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"Captain" Reid wrote many adventure novels akin to those written by Frederick Marryat and Robert Louis Stevenson. He was a great admirer of Lord Byron. These novels contain action that takes place primarily in untamed settings: the American West, Mexico, South Africa, the Himalayas, and Jamaica.
Good for its age. Take into consideration this was written in 1859. Mayne Reid was a very popular adventure writer in the nineteenth century & this was his first book. Interesting as it is a novel about the Mexican war, which is usually overshadowed by the civil war in American history & literature. He seemed very imaginative in his settings. I remember reading afloat in the forest by the same author and it is also very good.