An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer

Finished on 5/22

I suppose even the best writers produce a dud every now and then - and goodness knows, Heyer produced enough to allow at least one. In my estimation, this is it. On the other hand, I think my sister really liked it.

Heyer abandons at least a couple of her basic principles here. For one, this is the third in a series. I could be mistaken, but I believe that all the rest are stand-alone. It is by generation, the character in this one is the grandchild of the couple of the first of the three books - not a continuing story of the same characters, although both previous couples appear - understandably - after all, they are the parents and grandparents ---

I'm thinking that it's ok for a writer to like his/her characters - but it is unwise to carry them on beyond their use-by date. Another "problem" with this one is that the "bad man" who is reformed in the end is not a man but the daughter/granddaughter of aforementioned characters from earlier novels. Not a Heyer strength.

All that aside, the real problem (for me) with this one is that it is an historical novel, not a period piece, but set in genuine history - centered around the Battle of Waterloo, no less. That may be what made this one of my sister's favorites, but it totally did not work for me. The shift between drawing room/ballroom dramatics and battlefield drama was extremely unsettling. And did the battle actually continue for weeks and weeks and weeks? or did it just seem like it. I guess if you are determined to "tell" an extremely complex piece of military whatever from the point of view of each of a couple dozen characters, it can become rather protracted. I was quite relieved when I checked the end of the book and found that the last thirty or so pages were a list of research sources - not more narrative.

Besides - wouldn't it have been just as satisfactory without blowing up the good guy?