Guns of the Dawn
Ratings34
Average rating4.3
I was initially skeptical, because I knew Tchaikovsky for his Science Fiction work, and this book was clearly not that. I'm not a big reader of Jane Austen novels either, which the start of this book resembles more. But the story eventually won me over, if not the heroine. Emily takes much too long to realize that her basic assumptions of the world are wrong, and several times I found myself shouting at her to wake up already. She gets there in the end, but it takes an entire epilogue chapter for that to happen.
I devoured this book. Tchaikovsky's stories are intentional, involving, richly orchestrated, and meaningful. The audio book narration is top notch.
The hook of “Eliza Bennett with a musket” doesn't do Emily full justice; this is no gimmick. Emily is worthy of recognition on her own terms.
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This man is quickly climbing up my list of favorite authors. Not the way most of my favorite authors do, by releasing a book I devour and make part of my personality, but by the workman's approach: Adrian Tchaikovsky just writes a lot of things, and they're all different and they're all really good (we will forget about Shards of Earth for now- that could have been my fault haha)
Now, Guns of the Dawn. Guns is a standalone Flintlock fantasy about one of my new favorite heroines, Emily Marshwic. Guns is commonly pitched as “Sharpe meets Jane Austen”, and that seems very apt. The first third of this book seems very Jane Austen-esque, and reads like a period drama. But when a king is assassinated, and war goes poorly, noblewoman Emily is conscripted to join the army and must learn how to fight. I really enjoyed Emily, and the second half of this book continuously gets better and better. The ending was fantastic. While I've known many veteran fantasy fans that love this book, I also think it would be a great intro to adult fantasy. I will say though to those that are unaware, this is very low magic. You could almost remove the magic entirely and have the same story.
9/10
Jane Austen gets drafted.
Not really, but it's a good tagline for this long single volume fantasy set in an analogue of British Regency history. The Marshwic family has already given much to the war against Denland, but still it comes for the middle daughter of the house and sends her to the frontline, a world away from the sea of polite society she has swum in all her life. It's a bumpy ride from country house living to fighting a guerrilla war in swamps, but Emily adapts and develops skills she, and we, never suspected she had at the beginning of the novel.
By using this skewed version of real world history, Tchaikovsky is on the same kind of ground as Guy Gavriel Kay, and it's a testament to the strength of this book that isn't ridiculous to compare him to such a master. He's not interested in the mythic echoes that Kay loves, preferring something grounded in grittier reality, with a fine supporting cast adding emotional heft to Emily's journey. This is a really good book.