What do you think?
Rate this book
Megiddo's Shadow
Fueled by anger at the death of his two brothers in World War I, 16-year-old Edward abandons his ailing father on their farm and leaves Canada to enlist. After proving that he can tame any wild horse, he's is sent to Jordan to fight with the Cavalry.
Luckily, his horse is the extraordinary Buke; in battle, a trooper's horse is the key to life and death, and his true companion. In the harsh desert, Edward is grateful for the camaraderie of his tent mates, Cheevers and Blackburn,and letters from Emily, a nurse he met at base camp. As they close in on the enemy Edward finds that the glory and noble vengeance he seeks is replaced by the horror of war and the realization that he must fight not only to survive, but also, to kill.
From the Hardcover edition.
Luckily, his horse is the extraordinary Buke; in battle, a trooper's horse is the key to life and death, and his true companion. In the harsh desert, Edward is grateful for the camaraderie of his tent mates, Cheevers and Blackburn,and letters from Emily, a nurse he met at base camp. As they close in on the enemy Edward finds that the glory and noble vengeance he seeks is replaced by the horror of war and the realization that he must fight not only to survive, but also, to kill.
From the Hardcover edition.
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 2006
6 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Slade
73 books523 followersArthur Slade was raised in the Cypress Hills of southwest Saskatchewan and began writing at an early age. He is the author of the bestselling The Hunchback Assignments series of books, Dust (which won the Governor General's award), Tribes and Jolted. He lives in Saskatoon, Canada (which really is a real place). Join his creative & somewhat clever newsletter at: what a zany newsletter!
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 27, 2007
Very much a classic boy-goes-to-war novel in the tradition of The Red Badge of Courage, All Quiet on the Western Front or Fallen Angels, Edward experiences the comradeship of soldiers, a first love and the grim reality of warfare. He faces the loss of those he loves and his faith in God as he struggles to find meaning and survive.
Arthur Slade relates his grandfather and great uncles' true stories on his website. They are as gripping and heartfelt as the novel and are very much the inspiration for this book. The letter Edward and his father receive about Hector is taken almost verbatim from the real letter the Slade family received about Percy Slade.
Moving, emotional and wrenching at times, this is historical fiction at its finest. I will be reading more of Arthur Slade's writing in the future.
Arthur Slade relates his grandfather and great uncles' true stories on his website. They are as gripping and heartfelt as the novel and are very much the inspiration for this book. The letter Edward and his father receive about Hector is taken almost verbatim from the real letter the Slade family received about Percy Slade.
Moving, emotional and wrenching at times, this is historical fiction at its finest. I will be reading more of Arthur Slade's writing in the future.
July 30, 2008
I haven't read a book about World War I for years. Bodie Thoene wrote some which I liked but they were mostly about adults. Arthur Slade's book tells the story of Edward Bathe, a sixteen year old Canadian boy who enlists in the English military after his old brother was killed in France. Edward eventually becomes a cavalryman and travels to Palestine with his horse Buke to fight the Turks. During his training in England he met Emily, a nurse who he writes to as the war progresses and with whom he falls in love.
Reading the part of the book about his time in Palestine was interesting to me for more than just the story, I lived there for a few months back in 2000. The setting is described is very similar to what I remember...the area it seems hasn't changed all that much.
Edward seems to encompass all that soldiers can be. He enlists with a very proud sense of being on the side of right but the brutality and horror of war affect him. Through his relationships with his friends and enemies, many of the different personalities that seem to come out in truly trying times become apparent. War is a hard thing to read about but Slade was able to balance the war, romance, friendship, and family in Edward's story.
Reading the part of the book about his time in Palestine was interesting to me for more than just the story, I lived there for a few months back in 2000. The setting is described is very similar to what I remember...the area it seems hasn't changed all that much.
Edward seems to encompass all that soldiers can be. He enlists with a very proud sense of being on the side of right but the brutality and horror of war affect him. Through his relationships with his friends and enemies, many of the different personalities that seem to come out in truly trying times become apparent. War is a hard thing to read about but Slade was able to balance the war, romance, friendship, and family in Edward's story.
July 24, 2025
Slade’s young adult World War I novel opens in September 1917 with sixteen-year-old Edward Bathe collecting a letter from his small town’s post office. The regimental leader of the unit in which his older brother, Hector, had been serving for over a year writes that the young man was killed in action in France. (I found this form of family notification jarring; typically, a telegram was sent.) Hector apparently took a bullet to the heart and died instantaneously—or so Sgt. Gledhill writes. . . Edward will read quite a different version of the story some months later.
Edward’s ailing father, a South African War veteran who suffers episodic depressive illness, has not worked the family farm for seven months. Edward has been unable to rouse his dad from bed as his mother could. She died of TB sometime in the recent past and full responsibility for the land and animals has been carried by the sixteen-year-old boy. Now that Hector is dead, Edward decides it is his time to go to the front. He’d always planned to sign up, but now the war has become personal. Since Mr. Bathe refuses to sign the papers that will permit his underaged son to lawfully enlist, Edward determines to lie his way into becoming a member of the “Bull Moose Boys,” a unit out of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. His feeling for the family farm pales in comparison to his commitment to the glorious British Empire, which he regards as the keeper of the earth, preserver of order, and tamer of savage lands. “The dirty Huns [are] wrecking it all,” he thinks, they’ve “invaded Belgium and France, raped women, crucified soldiers, and tossed babies onto bayonets.” He naively believes he can play a role in stopping them and become a hero in the process.
It’s a tale that’s been told many times before: an idealistic young man confronts the reality of war and emerges transformed. What’s different about Slade’s novel is that its setting is not France or Belgium but the Middle East during the latter part of the Sinai-Palestine Campaign. The main character is not infantry but yeomanry, and his relationship with his horse figures prominently. It seems to me, too, that Edward is a slower learner than some of the other young soldier protagonists I’ve encountered. He needs to face abundant horrors before he finally gets it. Are youthful idealism and naivety really so firm and deep? Or does Edward stubbornly hold on to dreams of honour and valour because on some level he knows he’s made a serious mistake? In a state of intensely uncomfortable cognitive dissonance, he can’t acknowledge reality until he’s hit over the head time and again with the facts. Whatever the case, the author makes clear that coming of age during war (whether as combatant or collateral damage) is among the harshest experiences a young person can endure.
After crossing the Atlantic and detraining near Camp Witley in Surrey, England, Edward is surprised to meet up with a close military friend of his father’s, the esteemed Colonel Nixon Hilts (“Uncle Nix”) who visited the Bathe farm when Edward and Hector were children. Aware of the teen’s actual age and his skill with horses, the colonel pulls some strings: to spare the boy’s life, he takes the liberty of arranging for Edward to be transferred to the remount department in Lincolnshire to work as a breaker, training the horses that are to be sent to the front. (Those poor, poor creatures—yet another casualty of man’s folly, stupidity, and cruelty.) Edward is not happy about this “reassignment”; he’s in Europe to see some action and itches to hold a Lee Enfield. Still, there is some consolation in Grimsby: he meets and falls for a young nurse, Emily Waters. Slightly older, she’s shrewd, direct, and charmed by his innocence.
In a critical scene on Christmas Day 1917, he helps her and other medical staff unload four ambulances, only to discover that Paul Oster, the Canadian friend who also signed up in Moose Jaw and took the youth under his wing, is among the severely injured. Paul’s face is one massive bruise and his right foot has been blown off. “They lied to us, Edward. We’re all fighting for mud and piss,” Paul tells him. “A man isn’t worth anything there. We’re just meat, ravens picking at our eyes, rats feasting on our flesh.” He advises the boy to break his leg or crush a finger to avoid going to France. Edward rushes outside to vomit, and that night he’s tormented by disturbing battlefield dreams, but his desire to fight persists. He doesn’t return to visit his friend at the aid post as Emily has encouraged him to do.
A short time later while at dinner with Uncle Nix, Edward gains insights into his father and guidance about to what do next. Colonel Hilts, aware that the young man wants to be part of the action, cautions him against transferring back to his own unit—there’s just too much attrition in the infantry, he says. Instead, he recommends that Edward apply to the yeomanry. Yeomen troopers fight both on the ground and on a horse. Within a week, Edward has made a transfer and is thrilled to be paired with “58,” the feisty black gelding that no other breaker could handle. 58 is renamed Bucephalus (after the horse of Alexander the Great)—“Buke” for short. The bond between the two is real and powerful.
Just before Edward finds out that he and his fellow troopers are destined for Palestine, Emily (who has also lost a brother to the war and longs to be useful) leaves England to work at the major military hospital in Etaples, France. Both young people will witness significant suffering, and they will cling to and confide in each other in increasingly intimate letters.
Edward had firmly believed he’d be sent to France and had dreams of visiting his girl on leave. However, the current need is in the Middle East. After significant losses to the Ottoman Turks at Gallipoli, the British and their Entente allies have been struggling. Yeomanry units who fought near the Dardanelles are being reorganized and reinforced, and Edward and his mates are some of the new blood being infused into the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. But first those troops have to get to the Holy Land. Edward’s ship, a reeking repurposed fruit and fish carrier, is attacked by a German submarine on the way to Alexandria, and there are many casualties, including among the horses below deck.
The physical conditions Edward and his fellows endure once in Palestine are extreme: intense brain-boiling heat (132 degrees Fahrenheit at one point), a lack of water, scorpions, malaria, and eventually influenza. Then there’s the human element: the overfed top-brass windbags, a sociopathic NCO, and a seemingly conscience-free yeoman mate for whom killing Turks is actually pleasurable, a kind of game. Finally, there are the long treks through the desert and the military actions, some of which are described in brutal and bloody detail. This being set in the Holy Land, there are also some biblical references.
Megiddo, for which the novel is named, is an ancient, ruined city on a hill in northern Israel. The Greek name for the place was Armageddon. According to the UK National Army Museum website, the Battle of Megiddo, orchestrated by General Allenby, was the climactic conflict of the campaign in Palestine. The general “skilfully deployed his forces before launching a surprise attack,” seeking “to trap the Ottoman forces, which were encamped and regrouping on the plains of Megiddo, and block off any escape routes.” The aim was a “co-ordinated attack with cavalry, infantry, artillery, armoured vehicles and aircraft to annihilate them in one fell swoop. As the infantry and artillery closed on their positions, the DMC [Desert Mounted Corps] encircled the enemy, preventing escape.” The longest, central part of Slade’s novel concerns Edward’s squadron hunting down Turks while trying to avoid being ambushed by the wily enemy.
The greatest irony is that when Edward reaches the point of losing almost everything he values, including his religion and his ideals, he performs actions that everyone around him agrees merit the Victoria Cross. These acts of ostensible heroism ultimately mean nothing to him. He carries the terrible burden of knowledge, complicity, and guilt—particularly over an encounter with a German boy soldier—and has entered a winter of the soul. When he returns to Saskatchewan and sobs in the arms of the minister and family friend who tried to convince him not to sign up, Reverend Ashford comments: “There’s no shame, Edward. You did everything you could. In the end we are all just men.”
In a concluding note, Slade explains that his novel was inspired by his grandfather’s experience, but it is evident that the author also did a lot of research. It is best that young adult readers approach the book already understanding the causes of the Great War as well as a sense of the key players. Furthermore, it’s helpful for them to have a map of Palestine at hand to more easily follow the movements of Edward’s squadron. (The absence of one is an unfortunate oversight.) Having said all this, I think readers of Slade’s novel will gain a good sense of the attitudes and culture (including the jingoism) of the time. Details about prominent military figures, songs and singers of the period, and religion are skillfully woven into the larger story of an underaged soldier’s enlistment, training, experiences in battle, and his psychological growth and maturation.
Rating: 3.5 rounded up
Edward’s ailing father, a South African War veteran who suffers episodic depressive illness, has not worked the family farm for seven months. Edward has been unable to rouse his dad from bed as his mother could. She died of TB sometime in the recent past and full responsibility for the land and animals has been carried by the sixteen-year-old boy. Now that Hector is dead, Edward decides it is his time to go to the front. He’d always planned to sign up, but now the war has become personal. Since Mr. Bathe refuses to sign the papers that will permit his underaged son to lawfully enlist, Edward determines to lie his way into becoming a member of the “Bull Moose Boys,” a unit out of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. His feeling for the family farm pales in comparison to his commitment to the glorious British Empire, which he regards as the keeper of the earth, preserver of order, and tamer of savage lands. “The dirty Huns [are] wrecking it all,” he thinks, they’ve “invaded Belgium and France, raped women, crucified soldiers, and tossed babies onto bayonets.” He naively believes he can play a role in stopping them and become a hero in the process.
It’s a tale that’s been told many times before: an idealistic young man confronts the reality of war and emerges transformed. What’s different about Slade’s novel is that its setting is not France or Belgium but the Middle East during the latter part of the Sinai-Palestine Campaign. The main character is not infantry but yeomanry, and his relationship with his horse figures prominently. It seems to me, too, that Edward is a slower learner than some of the other young soldier protagonists I’ve encountered. He needs to face abundant horrors before he finally gets it. Are youthful idealism and naivety really so firm and deep? Or does Edward stubbornly hold on to dreams of honour and valour because on some level he knows he’s made a serious mistake? In a state of intensely uncomfortable cognitive dissonance, he can’t acknowledge reality until he’s hit over the head time and again with the facts. Whatever the case, the author makes clear that coming of age during war (whether as combatant or collateral damage) is among the harshest experiences a young person can endure.
After crossing the Atlantic and detraining near Camp Witley in Surrey, England, Edward is surprised to meet up with a close military friend of his father’s, the esteemed Colonel Nixon Hilts (“Uncle Nix”) who visited the Bathe farm when Edward and Hector were children. Aware of the teen’s actual age and his skill with horses, the colonel pulls some strings: to spare the boy’s life, he takes the liberty of arranging for Edward to be transferred to the remount department in Lincolnshire to work as a breaker, training the horses that are to be sent to the front. (Those poor, poor creatures—yet another casualty of man’s folly, stupidity, and cruelty.) Edward is not happy about this “reassignment”; he’s in Europe to see some action and itches to hold a Lee Enfield. Still, there is some consolation in Grimsby: he meets and falls for a young nurse, Emily Waters. Slightly older, she’s shrewd, direct, and charmed by his innocence.
In a critical scene on Christmas Day 1917, he helps her and other medical staff unload four ambulances, only to discover that Paul Oster, the Canadian friend who also signed up in Moose Jaw and took the youth under his wing, is among the severely injured. Paul’s face is one massive bruise and his right foot has been blown off. “They lied to us, Edward. We’re all fighting for mud and piss,” Paul tells him. “A man isn’t worth anything there. We’re just meat, ravens picking at our eyes, rats feasting on our flesh.” He advises the boy to break his leg or crush a finger to avoid going to France. Edward rushes outside to vomit, and that night he’s tormented by disturbing battlefield dreams, but his desire to fight persists. He doesn’t return to visit his friend at the aid post as Emily has encouraged him to do.
A short time later while at dinner with Uncle Nix, Edward gains insights into his father and guidance about to what do next. Colonel Hilts, aware that the young man wants to be part of the action, cautions him against transferring back to his own unit—there’s just too much attrition in the infantry, he says. Instead, he recommends that Edward apply to the yeomanry. Yeomen troopers fight both on the ground and on a horse. Within a week, Edward has made a transfer and is thrilled to be paired with “58,” the feisty black gelding that no other breaker could handle. 58 is renamed Bucephalus (after the horse of Alexander the Great)—“Buke” for short. The bond between the two is real and powerful.
Just before Edward finds out that he and his fellow troopers are destined for Palestine, Emily (who has also lost a brother to the war and longs to be useful) leaves England to work at the major military hospital in Etaples, France. Both young people will witness significant suffering, and they will cling to and confide in each other in increasingly intimate letters.
Edward had firmly believed he’d be sent to France and had dreams of visiting his girl on leave. However, the current need is in the Middle East. After significant losses to the Ottoman Turks at Gallipoli, the British and their Entente allies have been struggling. Yeomanry units who fought near the Dardanelles are being reorganized and reinforced, and Edward and his mates are some of the new blood being infused into the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. But first those troops have to get to the Holy Land. Edward’s ship, a reeking repurposed fruit and fish carrier, is attacked by a German submarine on the way to Alexandria, and there are many casualties, including among the horses below deck.
The physical conditions Edward and his fellows endure once in Palestine are extreme: intense brain-boiling heat (132 degrees Fahrenheit at one point), a lack of water, scorpions, malaria, and eventually influenza. Then there’s the human element: the overfed top-brass windbags, a sociopathic NCO, and a seemingly conscience-free yeoman mate for whom killing Turks is actually pleasurable, a kind of game. Finally, there are the long treks through the desert and the military actions, some of which are described in brutal and bloody detail. This being set in the Holy Land, there are also some biblical references.
Megiddo, for which the novel is named, is an ancient, ruined city on a hill in northern Israel. The Greek name for the place was Armageddon. According to the UK National Army Museum website, the Battle of Megiddo, orchestrated by General Allenby, was the climactic conflict of the campaign in Palestine. The general “skilfully deployed his forces before launching a surprise attack,” seeking “to trap the Ottoman forces, which were encamped and regrouping on the plains of Megiddo, and block off any escape routes.” The aim was a “co-ordinated attack with cavalry, infantry, artillery, armoured vehicles and aircraft to annihilate them in one fell swoop. As the infantry and artillery closed on their positions, the DMC [Desert Mounted Corps] encircled the enemy, preventing escape.” The longest, central part of Slade’s novel concerns Edward’s squadron hunting down Turks while trying to avoid being ambushed by the wily enemy.
The greatest irony is that when Edward reaches the point of losing almost everything he values, including his religion and his ideals, he performs actions that everyone around him agrees merit the Victoria Cross. These acts of ostensible heroism ultimately mean nothing to him. He carries the terrible burden of knowledge, complicity, and guilt—particularly over an encounter with a German boy soldier—and has entered a winter of the soul. When he returns to Saskatchewan and sobs in the arms of the minister and family friend who tried to convince him not to sign up, Reverend Ashford comments: “There’s no shame, Edward. You did everything you could. In the end we are all just men.”
In a concluding note, Slade explains that his novel was inspired by his grandfather’s experience, but it is evident that the author also did a lot of research. It is best that young adult readers approach the book already understanding the causes of the Great War as well as a sense of the key players. Furthermore, it’s helpful for them to have a map of Palestine at hand to more easily follow the movements of Edward’s squadron. (The absence of one is an unfortunate oversight.) Having said all this, I think readers of Slade’s novel will gain a good sense of the attitudes and culture (including the jingoism) of the time. Details about prominent military figures, songs and singers of the period, and religion are skillfully woven into the larger story of an underaged soldier’s enlistment, training, experiences in battle, and his psychological growth and maturation.
Rating: 3.5 rounded up
Read
March 29, 2010Edward, a 16 year old Canadian, enlists in the British army during World War I, after his brother is killed. This was an excellent book. The author, who I "know" through a book discussion group, manages to create a character the reader really gets to know and love, while vividly describing scenes of war. Some of the scenes are interesting and some are horrible. Although this is a young adult novel, I didn't feel the author was easy going when it came to describing battle scenes. There were some passages that were pretty hard to take, and Edward's reactions to what he was seeing made them even harder to take.
One of the things I liked best about the story was that Edward was a very religious boy, whose faith in God carried him through. There were references to religious faith throughout the book, yet it never seemed to overpower the story. I always wish there was a book about a Christian in which the main character just happened to be a Christian, yet that element of the story was handled as just another plotline. This was that kind of book. On the other hand, Edward's faith was an important part of the storyline. The battle scenes took place in the desert of the Middle East, another aspect adding to the religious elements of the book.
I also liked the ending of this book. When I was almost done, I really despaired that Edward could really go on living, but at the very end, he seems to make peace with what he had seen and experienced. An awesome book. Very, very good job with the religious aspects. Loved it.
One of the things I liked best about the story was that Edward was a very religious boy, whose faith in God carried him through. There were references to religious faith throughout the book, yet it never seemed to overpower the story. I always wish there was a book about a Christian in which the main character just happened to be a Christian, yet that element of the story was handled as just another plotline. This was that kind of book. On the other hand, Edward's faith was an important part of the storyline. The battle scenes took place in the desert of the Middle East, another aspect adding to the religious elements of the book.
I also liked the ending of this book. When I was almost done, I really despaired that Edward could really go on living, but at the very end, he seems to make peace with what he had seen and experienced. An awesome book. Very, very good job with the religious aspects. Loved it.
November 29, 2008
Art Slade plunges the reader into the shoes of Edward, a 16 year old who has just lost his revered older brother in the Great War. Edward lies about his age and enlists to avenge his brother's death. He quickly finds out that war is not as glamorous as he thought.
The historical detail is bang-on and Edward's day to day experiences are so real that the reader can practically feel the grit of sand in her teeth. There is much in this novel that is very mature but it's handled deftly. I found myself weeping many times as I suffered Edward's losses. A compelling read.
The historical detail is bang-on and Edward's day to day experiences are so real that the reader can practically feel the grit of sand in her teeth. There is much in this novel that is very mature but it's handled deftly. I found myself weeping many times as I suffered Edward's losses. A compelling read.
March 21, 2017
More like 3.5 but I just can't give this book four full stars. I thought the story was well-paced and the prose well written but there were some problems with the book that I just couldn't ignore. I know it's historically accurate and realistic, but I just couldn't get over the racism and prejudice that the main character, Edward, exhibits in his world view. I understand why the author included it, and why it's important, but I don't think that it was addressed in a clear way. It was a constant undertone throughout the narration and while Edward does seem to grow and begin to question whether he is all that different from the enemies, the change is not very dramatic. Because it's dealt with so subtly, it could be easy to miss, which would be a shame and would really change the reading of the work. I feel that the addition of an author's note explaining the historical context would go a long way here to justify some of the author's choices. That being said, if a reader comes to the work with an understanding and awareness of the historical situation in which the narrative is placed, it wouldn't be that problematic - my only worry is that the treatment of it may be too subtle for younger readers to notice. Overall though, the book does fill a much needed gap in WWI stories for YA readers by providing a unique perspective as a story of the Middle Eastern theater of the war.
August 26, 2020
Edward is a young man who enlists after his brother is killed whilst fighting in the trenches of France. To do so he went against his father's wishes and lied about his age but, in his mind, he had to do his 'duty'.
Unfortunately, war is not as glamorous as it is made out to be by both the press and the military posters. It is rain, mud, lack of water/food/adequate sleep, mosquitoes, lice, malaria and relentless heat/cold. It is mateship lost with the detonation of a shell. It is love lost by the dropping of a bomb.
Edward learns the hard way that Mankind's worst enemy is Mankind itself. Happy reading. Annemarie
I received a free copy of Megiddo's Shadow from the Author and have chosen to leave a review.
Unfortunately, war is not as glamorous as it is made out to be by both the press and the military posters. It is rain, mud, lack of water/food/adequate sleep, mosquitoes, lice, malaria and relentless heat/cold. It is mateship lost with the detonation of a shell. It is love lost by the dropping of a bomb.
Edward learns the hard way that Mankind's worst enemy is Mankind itself. Happy reading. Annemarie
I received a free copy of Megiddo's Shadow from the Author and have chosen to leave a review.
October 25, 2021
Traces the devastating journey from idealism to trauma to return of a teenage Canadian soldier from the prairies in WWI. Does a great job hammering home the horror of war without /feeling/ overly horrifying or traumatic for teen readers? Like, it's awful, and there's no neat and tidy ending or happily ever after, but it doesn't leave you with this oppressive feeling. And, subjectively, I thought it captured the mindset of a "nice" young, settler-descent, churchgoing idealistic Colonial having his worldview shattered really well.
October 24, 2022
I read this book on a librarians recommendation when I was 14. I still think about how memorable the storyline was, taking turns that I didn't expect and an ending that wasn't a happy one. It's an easy read, great cottage page turner, be prepared to cry and laugh throughout the book.
April 15, 2025
Wonderful and tragic
This is well written, and a good story, but it is a hard reminder of the tragedy, hardship and pain that is war. It's the story, I believe, of a boy becoming a man, rather abruptly and harshly, and with it, losing his innocence. Great read
This is well written, and a good story, but it is a hard reminder of the tragedy, hardship and pain that is war. It's the story, I believe, of a boy becoming a man, rather abruptly and harshly, and with it, losing his innocence. Great read
December 17, 2019
Pretty good! The ending made me cry a little bit.
November 30, 2011
This book is about a boy called Edward who lives on a farm on the prairies. When the First World War started, he shows up at the enlisting station, lies about his age with visions of glory and fame. At the training ground in England, He is assigned as part of the mounted forces, when he meets and falls in love with Emily, and builds a friend ship among his fellow soldiers. They are sent to war against the Ottomans in Palestine, where he encounters hard fighting, near-death situations, and death of his peers and enemy. During his fighting, he receives tragic news that Emily was killed by a German bomb. With the war over, he returns to his house and, because of all that he went through, went in a fury and started breaking the altar in the town church, until he is calmed by his Reverend who tells him that some things are just meant to be.
I picked up this book, because of further interest on the Palestinian battlefield in the Great War, and because of my interest in war novels(again).
I continued to read because of the rising action, that made me feel that I should not miss out on the mood that the book already gave me, and kept rising into the climax, until the action started to fall, but just out of curiosity, continued to read to find out how the story would end, which eventually led to the end.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes war novels, with that rising volume until, Ka-pow! the story reaches the climax, and gives a feeling even after reading, because, as I explained earlier, the rising action made the book so interesting.
I picked up this book, because of further interest on the Palestinian battlefield in the Great War, and because of my interest in war novels(again).
I continued to read because of the rising action, that made me feel that I should not miss out on the mood that the book already gave me, and kept rising into the climax, until the action started to fall, but just out of curiosity, continued to read to find out how the story would end, which eventually led to the end.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes war novels, with that rising volume until, Ka-pow! the story reaches the climax, and gives a feeling even after reading, because, as I explained earlier, the rising action made the book so interesting.
June 16, 2012
This story was amazing. It was as gritty as the terrain and time it spans. It follows a young boy, Edward Bathe, as he becomes a man. At sixteen, after the death of his older brother in the Great War, he runs away and joins up. He wants to be infantry just like his brother. But as soon as he arrives in England after basic training, he gets transferred to a mounted unit. He is not happy, especially when his unit ships out. But soon he finds himself on the way to war; he is shipping to British Palestine and the battle there.
The book is dedicated to five members of the Slade family who all fought in the Great War and only one did not come home. The story follows real battles and encounters during the war. It provides the family insight and possibly some family tales and legends, but even so, this story is an incredible read. As we follow young Bathe on a journey to war, he will find what it means to become a man. The writing was amazing and you will not be able to put the book down.
Read the review and with links to other reviews of books by the authors on my blog Book Reviews and More. And also an author profile and interview with Arthur Slade.
The book is dedicated to five members of the Slade family who all fought in the Great War and only one did not come home. The story follows real battles and encounters during the war. It provides the family insight and possibly some family tales and legends, but even so, this story is an incredible read. As we follow young Bathe on a journey to war, he will find what it means to become a man. The writing was amazing and you will not be able to put the book down.
Read the review and with links to other reviews of books by the authors on my blog Book Reviews and More. And also an author profile and interview with Arthur Slade.
January 18, 2013
I highly recommend this book to any teen who is looking for a riveting adventure set during the First World War. The Middle-Eastern desert is an oft-overlooked theatre of war when authors tackle stories set in WW1. The relationship between a young (underaged) soldier and his horse is beautiful, the action is compelling, and the complexity of the characters and their interactions is just wonderful. It's a love story on more than one level, and the coming-of-age story of a teen boy in extraordinary circumstances. The writing itself is elegant; a pleasure to read.
August 16, 2010
I don't know why this book took me so long to read...it was jut UGH! The story was cool, the characters were cool, but I couldn't get into it...then again, maybe if I read it again? But would I WANT to read it again? I think it wasn't great because of the other books I read right before it - they were definitely edgier.
May 5, 2014
I loved reading this book, it was well thought out and I enjoyed knowing that it is based on a true story.
I liked how the description of the battles gave me the ability to see through the main character's eyes and it was interesting to see the effect
of war time on regular people.
I liked how the description of the battles gave me the ability to see through the main character's eyes and it was interesting to see the effect
of war time on regular people.
August 24, 2008
One of the shortlisted titles for the CLA Young Adult Book Award in 2007.
November 13, 2008
I quite liked this quick read about one young man's experience as a soldier in WW1. I think teenagers who like horses and war stories would respond well--there is some mild profanity.
November 12, 2012
A nice though wholly unmemorable look at the Middle Eastern front of WWI.
February 11, 2010
Surprising and surprisingly sad. You may want to keep the tissues handy. Read the full review.
July 31, 2010
An underage Canadian boy enlists in World War I when the family receives news that his older brother has been killed in the fighting.
September 20, 2010
I loved this book. I think every high school kid should read this, particularly boys. Beautifully written, sensitive, pulls no punches--a strong coming of age story set during the first World War.
August 7, 2011
Loved this book - Arthur Slade did an awesome job with this one! Even my 18 year old son enjoyed it.
December 29, 2013
Historical fiction at its best. Story and fact combine to paint such a vivid picture of events that it will stay with me for some time. Excellent.
August 28, 2013
it's is the best book ever!
May 18, 2016
I loved this book!!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews