The Tragic Battle of Isandlwana: An Epic Tale of Brutal Valour

The Good Read: Sorry just could not get into this book unlike the Wellington series or the legionaire series it just seemed to take to long t get going and it dragged as a read .

Spain on Sep 15, 2023

Mike Allen: The awful arrogance of the two leaders in the cape and the courage on both sides who fought and died at this place. Sees the conflict from both sides and if there ever was a story of the horror and pointlessness of colonial wars this is it. Having said that there is a lot of humanity in the telling.

Australia on Dec 15, 2022

otter72: The true story of the Zulu wars Part 1.
The film Zulu Dawn covers some of the lead up to Isandlwana but this book covers more.
The politics and intricacies behind the invasion make interesting reading.

United Kingdom on Oct 06, 2022

Stephen N. Prince: An excellent story of the events leading up to and including the horrific slaughter of the 24th Regiment of Foot, the 2nd Warwickshire Regiment, at Isandhlwana in South Africa on the 22nd January 1879. The author has really done an excellent job in his research and this is obvious when reading the details of the battle and the men who were there, authentic or ficticious. The story is however peculiar in that the main - ficticious - character in the first half of the book (a new young recruit of the 24th Foot from the English Midlands town of Stratford-upon-Avon called Arthur Wilkinson), whose story is followed through his training and subsequent shipment to South Africa, is not followed up in detail in the second half until the last few pages of the novel describing the final battle of the regiment's C- Company on the slopes of Mount Isandhlwana. Finally, many have criticised James Mace's use of americanisms in the novel, such as "drug" instead of "dragged" or "gotten" instead of "got", but considering that the author is an American and that such terms only appear a few times in the text, this is quite petty. All in all, I personally enjoyed the novel and am looking forward to...

Germany on Sep 24, 2022

Trevor Beegan: Very well written with lots of historical notes & picture of main partispants.

Australia on Mar 01, 2021

Bob Jarvis: I did enjoy this book.The battle is well documented and this tale takes place very much according to history. The location, strategies & manouvres described are exactly as they took place at the time. What Mace does is breathe life into the combatants, both European & Zulu, giving the story a thrilling & immediate feel. No one knows what the deceased soldiers actual comments were but I found their given narrative both reasonable & believable. The ladies' early adventures just ended in the first half of the book. It might have been interesting to see some closure in their stories.
The movements during the battle are a little difficult to keep up with & I was happy that I knew the battle lay-out beforehand, it helped. Sadly in my Kindle version the maps shown were so small I couldn't make out anything.
What you do have here is a rousing, action packed story, extremely well described with characters that are very easy for the reader to become invested in. The author is also very non-judgemental in his Historical Notes at the end, spreading blame & glory in a very equitable manner. Smashing stuff! Well done Mr. Mace!
As a aside, I would recommend to...

United States on Dec 08, 2016

Blimprider: This is a long book, 504 pages in paperback, and I found every word entertaining as well as informative. Mr. Mace, a life-long historian and author of seventeen books on various historical periods, gives us handful of characters to follow through the grand adventure, soldiers of the legendary 24th Regiment of Foot, on their way to South Africa where they will bear instrumental roles in High Commissioner Sir Henry Bartle Frere's illegal and unwanted (by the Crown) invasion of Zululand on a contrived pretext. I am assuming these are fictional characters, as I have not been able to locate them in the historical record, although that is probably the case with most privates.
Most Americans are familiar with the Battle of Isandlwana through the movies Zulu and Zulu Dawn. There was also a NOVA documentary about the battle that tried hard to show the Zulu side, but no matter the focus, I have always been of the impression that the battle was a sudden affair with one of Lord Chelmsford's isolated columns caught in the open and wiped out by a vastly superior force. Mace has the advantage of writing almost 140 years after the events, and has done an incredibly thorough job of collecting...

United States on Oct 08, 2016

Bruce Roeder: I just finished the Kindle Edition and have to say I enjoyed the book immensely. The Zulu War has been an interest of mine since the movies Zulu and Zulu Dawn came out many moons ago. I've read The Washing of the Spears by Morris twice and Ian Knight's work with Ian Castle more than once because I war-game the period. I'm about to delve into Knight's epic Zulu Rising. Mace gives credit at the end of the book to those who helped him with research including Knight.

I mention all that because it's clear that Mace has done his homework. Time after time I was reminded of my previous research as Mace's character's personalize the happenings and incidents leading up and including the disaster at Isandlwana.

Obviously much of the dialogue is made up but I found quite believable and logical given whatever circumstance Mace was describing.

The book was a fun read but also a sobering read as he pitted Zulu Warrior against British Redcoat and one realizes that although the Zulu's won at Isandlwana they took horrendous casualties that meant doom for the Zulu nation.

I've read a couple of Mace's earlier works about the Roman soldier and enjoyed those as well. I think...

United States on Sep 16, 2016