and death. Yes, love: Robert is a soldier who is promoted as head of the hospital. But Charlotte meets him before that, while working at the "emergency hospital" a few miles from the front lines. He helped her sew a man's vein back together. True love on the battlefield, am I right? Charlotte is a character you can connect with. She's not perfect: even though she's caring, selfless, and beautiful, she's also haunted from her time on the battlefield. “When the twisted, maimed soldiers began to fade in her consciousness as individual human beings made in a Holy image and began to resemble thrashing, quivering bags of meat, Charlotte forced herself to remember beauty in the world.” Robert is handsome, honest, passionate, and fiercely protective of Charlotte (when someone calls her a whore, he throws the man against a wall--but in the end this only hurts Robert. More on that later). As for the supporting characters, I felt like some of them were characterized much more than others. On the other hand, this is wartime so some of them end up dead anyway (RIP the kitten). Kathleen is Charlotte's closet friend, but she only shows up in a few scenes. I feel like her main point in the novel was her monologue about Robert, right before she leaves the hospital. The Matron, on the other hand, plays a large role in Charlotte's maturing over the novel. The Matron is the head nurse at the hospital, and her and Charlotte's relationship can only be described as mother-daughter by the end of the book.
At one point in the book, Robert finds a young boy who's sheltering a kitten. Ignace is an orphan and he saw a group of boys trying to hurt a kitten, so he saved it. He ends up at the hospital where he, Charlotte, and Robert work together to heal the kitten. Eventually, the Matron joins in. But one night, the Germans bomb the camp and Ignace and the kitten die. In each other's arms. It's ok, heres a Kleenex. Jeez. Worst part of the book.
And then there's Alice. Oh, Alice. From the beginning, I didn't like Alice. And guess what? At the end, I liked Alice even less. She was a complaining, tattling, ungrateful, hateful, scheming little jerk. During the air raid, Robert comes rushing into the tent Charlotte, Alice and Kathleen share. He says, "I had to see..that you were unharmed." And guess who answers? Alice. Girl back off, he's talking to Charlotte and you know that. Alice, being the helpful and calm person she is, runs away during the middle of the air raid. When Robert brings her back, Charlotte makes her hide in the trench. Alice responds with, "I'll never forget what you did to me. I'll never forgive you." What? Saving your life? Yeah I know, I'm upset too.
Throughout the book the theme of the horror of war was repeated. At one point, Robert and a Welshman are on the battlefield. The Welshman spots two donkeys who are fatally injured, and in such pain. As the man crawls across the battlefield to the donkeys, Robert follows. The Welshman puts one donkey out of its misery, but before he can finish the job, a German fatally shoots him (ouch). His last wish to Robert? Shoot the last donkey. Robert wavers, seeing a German aiming a grenade at him. He shoots the donkey. His reasoning? "It was the only innocent thing on the field." Robert realized that it wasn't the donkey's fault. How was the donkey to know what had happened to it? It was the humans, fighting among themselves for the purpose of who could kill the most. War sucks. (If you do want a dose of humanity, Google the Christmas Truce of 1914. In the book, Robert was part of it.)
One of the critiques of this book I do have is you have to have some background knowledge. The Germans are referred to as the Bosch and the Huns several times, which confused me. I know some about the Bolsheviks, but it would have been nice to have a little more info thrown in there in the book. It is a historical fiction books, but books like this are supposed to make you want to research more, not force you to. On that note, I did have my interest piqued at some points, which is good.
Without revealing too much of the plot, the ending came as a shock to me. It's definitely a cliffhanger, so be prepared. But unlike some cliffhangers, it didn't feel forced or unrealistic just to force me to read the second book. While not suspenseful (spoiler: it's thought that Charlotte is dead, but to the reader it's obvious she isn't because this is a series, duh) it was emotional and almost tragic. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. While there were a few parts where the plot dragged, or the characters disappointed, for the most part the imagery, character development, and plot were simply amazing. The time period is very interesting and I can't wait to see where Charlotte and Robert go in the next book.
Into The Flames: Whew! I gotta tell you, this was a long one at 383 pages. But I had no choice after the cliffhanger of the last book. This book opens with Charlotte after her tragic encounter with Robert. "Charlotte felt ashamed for having been gulled by Robert Fitzgerald. It was obvious now, here in the cold French night; the man had never cared for her. When she had approached him at the Underground that morning, he feigned lack of all knowledge of her, whilst his companions laughed uneasily, clearly fearing a scene.” Charlotte boards a train that is headed for Russia, but the Bolsheviks overtake it, her nurse's uniform making her the sole survivor. And with that, she's thrust into their world. Meanwhile, Robert is in England, almost killing young boys. Wait, what? When Robert saw a carriage boy abusing his horse, he went into full war mode and started attacking the boy. My diagnosis: PTSD. Luckily, this doesn't show up much throughout the rest of the book. Robert is soon told by Nigel that he's assigned to be a *spy* (enter James Bond music) by the British government in Shanghai. One of my major complaints in this book is that it seemed more like two books rather than one. Besides the occasional mention of each other, Charlotte and Robert are on completely different paths. Robert thinks Charlotte is dead and Charlotte thinks Robert is a fake. The typical switching perspectives format isn't used in this book. Instead, for the first 100 pages it switches back and forth, for the middle 100 it's all Charlotte and for the end it's all about Robert. The consequence of this is you've basically forgotten about Robert by the time you finish with the Charlotte story. Again, it feels like two completely different story lines. Not necessarily bad story lines, just completely different. |
Now, despite that, I have to say before this book I knew almost nothing about the Bolsheviks beyond the movie Anastasia. Turns out, they were pretty sucky. When Charlotte is taken by them, she's treated like an animal. Rebecca, a women who had been fighting for " the cause" (worker's rights/revolution) for years, hates men with a passion and for good reason.
To understand this book, you have to understand the pawns in the game of war. I can't call myself an expert, but I'll give you the knowledge I gleaned.
The Whites: these are the nobles, the armies of the tsar. They are supported by the British and other European forces.
The Bolsheviks/ Reds: the worker's revolution that rose up against the tsar. They are now corrupt, killing women, men, and children alike.
The Cheka: The Bolshevik Secret Police. Think Nazis: they captured, tortured, and executed anti-regime citizens.
The Commissars: the "police" force that works among the Bolsheviks, seeking out traitors among the people. Becasue of this, they often end up killing anyone who voices complaints. “Comrade Lenin said if we fought, we would eat. We have fought but our children still go hungry." The pistol shot spun the burly workingman away like a thrown doll.”
To understand this book, you have to understand the pawns in the game of war. I can't call myself an expert, but I'll give you the knowledge I gleaned.
The Whites: these are the nobles, the armies of the tsar. They are supported by the British and other European forces.
The Bolsheviks/ Reds: the worker's revolution that rose up against the tsar. They are now corrupt, killing women, men, and children alike.
The Cheka: The Bolshevik Secret Police. Think Nazis: they captured, tortured, and executed anti-regime citizens.
The Commissars: the "police" force that works among the Bolsheviks, seeking out traitors among the people. Becasue of this, they often end up killing anyone who voices complaints. “Comrade Lenin said if we fought, we would eat. We have fought but our children still go hungry." The pistol shot spun the burly workingman away like a thrown doll.”
Charlotte discovers the world of brutality, revenge, corruption, and madness that war brings. “She looked down at her hands. They were red with soldiers’ blood, and ached from the sheer physical toil of binding and splinting and sewing and restraining. Why am doing this? she wondered. Not a half mile away, the Party’s assassins are killing people because of the clothes they wear. Because they had soft hands. Because they were Jews.” Charlotte's story was incredibly humbling because it showed the dark side of history without censorship, without concealing it. And when Charlotte sees the Whites killing and desecrating bodies and temples just as the Reds did, she thinks: "....it was then that Charlotte realized her entire country had gone insane." I feel like war is summed up by this one quote by one of the Whites: My God,” he breathed. “You Reds use up men the way we use up bullets.”
Men are expendable for a cause that a few will champion and many will die for. The fight between the workers and the tsar was like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. Both are evil, and the only people caught in the crossfire are the innocent. History continues this trend of making people choose between the lesser of two evils in places like Syria. War is not a necessary evil, it is just evil.
And now we suddenly head back to Robert, Orlando, and Orlando's tooth. This is what I dislike about the format of this book. We go from the horrors of war to Robert's story of drinking and corruption in Shanghai. Robert arrives in Shanghai to find the Chinese men and women treated like trash in their own country. He learns of "China wives", wives taken on by European men and described as "parlor maids". Prostitution runs rampant, and murders are often left unsolved. Like I said earlier, this section of the story has little to do with Charlotte. While interesting, (SPOILER ALERT) I wish Charlotte and Robert had met again or at least realized what had happened to each other. Robert's story ended with him being taken even farther from Charlotte because of an ironic twist: while trying to bring to the attention of the British the presence of communists in Shanghai, Robert himself was accused of sympathizing with the very people who had captured Charlotte. To prove his faith to the cause (and also to keep himself safe) he was transferred to Congo, frustratingly farther from Charlotte.
In general, this book was much darker than the first. It involves the brutal murder of innocent people and the horrors of the revolution. To a lesser scale it reveals corruption, crime, and prostitution in Shanghai. While I didn't enjoy the completely separate story lines, I did myself immersed in the unfairness and brutality of something that to be quite honest, has never affected me before this book. I think what the tsar and Bolsheviks did is mostly unknown to people these days, and thats not okay. History is so very important to understand and learn about because otherwise it will continue to repeat itself.
Speaking of both books now: I think this is one of the better historical fiction series I have read. The character development, especially for Charlotte, was thoughtful and remarkable. The imagery was stunning. I can tell research was painstakingly poured into every little detail. These books can tell all of us a thing or two about love, war, crime, and humanity. At one point, Robert talks about wanting to help others, but at the same time feeling as if it didn't make a difference. To me, even helping one person is like helping a million. If every person helped one other person each day, the world would be a much better place. He then says of the Bolsheviks: “Their way, creating equality by the pulling down of everyone to the same level of misery, was not the answer.” We don't help anyone by bringing them down, only by raising them up.
As Anne Frank said, "No one has ever become poor by giving."
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves history, and even those who aren't so sure. This book helped spark my curiosity about the time period, and like I said earlier, knowing history is one of the most important tools to mankind. I'd like to thank Roy Griffis for providing the books, and I can't wait to read the third in the series!
Remember to keep reading!
Colleen
Men are expendable for a cause that a few will champion and many will die for. The fight between the workers and the tsar was like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. Both are evil, and the only people caught in the crossfire are the innocent. History continues this trend of making people choose between the lesser of two evils in places like Syria. War is not a necessary evil, it is just evil.
And now we suddenly head back to Robert, Orlando, and Orlando's tooth. This is what I dislike about the format of this book. We go from the horrors of war to Robert's story of drinking and corruption in Shanghai. Robert arrives in Shanghai to find the Chinese men and women treated like trash in their own country. He learns of "China wives", wives taken on by European men and described as "parlor maids". Prostitution runs rampant, and murders are often left unsolved. Like I said earlier, this section of the story has little to do with Charlotte. While interesting, (SPOILER ALERT) I wish Charlotte and Robert had met again or at least realized what had happened to each other. Robert's story ended with him being taken even farther from Charlotte because of an ironic twist: while trying to bring to the attention of the British the presence of communists in Shanghai, Robert himself was accused of sympathizing with the very people who had captured Charlotte. To prove his faith to the cause (and also to keep himself safe) he was transferred to Congo, frustratingly farther from Charlotte.
In general, this book was much darker than the first. It involves the brutal murder of innocent people and the horrors of the revolution. To a lesser scale it reveals corruption, crime, and prostitution in Shanghai. While I didn't enjoy the completely separate story lines, I did myself immersed in the unfairness and brutality of something that to be quite honest, has never affected me before this book. I think what the tsar and Bolsheviks did is mostly unknown to people these days, and thats not okay. History is so very important to understand and learn about because otherwise it will continue to repeat itself.
Speaking of both books now: I think this is one of the better historical fiction series I have read. The character development, especially for Charlotte, was thoughtful and remarkable. The imagery was stunning. I can tell research was painstakingly poured into every little detail. These books can tell all of us a thing or two about love, war, crime, and humanity. At one point, Robert talks about wanting to help others, but at the same time feeling as if it didn't make a difference. To me, even helping one person is like helping a million. If every person helped one other person each day, the world would be a much better place. He then says of the Bolsheviks: “Their way, creating equality by the pulling down of everyone to the same level of misery, was not the answer.” We don't help anyone by bringing them down, only by raising them up.
As Anne Frank said, "No one has ever become poor by giving."
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves history, and even those who aren't so sure. This book helped spark my curiosity about the time period, and like I said earlier, knowing history is one of the most important tools to mankind. I'd like to thank Roy Griffis for providing the books, and I can't wait to read the third in the series!
Remember to keep reading!
Colleen