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The Fort

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The Fort

By: Bernard Cornwell
Narrated by: Robin Bowerman
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‘Captivate, kill or destroy the whole force of the enemy’ was the order given to the American soldiers.

THE FORT is the blistering new novel from worldwide bestseller Bernard Cornwell.

Summer 1779.

Seven hundred and fifty British soldiers and three small ships of the Royal Navy. Their orders: to build a fort above a harbour to create a base from which to control the New England seaboard.

Forty-one American ships and over nine hundred men. Their orders: to expel the British.

The battle that followed was a classic example of how the best-laid plans can be disrupted by personality and politics, and of how warfare can bring out both the best and worst in men. It is a timeless tale of men at war, written by a master storyteller.

 Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Political Sea Adventures War & Military Adventure War
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Critic reviews

‘Nobody in the world does this stuff better than Cornwell’ Lee Child
‘Bernard Cornwell is a literary miracle. Year after year, hail, rain, snow, war and political upheavals fail to prevent him from producing the most entertaining and readable historical novels of his generation.' Daily Mail
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This was an absolute page-turner, if you can have a page-turner when it's an audiobook!

A great read!

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WOW this was a very good insight into the working life of americans during the American War of Independence. I enjoyed the picture that depicted how the English/Scottish soldiers interacted with the local residents and how they directed their fighting in this particular war. It was refreshing as it did not portray any particular side as villanous.

The Fort

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love this book listened to numerous times and enjoy it everytime. hopefully this will lead to a film of the book.

fantastic story

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A very American tale of wartime confusion. Disappointing naration.
The editors would have been better of offering this story in the third person .
A clearly defined map would have helped enormously. But this is a very Swiss perspective.

A slice of the American war with the British

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Reviews were a real mixed bag here, so I was very intrigued given Cornwell is such a successful author, and one I am a big fan of. 

Personally I found it an entertaining standalone story but I understand some of the criticism leveled at it, and perhaps some is down to misunderstanding the nature of the novel. This is not a character driven narrative; yes there are the main players at the heart of the event but this is a more factual account/dramatisation of the affair rather than placing an invented character at the heart of a historical event.

So those expecting more of a Sharpe/Last Kingdom style adventure may feel disappointed.
However I do agree the narration is not one of the strengths here, I he lacked the range of voices required for the large number of overlapping conversations, which meant you could get confused as a fair few sound the same, a handful do standout (some unfortunately on the grating side) but this means there is a reliance on telling us who spoke and when which doesn't help with the flow.

This was an incident I was unaware of and as always with Cornwell, seems very well researched and highlighted the nature of each side's strengths and weaknesses. 

I also found such standalone novels a great break from the growing number of long running epics I'm finding myself tied up in!

Solid Cornwell story

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