Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "prejudice"

Captain James Lockwood by Mark Bois

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The new recruits to the Inniskilling Regiment aren’t yet soldiers in Captain James Lockwood’s estimation. Having served for twenty years in His Majesty’s army, he should know. And it is his duty to make certain each becomes the type of soldier who will do his duty and make the rest of the regiment proud. James himself might be English, but he’s served with the Irish regiment a long time and has been married to the lovely Brigid O’Brian Lockwood, herself an Irish Catholic, for twenty-three years.

Brigid came close to losing James five years ago, when he suffered a wound that nearly killed him at Waterloo. She feels he’s given enough for his country, but inevitably duty rears its ugly head and calls him back to service. After six years together, that day arrives with orders for the immediate departure of James and his men for Guyana, where rumors of a slave rebellion mean it will be years before she and James are reunited . . . if he survives. After all, such an assignment is akin to a death sentence. She’s all too aware of how many British soldiers have died because of the diseases that decimate troops assigned to the Caribbean. Still, she is an officer’s wife and a role model for the other regimental wives. Only a few women and children will be permitted to accompany their men overseas, and to show that she understands, she participates in the lottery to decide who goes and who must remain in Ireland.

Her willingness to show kindness and self-sacrifice endears her to the women, and when their hard-earned savings are stolen and they are turned out with nowhere to go, the women and children left behind seek out Brigid. She and her daughter, Cissy, devise a plan that takes advantage of a small hamlet of houses whose inhabitants were turned out for nonpayment of rent. Here the families will reside and work while they wait for their husbands to return. But this is Ireland, a land divided by loyalties and religion. The law and Protestant ministers would punish these indigent families, consigning them to workhouses, which Cissy equates to dens of misery. Some Catholics don’t want them around either. Their husbands are no better than traitors because they wear the red uniforms of English oppressors, and as far as the militant Catholics are concerned, that makes these men’s families traitors too. The White Boys, led by a priest no less, are just the ones to make certain these women and children, including the Lockwoods, pay the price for turning against their own kind.

In the meantime, James must deal with his own struggles. One of his men is a thief. The waters near Guyana are infested with pirates, including a particularly vicious man who adheres to the philosophy that the only good Englishman is a dead one. The colonial governor is accustomed to getting what he wants when he wants it. His fear of reprisals from the slaves, who seek only what the law has promised them, makes him lash out at James. When James refuses to bend to the governor’s will, he earns the lasting enmity of a man determined to destroy James any way he can. The abuse James witnesses and the slaves he meets also make him confront his own conscience.

This immersive third book in the Lockwood series is a tale of prejudice, betrayal, justice, and bigotry. Bois provides stark contrasts of slavery and oppression in ways that make readers react to the injustice meted out to the characters. At the same time, he deftly shows that not all people think and act the same, that there are good and bad people on both sides of the coin. Although soldiers normally fight on land, Lockwood and his men finds themselves waging war on water more than once. The first encounter demonstrates the wiliness necessary to thwart an enemy that is better armed and has larger numbers. The second is an edge-of-your-seat final showdown with a pirate who consummately portrays the viciousness inherent to those who preyed during the nineteenth century.




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City of Liars by Michelle Fogle

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The home to which Joachim Déulocresca returns is not the same one that he left. Fear and hate, tinged with greed – all under the guise of devout Catholicism – permeate Barcelona. No one is safe, especially if you are a Jew. After his contact is burned at the stake, Joachim removes the badge marking his religion to become a Christian pilot in search of a new ship.

The first Act of Faith is a powerful draw for devout Aularia Bautista. What better way is there to publicly demonstrate her Catholic faith? Her parents forbid her to attend, but willful naivete compels her to go. The auto-da-fé and anger she witnesses horrify her, and she confides this to her tutor who offers her a “better” way to demonstrate her piety.

Joachim and Aularia initially meet at the execution; their next encounter is at her home. Her father, a wealthy spice merchant, hires Joachim as his new navigator and agent. A shared attraction brings them together, while a confession nudges them to cooperate in helping Jews elude the Inquisition. But Barcelona is a city of liars, a place where everyone wears a mask. When the masks are lifted, Joachim and Aularia find themselves enmeshed in situations more portentous than expected and from which neither may escape.

The depth of Fogle’s research is evident and seamlessly interwoven into a story that incorporates graphic depictions of prejudice, murder, betrayal, deception, Barbary pirates, and rape. Absent is an author’s note to explain why she uses “Señyorita” instead of “Señorita.” While two first person viewpoints are initially disconcerting, Fogle deftly weaves a labyrinthine tale in which sectarianism is as relevant in 1487 Spain as it is today.




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(This review originally appeared in the May 2022 issue of Historical Novels Review: https://historicalnovelsociety.org/re...)

Dream Chaser: The Pyrate Chronicles by Wayne Savage

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


William Benton, former boatswain of Dream Chaser, rues the predicament he faces. Before long, he will meet the hangman’s noose. The only saving grace is the stranger who visits him with an offer to make his final days in 1723 more bearable if he shares his story. And so, Nathaniel Bagshaw gets his wish and learns the true tale of William Benton and the exploits of Björn Gunnarsson, better known as the legendary Captain Ironside.

It begins the day they and two other pirate vessels pursue a Spanish treasure galleon. A heavy mist swallows them all, and when they finally emerge, the pirates find themselves in the midst of a sea battle between vessels flying unfamiliar flags. One pirate ship is destroyed, and one appears to get away, but Dream Chaser is taken back to East Holstein where her crew learn a civil war or a rebellion or a war of succession rages between East and West Holstein for many years. At present, Captain Ironside and the men and women who serve under him are merely guests, but if he refuses to man the town’s guns during a surprise attack on that may change. Unwilling to participate in what will be a mass slaughter, Captain Ironside devises a plan to prevent this while allowing the pirates to regain their ship and sail far away from this strange land. If they can get away without William Benton throwing a wrench into their escape.

This is the first of two adventures the Dream Chasers encounter in this debut volume of The Pyrate Chronicles. Set during the early 1700s, this fantasy series mirrors real past events in interesting ways. Pirate history and lore are woven like braided rope throughout. William Benton lives up to his role as antagonist, although there is a shift in his character during the second half that will make readers wonder just what he’s up to. There are a few missing letters, misspellings, and formatting issues, but these are minor and won’t spoil the reading experience.

Savage does a commendable job recreating places and times in vivid ways. He interweaves relevant topics of bigotry, prejudice, and enslavement, even while populating his tale with a wealth of diversity and enlivening it with some pirate songs. He even puts a provocative twist on one of the most enduring pirate mysteries.


(This review first appeared at Pirates and Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/adult-fant...)




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