Book Review - The Peshawar Lancers by S M Stirling
Before starting to talk about The Peshawar Lancers, specifically, I want to briefly mention two tendencies that I've observed in many of S.
M.
Stirling's works.
I'll return, in a moment to why these are important.
1.
Many of Stirling's works include strong elements of homage to older works, for example, The Stone Dogs clearly uses many science fiction elements drawn from the pulp era.
In the appendix, S.
M.
Stirling himself describes the world of the novel as being "yesterday's tomorrow".
2.
I've also felt that often times, Stirling plays games with his readers and their expectations.
This is most obvious in some of the Draka novels, such as Marching through Georgia.
In this book, Stirling uses slaving holding racist villains (the Draka) as viewpoint characters, and almost makes the reader feel sorry for the Nazis whom they are conquering.
These writing decisions have certainly raised a few eyebrows, and even provoked outrage in some online discussions.
And while Stirling always plays it dead straight in his reponses, saying (a) it's just fiction, (b) the views of his characters aren't necessarily his own - I've always suspected that, when in private, he might enjoy the odd sly-smile about the reaction that he has been able to provoke from some readers.
Now turning to The Peshawar Lancers, I'll say that I think it's, by a quite considerable margin, the best of S.
M.
Stirling's books which I have read.
One of the main reasons for this is that the homeage element is forefront and center - there is a very obvious inspiration from some of the works of Rudyard Kipling, H.
Rider Haggard and similar authors.
Additonally, the "games" that Stirling plays in this novel, instead of being with readers' expectations, are games that readers can fully participate in - for example, can they spot the literary reference in the name of the hero, Athelstane King.
Stirling nearly always comes up with interesting premises for his novels, and this book is no exception.
However, it's not just the premise that is interesting - one of the things that I like best about this book is that the plot is genuinely engaging, and the lead characters are genuinely sympathetic.
I can't say that this is a plausible (in my opinion) alternate history, but I will say that it's definitely a lot of fun! If you enjoy ripping adventure yarns, like Flashman series, or the novels of Rudyard Kipling and H.
Rider Haggard, then I'm sure you'll enjoy this book too.
M.
Stirling's works.
I'll return, in a moment to why these are important.
1.
Many of Stirling's works include strong elements of homage to older works, for example, The Stone Dogs clearly uses many science fiction elements drawn from the pulp era.
In the appendix, S.
M.
Stirling himself describes the world of the novel as being "yesterday's tomorrow".
2.
I've also felt that often times, Stirling plays games with his readers and their expectations.
This is most obvious in some of the Draka novels, such as Marching through Georgia.
In this book, Stirling uses slaving holding racist villains (the Draka) as viewpoint characters, and almost makes the reader feel sorry for the Nazis whom they are conquering.
These writing decisions have certainly raised a few eyebrows, and even provoked outrage in some online discussions.
And while Stirling always plays it dead straight in his reponses, saying (a) it's just fiction, (b) the views of his characters aren't necessarily his own - I've always suspected that, when in private, he might enjoy the odd sly-smile about the reaction that he has been able to provoke from some readers.
Now turning to The Peshawar Lancers, I'll say that I think it's, by a quite considerable margin, the best of S.
M.
Stirling's books which I have read.
One of the main reasons for this is that the homeage element is forefront and center - there is a very obvious inspiration from some of the works of Rudyard Kipling, H.
Rider Haggard and similar authors.
Additonally, the "games" that Stirling plays in this novel, instead of being with readers' expectations, are games that readers can fully participate in - for example, can they spot the literary reference in the name of the hero, Athelstane King.
Stirling nearly always comes up with interesting premises for his novels, and this book is no exception.
However, it's not just the premise that is interesting - one of the things that I like best about this book is that the plot is genuinely engaging, and the lead characters are genuinely sympathetic.
I can't say that this is a plausible (in my opinion) alternate history, but I will say that it's definitely a lot of fun! If you enjoy ripping adventure yarns, like Flashman series, or the novels of Rudyard Kipling and H.
Rider Haggard, then I'm sure you'll enjoy this book too.
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