Robert M. (shotokanchef) reviewed on + 813 more book reviews
The first part of this novel is about Rogers' Rangers and their 1759 raid on St. Francis in Canada during the French and Indian War (The Seven Years War). As in Arundel and Rabble In Arms, much of it concerns the hardship of the trek north to the scene of action and the return, which happens to be more arduous even that Arnold's marches. Part two begins in England, whence the narrator has removed himself. The reader might wonder if this is Dickens' Oliver Twist, or The Old Curiosity Shop. But, soon it shifts back to America as Rogers begins his quest for an overland route to the Northwest Passage. Now it is tedium at its best and could even be mistaken for Parkman's The Oregon Trail, although it does lack the wanton destruction of buffalo to be found in Parkman. In between the parts, the Revolutionary War is lightly touched upon. Thus, one could read Part One, followed by Arundel and Rabble In Arms, then Part Two. Somewhere, if you can find it, Oliver Wistell will fill in the gaps in the Revolution.
