On the Irrawaddy: A Story of the First Burmese War

by G.A. Henty

The British waged three costly wars against the Burmese Empire during the 19th century. The costly wars took the lives of over 15,000 British and Indian soldiers. When the final war ended in 1885, Great Britain controlled all of northeastern India and Burma. In this book a young man by the name of Stanley finds himself involved in the events swirling around the First Burmese War. Join Stanley as he finds his fortune during a tempestuous time in G. A. Henty's On the Irawaddy: A Story of the First Burmese Wars. Set in early nineteenth century India and Burma, this book includes geographical, historical, and explanatory footnotes to aid the modern reader.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Adventure

342 pages, Kindle Edition

About the author

George Alfred Henty, better known as G.A. Henty, began his storytelling career with his own children. After dinner, he would spend and hour or two in telling them a story that would continue the next day. Some stories took weeks! A friend was present one day and watched the spell-bound reaction of his children suggesting Henty write down his stories so others could enjoy them. He did. Henty wrote approximately 144 books in addition to stories for magazines and was known as "The Prince of Story-Tellers" and "The Boy's Own Historian." One of Mr. Henty's secretaries reported that he would quickly pace back and forth in his study dictating stories as fast as the secretary could record them.

Henty's stories revolve around fictional boy heroes during fascinating periods of history. His heroes are diligent, intelligent, and dedicated to their country and cause in the face, at times, of great peril... Henty's heroes fight wars, sail the seas, discover land, conquer evil empires, prospect for gold, and a host of other exciting adventures. Along the way, they meet famous personages... In short, Henty's heroes live through tumultuous historic eras meeting leaders of that time. Understanding the culture of the time period becomes second nature as well as comparing/contrasting the society of various cultures.

Reviews

[Matt Kelland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read any Henty for a long, long time, and this was a real pleasure. It's set in an unusual period and location, which appealed to both the historian and the wargamer in me. Of course it's a load of jingoistic tosh, but it's an exciting adventure, loaded with historical details and local color. It's a little rushed in places by modern standards, but on the other hand it keeps moving. It's hard to remember that this was written as a children's book - Victorian kids clearly had a much wider vocabulary and greater attention span than modern teenagers.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out quite promising, as my curiosity got whetted by the prospect of impending war and action, after all, the literature on this historical campaign is thin. Disappointingly the author's writing style left much to be desired. He seldom describes the scene in sufficient detail, but instead we get bogged down in the finer details of how an officer's kit is furnished, and at what cost, what is the salary of different ranks, the value of rubies etc. It is also blatantly racist as befits a product of that era, and stupendously one-sided in favor of British imperialism of course. The conquered natives were all happy to be colonial subjects rather than under their original despotic tyrant monarchs, for instance. Description of battles was also lackluster, don't expect much gore and intimate in-your-face combat. Battles were won as territories were simply 'carried at the point of a bayonet', positions over run by superior disciplined British fighting units compared to the rag-tag individualistic and uncoordinated native soldiers coerced into fighting by the king holding their families hostage. The adventures of the protagonist were pretty far-fetched and beggars belief, from fighting off beasts single-handed to the improbable infiltration into an enemy camp under disguise, rescuing a captive and subsequently chipping their way out of a dead end cave. Yes it was supposedly a children's book, for only the young can be that gullible. If this was a graphic novel, it would have worked much better. There were a number of nice illustrations of certain events spread throughout the book though.

[Tocotin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh no. No no no. This was painful. Pompous, boring, racist and wooden. When I saw that the characters, Burmese or British, were speaking in the same way, I just gave up and skimmed through it so fast that – By the way, it had maybe one woman at the beginning, and then she was promptly kicked out of the narrative. And she was white. Yawn.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than I would have assumed.

The negative reviews on here made me skeptical, but I gave it a go anyway because I liked another Henty book "At Agincourt". I thought this book was fun, and maybe it seemed better than it was because I went into it with low expectations, but I found it fun across the board.

[Daniel Bouchoc · Rating 3 out of 5]

The dialogue seemed unnatural but the plot line was fun and I enjoyed and learned from the historical aspect.

[Audiobook Heaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, I listened to the audiobook version on YouTube. I will leave the link below so that everyone can enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQM-u...

[Katja Labonté · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars & 3/10 hearts. A pretty fun read. The carrying off of Harry (all the way down to the temple siege) is the best part. ;) I didn’t find the history-dump too bad this time—either I’m more used to it, or I just read this book too fast to get bored by it. I can’t think of any mentions besides a Burmese priest saying he can’t be killed by snakes, mentions of evil spirits, & maybe mentions of drinking—it’s very clean.

A Favourite Quote: “‘As to your obtaining the services of the man you brought down with you, I do not regard that as a question of luck. You saved the man's life, by an act of the greatest bravery—one that not one man in ten would perform, or try to perform, for the life of a total stranger.’”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “As a rule, the villagers had few complaints to make but, at the place he went to on this occasion, the headman had been behaving as in the old times; and Stanley had to listen to a long series of complaints on behalf of the villagers.... Stanley at once deprived the man of his office, and called upon the villagers to assemble and elect another in his place. 
“‘If you are not satisfied,’ he said to the fellow, ‘you can go to Prome, and appeal to the general there; but ... I can tell you that the general ... will be much more likely to order you a sound flogging, than to reinstate you in your office.’”

[Gareth Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Burmese War? In my ignorance I didn't know there was one, let alone several. This is my first novel by Henty and it won't be my last. One the downside the characterisation is lousy, virtually non-existent and there are, of course, the attitudes are somewhat old fashioned - certainly not a book to be recommended for young readers today. The structure is clumsy. A vaguely outlined family saga, a couple of deeds of derring do (one described in some detail) and a rather dry account of the campaign. And yet, for all the negatives, there is a certain charm in the straightforward storytelling about straightforward people about a historical campaign that makes only the footnotes of the history books. Overall, for all the downsides, stirring stuff. Just right for a Victorian schoolboy.

[John Senne · Rating 4 out of 5]

awesome book. one of my favorites by him.