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Garrison
“Military SF at its best.” — amazon.co.uk review“I was transposed back 60 years ... when we scraped slit trenches into the ground and laid in the path of an advancing group of tanks.” — amazon.com reviewOn the contested Iron Flats, two young recruits face their first battle. Will they die? Will glory cover them or ignominy taint their name? Only the morrow will tell.Watching over them is enigmatic veteran, Von. He knows that when soldiers fail, the army relies on veterans to fix them... whatever it takes...Starship Troopers meets archers and spider-cavalry in this military fantasy story from an author who knows what life is like inside the military.This Greyhart Press book is a novelette, a story size suitable to read in a single sitting. At 12,000 words, if this was a paperback, it would be about 48 pages.Also by Nigel ‘The Cookie Tin’: Imagine a device that lets you feel another person's emotions. How would you use it? How would IT use YOU?
- GenresFantasy
41 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 14, 2011
3 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Nigel Edwards
54 books9 followersBorn a long time ago in a distant country, Nigel is Welsh but living in England with his wife plus the occasional child or pet (currently we have a pair of rabbits).
Nigel has been a spare-time writer since around 2005 (give or take a year), and has been published by Indie Press names NewCon Press (Ian Whates) and Greyheart Press (Tim Taylor).
For a living Nigel works as a software tester/manager in the IT industry, sometimes in London, sometimes elsewhere.
Nigel's ambition is to become a world famous author and then retire to the romantic coastline of Cornwall. Until then, Nigel just puts up with having to be nice to employers and potential employers.
Nigel has been a spare-time writer since around 2005 (give or take a year), and has been published by Indie Press names NewCon Press (Ian Whates) and Greyheart Press (Tim Taylor).
For a living Nigel works as a software tester/manager in the IT industry, sometimes in London, sometimes elsewhere.
Nigel's ambition is to become a world famous author and then retire to the romantic coastline of Cornwall. Until then, Nigel just puts up with having to be nice to employers and potential employers.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 16, 2015
Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths Reviews
Garrison by Nigel Edwards is a military fantasy novella of a company of fresh recruits traveling across an arid landscape toward their first post: a fort along a wild, untamed border. Among this band is one youth called Ataqa: a farmer’s son, who doesn’t attempt to hide his fear of what lies ahead. Another is the brash and confident Hoop, who yearns for battle and glory. And marching beside them is a rugged, enigmatic veteran known only as Von, who tries to impart some veteran wisdom to their inexperienced minds.
What will these three soldiers face? Do they have what it takes to survive this harsh new reality? What enemies await them? And does Von mean to help them or throw them to the wolves?
Now, this story reads very much like Starship Troopers in sandals, so for those who hate that sort of thing, don’t say I didn’t warn you before you kept reading, but for those who think that sounds cool, please continue.
Here Mr. Edwards does a great job translating the daily routine of soldiers into a fantasy setting – for this is definitely a fantasy land, filled with strange beasts and talk of magic – and weaving an interesting narrative around that framework. Quickly, a reader learns enough about each of the three main characters to have an emotional attachment to them; the ominous enemies are described to instill fear; there are rousing speeches exhorting martial prowess; and then the garrison and these enemies face off in a battle royal that introduces both the recruits and the readers to the harshness and brutality of hand-to-hand combat in fantasy land – including some rather cool moments like when the soldiers dig pit trenches to attack the enemy cavalry as they pass over their heads!
The most interesting person in this tale by far was Von. With his shadowy past and mysterious role within the company, he was immediately intriguing. When these things were added to his constant poise, understanding and toughness throughout the narrative, it seemed inevitable that readers would gravitate toward him. So while Ataqa and Hoop are definitely the stars of the show, Von stole it – at least, in my opinion.
The only negative I had with this novella was that there really wasn’t much of a plot. It stayed true to the very linear story of recruit-experiencing-his-first-battle and never strayed far from it. Even when a side story involving Von’s mysterious past came up, it really seemed to be introduced to allow the veteran to impart more wisdom to his youthful proteges rather than form a new plot thread.
According to Edward Nigel, Garrison is an extension of the novel, Prism, with the physical world of that world as the backdrop to this novella, and while it is narrow in scope, it is still an entertaining story.
Garrison by Nigel Edwards is a military fantasy novella of a company of fresh recruits traveling across an arid landscape toward their first post: a fort along a wild, untamed border. Among this band is one youth called Ataqa: a farmer’s son, who doesn’t attempt to hide his fear of what lies ahead. Another is the brash and confident Hoop, who yearns for battle and glory. And marching beside them is a rugged, enigmatic veteran known only as Von, who tries to impart some veteran wisdom to their inexperienced minds.
What will these three soldiers face? Do they have what it takes to survive this harsh new reality? What enemies await them? And does Von mean to help them or throw them to the wolves?
Now, this story reads very much like Starship Troopers in sandals, so for those who hate that sort of thing, don’t say I didn’t warn you before you kept reading, but for those who think that sounds cool, please continue.
Here Mr. Edwards does a great job translating the daily routine of soldiers into a fantasy setting – for this is definitely a fantasy land, filled with strange beasts and talk of magic – and weaving an interesting narrative around that framework. Quickly, a reader learns enough about each of the three main characters to have an emotional attachment to them; the ominous enemies are described to instill fear; there are rousing speeches exhorting martial prowess; and then the garrison and these enemies face off in a battle royal that introduces both the recruits and the readers to the harshness and brutality of hand-to-hand combat in fantasy land – including some rather cool moments like when the soldiers dig pit trenches to attack the enemy cavalry as they pass over their heads!
The most interesting person in this tale by far was Von. With his shadowy past and mysterious role within the company, he was immediately intriguing. When these things were added to his constant poise, understanding and toughness throughout the narrative, it seemed inevitable that readers would gravitate toward him. So while Ataqa and Hoop are definitely the stars of the show, Von stole it – at least, in my opinion.
The only negative I had with this novella was that there really wasn’t much of a plot. It stayed true to the very linear story of recruit-experiencing-his-first-battle and never strayed far from it. Even when a side story involving Von’s mysterious past came up, it really seemed to be introduced to allow the veteran to impart more wisdom to his youthful proteges rather than form a new plot thread.
According to Edward Nigel, Garrison is an extension of the novel, Prism, with the physical world of that world as the backdrop to this novella, and while it is narrow in scope, it is still an entertaining story.
January 15, 2017
Originally reviewed at www.swordsandspectres.wordpress.com
The idea with a short read is that you can blast through it in one sitting … with Garrison it took me a good three or four. This wasn’t due to the length, it was due to the first half of the book. The writing seemed like it was aimed at a lower reading age and, well, nothing seemed to happen. I couldn’t develop an attachment with any of the characters (or even find myself liking any of them). Another major gripe on my end is that none of them act like they are in the military. Discipline seems to be a thing that happens to other people. At one point a junior officer was on the verge of refusing a senior officer as though it was an everyday occurrence. That, coupled with really uninspired dialogue just turned me right off the book. Dialogue is probably my main moan about the entire book, to be honest.
When I say they don’t act like they are in the military, you have the protagonist and his friend, raw recruits admittedly, just acting like high school kids. The veteran just seems to act like a kindly grandfather who would much rather spend his time giving long, drawn out speeches than anything else. Some of the less likeable characters come across more as pantomime villains than anything else. There is a scene in a guardhouse that just screams pantomime.
Garrison does get better. The battle, and most of what happens after it is surprisingly good. It feels like the first 55-60% were written by a different author. Just feels totally different. In fact, the last 40% or so is the only reason the rating got dragged up from a 1 to a 2.
Garrison, with all the impressive reviews on Amazon (UK) seemed like an enjoyable prospect. As it is, I feel very let down. If it was a full length novel, I very much doubt I would have got through to the end.
The idea with a short read is that you can blast through it in one sitting … with Garrison it took me a good three or four. This wasn’t due to the length, it was due to the first half of the book. The writing seemed like it was aimed at a lower reading age and, well, nothing seemed to happen. I couldn’t develop an attachment with any of the characters (or even find myself liking any of them). Another major gripe on my end is that none of them act like they are in the military. Discipline seems to be a thing that happens to other people. At one point a junior officer was on the verge of refusing a senior officer as though it was an everyday occurrence. That, coupled with really uninspired dialogue just turned me right off the book. Dialogue is probably my main moan about the entire book, to be honest.
When I say they don’t act like they are in the military, you have the protagonist and his friend, raw recruits admittedly, just acting like high school kids. The veteran just seems to act like a kindly grandfather who would much rather spend his time giving long, drawn out speeches than anything else. Some of the less likeable characters come across more as pantomime villains than anything else. There is a scene in a guardhouse that just screams pantomime.
Garrison does get better. The battle, and most of what happens after it is surprisingly good. It feels like the first 55-60% were written by a different author. Just feels totally different. In fact, the last 40% or so is the only reason the rating got dragged up from a 1 to a 2.
Garrison, with all the impressive reviews on Amazon (UK) seemed like an enjoyable prospect. As it is, I feel very let down. If it was a full length novel, I very much doubt I would have got through to the end.
September 15, 2024
At the end of this story the author mentions that this is an extension of one of his novels. It reads like one. A lot of world building is forgone and you’re dropped into a scene fairly blindly.
I imagine there is a rich world explored in the novel, but this just fell a little flat. With very little characterisation and buy in for the characters (except Von, I liked him) it left me feeling quite bored.
Where the writing excelled was in the combat scenes, I can see that much effort was put into making them engaging and crisply moving while giving plenty of detail and description.
I got bored with the minutia covered while the soldiers marched, things improved when Von was involved and once the garrison came into play too.
Still, didn’t hate this, but wouldn’t recommend it unless you really like war strategy and soldiering.
I imagine there is a rich world explored in the novel, but this just fell a little flat. With very little characterisation and buy in for the characters (except Von, I liked him) it left me feeling quite bored.
Where the writing excelled was in the combat scenes, I can see that much effort was put into making them engaging and crisply moving while giving plenty of detail and description.
I got bored with the minutia covered while the soldiers marched, things improved when Von was involved and once the garrison came into play too.
Still, didn’t hate this, but wouldn’t recommend it unless you really like war strategy and soldiering.
February 12, 2012
There's a fine line between a good short story solidly written and one that leaps off the Kindle, with living, breathing characters, a setting with rocks cutting into my feet, and a writing style to keep me there. Garrison by Nigel Edwards is a good short story, solidly written. But it never quite came to life for me and never crossed over that line.
The plotline is excellent, well drawn and planned, and the characters feel real although not deeply developed. Two young soldiers, en route to their first garrison posting, come under the wing of an older, experienced one. Without giving away plot elements, I can say that the oldster teaches the recruits how to survive in a garrison and tries to help them through their first battle. It's a harsh world, but totally believable as a historical fantasy reality, if that's not an oxymoron. The plot does have one side-swipe that serves as a lead-in for the oldster's teachings, and perhaps sets the stage for a later, accompanying novel. But it feels sufficiently integrated to make up a linear plotline.
Perhaps a few more sensory details would have helped. [SPOILER ALERT] There's a wonderful image of one young soldier trapped beneath the body of a dead enemy on a battlefield as the fighting passes him by. The author describes how the soldier feels, but doesn't show it. A terrific scene could have been built with feet stamping near his head, shouting overhead, rampaging fantasy-world animals, and the soldier trying to wriggle away but finally realizing the enemy's body is protecting him from being trampled. Instead the author merely stated, "it was difficult to breath (sic) with the weight of the bloody corpse crushing his chest, but at least it afforded a degree of safety." Rather than showing us the battle through the young soldier's eyes, as he'd done in the previous paragraphs, the author chose to write a bald description and move on, leaving me, at least, wanting more. [END SPOILER ALERT]
Note that the misspelling with breath/breathe was one of very, very few in the story. This is a professional presentation by a small press, and the nitpickiest readers shouldn't be turned off.
I suppose it's the lack of depth in the PoV presentation that's bothering me here, and that's of course a decision made by the author. I disagree with some of his choices. But this disagreement doesn't subtract from the story itself, and for readers more involved in the plot than the characters, it's an attractive read. Four stars without my personal opinion, three and a half with.
The plotline is excellent, well drawn and planned, and the characters feel real although not deeply developed. Two young soldiers, en route to their first garrison posting, come under the wing of an older, experienced one. Without giving away plot elements, I can say that the oldster teaches the recruits how to survive in a garrison and tries to help them through their first battle. It's a harsh world, but totally believable as a historical fantasy reality, if that's not an oxymoron. The plot does have one side-swipe that serves as a lead-in for the oldster's teachings, and perhaps sets the stage for a later, accompanying novel. But it feels sufficiently integrated to make up a linear plotline.
Perhaps a few more sensory details would have helped. [SPOILER ALERT] There's a wonderful image of one young soldier trapped beneath the body of a dead enemy on a battlefield as the fighting passes him by. The author describes how the soldier feels, but doesn't show it. A terrific scene could have been built with feet stamping near his head, shouting overhead, rampaging fantasy-world animals, and the soldier trying to wriggle away but finally realizing the enemy's body is protecting him from being trampled. Instead the author merely stated, "it was difficult to breath (sic) with the weight of the bloody corpse crushing his chest, but at least it afforded a degree of safety." Rather than showing us the battle through the young soldier's eyes, as he'd done in the previous paragraphs, the author chose to write a bald description and move on, leaving me, at least, wanting more. [END SPOILER ALERT]
Note that the misspelling with breath/breathe was one of very, very few in the story. This is a professional presentation by a small press, and the nitpickiest readers shouldn't be turned off.
I suppose it's the lack of depth in the PoV presentation that's bothering me here, and that's of course a decision made by the author. I disagree with some of his choices. But this disagreement doesn't subtract from the story itself, and for readers more involved in the plot than the characters, it's an attractive read. Four stars without my personal opinion, three and a half with.
January 29, 2014
After having read Nigel Edwards' surreally bizarre Badger's Waddle last year, it's nice to read something more straightforward from him. This story has got some fantasy-world trappings prowling in the background, and does a generally good job at world-building for its length, but it's really just a semi-realistic tale of three soldiers in a kind of olden time.
Picture pretty much every big-budget movie featuring a large and bloody battle scene. Picture the leaders of the fight, the leading men that get the glorious speeches. Now picture the thousands of anonymous soldiers who Hurrah! when the speeches are done. Ever want a story about a few of those anonymous soldiers? Well, basically, this is that story, and its a refreshing perspective.
I read in Edwards' brief Afterword that this is set in the same world as his earlier novel, PRISM, which is no longer available, having been pulled for rewrites and hopefully future re-release. I imagine that PRISM has different characters entirely. PRISM also probably makes the fantasy elements much more prominent, but I liked how spare they were in "Garrison".
The last I'll say is that this is a "masculine" story. Of course anyone can appreciate writings about experiences of war, service, honor, and the like, and of course a story about soldiers in an ancient war will probably not feature women. But must all fictional soldiers talk about women in such a coarse and dehumanizing way? Even if, to this day, male soldiers do it in real life, that doesn't mean fictional soldiers must. Especially in fantasy stories where author are free to create new world orders! That being said, I liked this overall and between it and Badger's Waddle I do plan to read more from Edwards.
Picture pretty much every big-budget movie featuring a large and bloody battle scene. Picture the leaders of the fight, the leading men that get the glorious speeches. Now picture the thousands of anonymous soldiers who Hurrah! when the speeches are done. Ever want a story about a few of those anonymous soldiers? Well, basically, this is that story, and its a refreshing perspective.
I read in Edwards' brief Afterword that this is set in the same world as his earlier novel, PRISM, which is no longer available, having been pulled for rewrites and hopefully future re-release. I imagine that PRISM has different characters entirely. PRISM also probably makes the fantasy elements much more prominent, but I liked how spare they were in "Garrison".
The last I'll say is that this is a "masculine" story. Of course anyone can appreciate writings about experiences of war, service, honor, and the like, and of course a story about soldiers in an ancient war will probably not feature women. But must all fictional soldiers talk about women in such a coarse and dehumanizing way? Even if, to this day, male soldiers do it in real life, that doesn't mean fictional soldiers must. Especially in fantasy stories where author are free to create new world orders! That being said, I liked this overall and between it and Badger's Waddle I do plan to read more from Edwards.
February 3, 2012
I liked the flavour of this story's names and terminology: lots of Qs and double vowels, and not a familiar European-esque name to be found anywhere. Most of the terminology added real distinctiveness to this fantasy world (e.g. the specialized riding beasts), but a few of the invented terms seemed unnecessary (e.g. calling a standard-issue mace a "thul" instead of just calling it a mace).
The characters are engaging enough -- they're two rookie soldiers learning the harsh realities of war, with a sympathetic elder soldier there to teach them the tricks of the trade. While staying in the titular garrison, the rookies stumble across what seems like a political intrigue subplot, but it didn't end up coming to anything. The ending seemed to come quickly and leave questions unanswered. But the author says this story is an extension of his first novel's world, and I found it believable that the characters' lives stretch beyond this piece of writing. Even without its parent novel for context, Garrison is a solid read.
The characters are engaging enough -- they're two rookie soldiers learning the harsh realities of war, with a sympathetic elder soldier there to teach them the tricks of the trade. While staying in the titular garrison, the rookies stumble across what seems like a political intrigue subplot, but it didn't end up coming to anything. The ending seemed to come quickly and leave questions unanswered. But the author says this story is an extension of his first novel's world, and I found it believable that the characters' lives stretch beyond this piece of writing. Even without its parent novel for context, Garrison is a solid read.
March 7, 2013
Well written military sci-fi/fantasy. There's not a lot of action but it's an interesting look at the daily routine of a soldier's life, which should read realistically despite the fantastical setting of the story.
I do wish there was more plot to this story. There's a lot of set-up for little delivery. This short story is based on a setting found in a novel, Prism, by the author. I'm interested in reading Prism because what I saw of the setting in this story hinted at a well-developed world.
I do wish there was more plot to this story. There's a lot of set-up for little delivery. This short story is based on a setting found in a novel, Prism, by the author. I'm interested in reading Prism because what I saw of the setting in this story hinted at a well-developed world.
January 10, 2014
Unfortunately thi short story didn't really do anything for me, maybe that it because it is not one of my prefered genres. If you have seen the film Starship Troopers, try to imagine them armed with medieval weaponry and you will begin to get the gist of the story. The plot line follows two rookie recruits and the mentor, a battle hardened regular soldier. Some of the terminology started to irritate part way through the tale, but as I said this is not a genre of choice for me and others of this genre have done the same previously.
April 17, 2012
A delightful short story that deals with youth and choices in life as well as duty and honor. A military detachment is sent to replenish a garrison on the boundry with an enemy. Two young men have just completed basic military training and make the journey under the eyes of an experienced veteran. These men have different views on the military service. This story is a cross between Starship Troopers and the Starfist series.
April 24, 2012
An average story for me. I liked Von but didn't care for Hoop. War is never fun and relying on your buddies is very important. Edwards does a good job of trying to explain brotherhood in war time.
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