Reviews and Comments

"Every one of the infantry divisions in France in 1944 relied first and foremost on the horse for transport. The horse pulled field guns, ammunition wagons, anti-tank guns; horse-drawn vehicles in Normandy outnumbered their powered counterparts two to one in the summer of 1944. The poorest divisions in France that year even lacked horses." That they were relying so much on horses, against the machines of the Allied forces, was just one of many eye-openers in this book. As even the Allied forces at the time understood, the outcome might have been very different if Germany had been adequately prepared for the invasion, instead of facing it after being weakened through years of war.

Like other books that deal with the bloody, gritty reality of war, this is a book I wish would be "mandatory reading" for politicians. This book, in particular, should be read by anybody who fails to grasp how awful war is, or dismisses the vital role of air superiority, or ignores the risks of demanding that military forces do more than they are equipped (literally and figuratively) to do.

It takes me a long time to get through books these days because of limited reading time, but this is one where I constantly felt the pull to set aside more time to continue reading. I definitely recommend it, but be prepared to learn, from the losing side's perspective, what all-out war looks like.

My main review is on Amazon, but in brief, I will say that this was a fun and informative read. I shared many tidbits with my family, and I'll be able to use the information (and overall food-awareness) I've gained from it to improve my works-in-progress.

If you want a close peek at the brutal daily experiences of those the US sent on its misadventure in Vietnam, this historical novel will give you that, with a detailed focus on the air aspect of the war (especially regarding those who flew the F-100 and F-105). Politicians inclined to "send in our military" without clear objectives and exit strategies should be forced to read this book and others like it.

However, the book itself needs significant editing to clean up errors like missing punctuation and incorrect word choice, and some revision to help the story flow would help too.

I enjoyed Novum and would like to read more as the series develops. This first story gives a good introduction to the characters and setting, all of which seemed to be designed well with enough complexity to be interesting and believable without drowning the reader in too much detail. The character motivations are sound, as are interactions among them. There's enough to this book that it is a complete story, but it also leaves open enough conflict that there is plenty of room for story development, and the conflicts are important enough to leave you wanting to know how they are resolved.