A good history book is one thing. A good historical novel is another. 'Rebels and Traitors' tries to be both and ends up being neither. The problem is a lack of focus. There are three protagonists but none of them have a clear goal or purpose, beyond surviving through the unrest of the Civil Wars. The 'star-crossed lovers' plot promised in the blurb only appears in the last 200 pages of this 700+ page book! Whole chapters are given over to describing national politics or military manoeuvres, with the reactions of the nominal protagonists merely used to give colour to the historical events. Davis contrives to have her characters present at nearly every major event in the manner of G. M. Fraser's Flashman but lacks the invention or dash to cover the absurdity. I suspect that Davis originally intended to write a much shorter book, focusing on the romance between Gideon and Juliana, but her research (which appears to have been formidable) and the detailed backstories invented for all the characters grew so large that the book ended up doubling in size and squashed the narrative under great screeds of historical background. I had very high hopes for this novel, and was excited to get my teeth into it and learn about a period of history I had not previously had much teaching on, whilst also enjoying what promised to be a romantic and adventurous fictional story.However, this book did not meet my expectations. At times I felt like I was wading through battle descriptions for hundreds of pages at a time, desperate to reach the other side when the story would begin again.Sadly, the battle descriptions left a lot to be desired as well, less informative than a non-fiction book would have been, and more detailed than is neccessary for what is essentially a fictional novel.The characters kept this story afloat, and just about kept my interest until the end, but I really feel that this book could have been a third of the size and conveyed the story, the characters and the history in a much better, and more relevant way.I was also disappointed, as the blurb held a lot of promise. I would warn others who are attracted by the blurb that the "star crossed lovers" story line does not appear until around about the last 200 pages...I definitely wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who wanted a historical fiction book to read, nor would I recommend it to those who want factual information about the English civil war, as I am sure there are far better non-fiction works out there.
What do You think about Rebeldes Y Traidores (2012)?
my first Kindle book! getting to know Kindle. miss the paper but is basically good idea.
—marasicaru
Great characters. Learned a lot about the English Civil War. Long book, though!
—Vjordan5952
