The Sabre's Edge

Matthew Hervey #5

by Allan Mallinson

The Sunday Times bestselling author Allan Mallinson, brings us another enthralling Matthew Hervey adventure. If you like Patrick O'Brian, Bernard Cornwell and CS Forester, you will love this!

"What a hero! What an author! What a book! A joy for the lover of adventure and military buff alike" -- LYN MACDONALD, THE TIMES
"Splendid...the tale is as historically stimulating as it is stirringly exciting" -- ANDREW ROBERTS, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
"Impeccably researched and rooted in both time and place" -- ***** Reader review
"A thrilling tale" -- ***** Reader review
"Allan Malinson tells an absorbing tale and gives a wonderful insight into life at that time." -- ***** Reader review

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India, 1824 : Matthew Hervey and the 6th Light Dragoons are stationed in India, where conflagration looks set to flair.

The usurper prince, Durjan Sal , has taken refuge in the infamous fortress of Bhurtpore . A deep ditch, which can be flooded at a moment's notice, runs round it - and as its notorious Tower of Victory - built with the skulls of defeated men - bears witness, it has withstood all attacks made on it.

Until now. Hot and dangerous work lies ahead for Matthew Hervey and his courageous troop who know their fortunes will be decided by the sabre's edge .

A Sabre's Edge is the fifth book in Allan Mallinson's Matthew Hervey series. His adventures continue in Rumours of War . Have you read his previous adventures A Close Run Thing, The Nizam's Daughters , A Regimental Affair and A Call to Arms ?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction, War, India, 19th Century, Audiobook

496 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 2003

About the author

Brigadier Allan Lawrence Mallinson is an English author and was an officer in the British Army.

Mallinson is best known for writing a series of novels chronicling the (fictional) life of Matthew Hervey, an officer serving in the (fictional) British 6th Light Dragoons from the late Napoleonic Wars through subsequent colonial conflicts in India, North America and south Africa.

Reviews

[Clemens Schoonderwoert · Rating 4 out of 5]

**Should Read as 4.5 Stars!**

Read this book in 2006, and its the 5th volume of the exciting "Matthew Hervey" series.

This story is set in the year AD 1824, five years after "A Call to Arms", and Matthew Hervey and his Sixth Light Dragoons are still in India.

Now it will be a place called Bhurtpoor that will be the centre of the action, because the Raj has been usurped.

The rightful claimant, Balwant Sing, has been forcibly replaced by the war-mongerer, Durjan Sal.

In this maelstrom of hostile activities and the threat of war the English troops are making ready to intercede, and Hervey and his new troop will again be tested to their very limits.

Now this Durjan Sal has taken refuge into the fortress of Bhurtpoor, and it will be a very hard nut to crack for the English forces.

What is to follow is the bloody siege of Bhurtpoor, and ferocious fighting between the English forces and that of Durjan Sal, and that battle will finally be decided by the sharpest point of the sabre's edge.

Very much recommended, for this is another excellent addition to this very likeable series, and that's why I like to call this episode: "A Wonderful Sabre's Edge"!

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mallinson's novels in the Matthew Hervey series are primarily a loving depiction of early 19th century British cavalry keeping order in India. A good part of his books are given over to military politics and organization, Indian details, and cavalry minutia, reflecting his cavalry knowledge and experience. For the casual reader, though, all this can be confusing and get in the way of the plot. In this book, Hervey is now a 35 year old captain deeply devoted to the Indian service, as evidenced by his willingness to remain in India for more than 10 years while his young daughter is raised by relatives in England. The late-developing action concerns the siege and reduction of a hitherto impregnable Indian fortress. I found this part very interesting, particularly in view of the fact that one of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe books, Sharpe's Company, has as its major plot point a similar situation. Both are well done, but I think it's fair to say that Cornwell's series is generally more readable and action-oriented than Mallinson's.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as eventful as previous books in this series but still very good in parts.

[Ahw · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some people might like this book. I didn't. The first problem was that it was the *5th* in a series. I didn't know that when I picked it up. It was confusing with references to characters and events from previous books. I assumed eventually I would understand ... It didn't get better. There didn't seem to be a point to the book. Events happened. Time progressed. Things that seemed important had no overall impact. I couldn't keep the characters straight nor did I really care.
The military descriptions seemed accurate and detailed. If you love British cavalry from the early 1800's this just might be your book. But in addition to not knowing previous characters and events I didn't know the current references to British cavalry terms NOR did I know all the Indian sub-continent terms. There was far too much British "stiff upper lip" going on too. I couldn't tell if there were romantic subtext in some of the situations. It seemed like there might be but I couldn't tell from the conversations and the author didn't give me any insight in to the characters thoughts.
Again, I didn't like it but others might. Some of the episodes of battle and soldiering were well done. This is the *5th* book after all. I imagine it had to be good to get to 5 books. If I see the first one (which was about Waterloo and must have had some actual emotional development for the characters) I might pick it up. My advice. Don't pick up the 5th one as your first.

[David Campton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another outing with Captain Hervey finds him and a few of his colleagues back in Burma for the ill-managed campaign against the King of Ava. That part of the book was even more plodding than this series can be at times, but his return to India and reunion with E Troop and the rest of the 6th Light Dragoons sees the narrative pick up. I won't repeat my reservations about Mallinson's narrative style, except to say that I could have done without the periodic detailed orders being included in full detail, and would have benefited from a more comprehensive glossary of military and colonial terms, but again I appreciate the period and local knowledge underpinning this series, expanding my knowledge of an aspect of British imperial history I know little about. I have previously noted that the mindset of the hero is not as anachronistic as those in some of my other favourite series. This allows the author to paint an uncompromising portrait of a period redolent with strict class boundaries, sexism and racism, without comment. Having bought a large number of this series in a secondhand bookshop last summer, I will be returning to this world again before too long.

[Sue Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit aimless at first, Matthew Hervey gets assigned to the attack on Burma as a sort of aide-de-camp, but is injured before much happens and so is back in Calcutta with his regiment when they are assigned to the attack on Bhurtpore. Once Bhurtpore becomes the focus the novel settles down to a good pace with lots of historical detail.

[Steve Groves · Rating 3 out of 5]

First book in the series I have read, and there is a backstory that the reader is meant to be familiar with. The main character is possibly truer to life for the era than Sharpe, and there is a great deal of minute detail about the cavalry trade that will be confusing to the majority of readers.

The story picked up towards the end with the siege of Bhurtpore.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

No idea why this rather dry way of telling a thrilling tale has me captivated. Certainly, there are no glaring anachronisms nor, probably, any period swearing. But the narrator does a fantastic job with these novels and I can certainly recommend the audible version to the normal crew.

[Richard Sisson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good old yarn about a British cavalry officer in the early days of empire in India. Overly long and rambling and written in the romantic style of the period, but detailed and historically accurate accounts of the Burma and Bhurtpore campaigns of 1825-1826.

[Dean David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story

[Michelle Ohara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ending

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed and lads of characters involved both real and fictional. That with the 19th centaury English makes it a little difficult to follow.

[Benjamin L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not Recommended - unless you are reading through the series.

The Sabre's Edge edge, and the Matthew Hervey Series in general, comes from long line of military historical fiction that follow the career of an officer/character. Its basically Sharpe, but not. Unfortunately, Mallinson seems to have dropped the ball pretty heavily with this one. Although it is well-written at the sentence level has the same kind of attention to historical accuracy and detail many of the genre is known for, The Sabre's Edge is just not a very good book.

Mallinson seems to have made the mistake of thinking, in his series, he needs to cover absolutely everything that happens to Matthew Hervey. As a result The Sabre's Edge lacks any kind of cover-to-cover plot, and is reminiscent of a slice-of-life anime - one where the life happens to be a Cavalry Officer serving in India, sure, but a slice-of-life none-the-less. The Sabre's Edge starts with Hervey serving as an aid to a superior on a campaign he has no real reason to be on, presumably because Mallinson wanted to write about this particular campaign very deeply so had to find a way to cram his character there (Its true real officers did this kind of thing all the time historically, and while it may have been personally and professionally interesting for them, it makes for a poor narrative.) Hervey get's injured, returns to his regiment to recover, and then is called up to participate in a brief siege.

The Sabre's Edge rattles around directionless for most of the book as Hervey does whatever happens to come to mind at the time, and this is what killed the book for me; there was no overarching plot, it was just stuff happening. That may be good to show a character's down time every now and then, but a single book should be a coherent narrative and The Sabre's Edge just isn't. Reading it, I found myself wondering when things would get going until about the last 100 pages.

I'll Grant that this is the 5th in the series, and if you've made it this far, my review doesn't matter. If you liked the first four, read this one, and then continue. If You've not read the first four, probably start with #1.

[Jan Crackfeed · Rating 2 out of 5]

I understand the appeal of this book, and the technical knowledge of the author is impressive. Possibly I did not enjoy the novel as much as I would otherwise have having not read any of the other Hervey tales.
But I did find the focus on upper class gossip and obsession to detail of military hierarchy very tedious (I enjoy military strategy, but the military discussion seemed to be entirely limited to rank, dress or cavalry manoeuvres - too niche to be of much interest).
The Rangoon campaign and Bhurtpore siege were enjoyable reads, but they seemed a very minor part of the story, which seemed to revolve more around the lives of British aristocrats and internal military disagreements. I have to say I also found it troubling that virtually every single character is a paragon of virtue, any flaws characters have are minor except for the main big bad enemy. It felt very fairytale-like in that sense. Green is the only character that feels 'real'.
It's not a bad book, it's just not my cup of tea. If you are a modern military woman or man and idolise the monarchy and aristocracy you'll enjoy the book.

[Mike Penlington · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good action read, following fictional Dragoon Captain, Matthew Hervey, through the beginning of the battle of Rangoon campaign (1824) and then the siege of Bharatpur (1826).
It provides a very good overview of the history and I suspect portrays life in this part of the military extremely well.

Wasn't quite as action-packed, page turning as I thought it was going to be.
Having said that, the main character was very likable and believable and it's all well written, so I will keenly read more.

One criticism, I felt it could have done with an Appendix with military Terminology (and ranks) and explanation of non-english words/terms, as not being at all knowledgeable about those aspects I felt I wish missing a bit of understanding. Wished I'd been reading on my Kindle instead!

[Veronica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the writing style difficult to read as Mallinson uses the English of the period with military terminology. I was more entertained with the secondary characters than with the protagonist, Capt. Hervey. Lots of history and good description of the military events.

[Jerry Haigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of the Mathew Hervey adventures are gripping stories - as good a series of reads as the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin seafaring adventures. Great for lovers of horses. I have read, and re-read, the lot.

[John]

continued the series good

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

TGhe truth is that I am beginning to tire of the precious Mr Hervey. He's a bit too self-important for my tatse. Perhaps he rminds me of me!

[Aaron Bright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like that Hervey is starting to get a mean streak about him.