Young Bloods

This is an absorbing read, featuring two third-person specific narratives.

The book opens with Arthur’s birth, and Chapter 3 commences with Napoleon’s birth. The childhood storylines are brilliantly crafted.

We see the boys grow up gradually, which I think is a good thing, as opposed to starting with a few chapters covering a few years during their respective childhoods, then to skip on ten years like some novels do and many historical films do.

In their youth, Napoleon is fiery-natured whilst Arthur is quiet. In adolescence, Napoleon burns with ambition, whereas Arthur is quite lazy and wastes money gambling.

As they mature, Napoleon becomes embroiled in politics. Arthur also ventures down this route, though with little enthusiasm.

I show more like the girl-meets-boy storyline in Arthur’s narrative. No time for romance in Napoleon’s world, though.

Only things I can criticise in this compelling story are certain style issues, with ‘telling’, not ‘showing’, being the biggest offence. Things like, ‘He swallowed nervously’ is such an example. This is an oft-repeated phrase the author uses in this novel and several other titles I’ve read by him. If the context is obvious to the reader, ‘swallowed’ is enough to ‘show’ the reader that the character is nervous. No need to use an adverb to ‘tell’. Adverbs should be cut wherever possible or replaced with a strong verb.

In most reviews, I deduct a star for style issues like those mentioned above, but not in this case. It’s a great book and deserves five stars. Napoleon and Arthur’s contrasting personalities provide a good change of pace whenever the third-person specific viewpoints change from one to the other.

I look forward to reading the next in the quadrilogy. show less

This book details the young lives of Napoleon Bonaparte and Arthur Wesley (later the Duke of Wellington). The book shuttles back and forth between Napoleon's and Arthur's lives. I've always wanted to learn about the guy I was named after ... but found those books dusty and boring.

This book is formulaic. Oddly, I grew weary and confused through the battle scenes (except for the snowball fight). Napoleon's story more interesting because he had a steeper angle to overcome.

It's a pleasant enough diversion enough of a book.

This is the first in a series of books telling the story of the lives of Napoleon Bonaparte and Arthur Wesley who went on to become the Duke of Wellington. Born in the same year, this book covers their childhood; Bonaparte's in provincial Corsica and Wesley's first in rural Ireland and then London; and then their early political and military careers. Being British I was surprised to find myself initially warming more to Napoleon than to Wesley. By the end of the book, though Wesley grows up a little and you can catch glimpses of the hero he will become. I already have part two in the series and I am looking forward to reading it soon.

The fascinating thing about historical fiction is it brings characters alive. Napoleon and Wellington were only names before I read this book. The coincidences between them is amazing. They were born in the same year. Napoleon’s story is incredible and his involvement in the French revolution is portrayed very well. A remarkable read.

Lives of Napoleon & Wellington, told in parallel. They are both very similar and diametrically opposite.

La batalla de Waterloo convirtió en dos de las mayores figuras históricas de todos los tiempos a Wellington y Napoleón, dos hombres, curiosamente nacidos en el mismo años, y cuyas trayectorias, surgiendo de ambientes tan dispares, guardan interesantes paralelismos. Mientras un joven Arthur Wesley está haciendo sus primeras armas en Irlandad y Flandés, Napoleón Bonaparte se ve envuelto en la Revolución Francesa y en la guerra contra Prusia, Inglaterra y Holanda. Sin embargo, nada de ello distraerá a Wellington de sus intentos de conquistar a Kitty Pakenham, ni a Napoleón de su cortejo a la bella y coqueta Josefina.