Oh wow! Am I glad you wrote a sequel and pointed back to this first part. Obviously I had to read this first followed by the two sequels, which I absolutely loved, but won't tire you with comments all over the place :p
This first part had me utterly captivated from the first till the last letter. Arguably the worst war in modern western history.. and you turn it into something... stunning.. The world building... The details in this are amazing, sentences like: The whistle was sounding and the whole platoon was crawling out of the trench like a colony of ants intent on its own destruction. make it all so painfully visual. Especially the last part of that sentence, I don't think I've come across a description that better captures the total madness that was WWI. (won't get into politics and the madness of every war ;), but solely based on the mixture of warfare tactics from an old and new era during this particular war).
The encounter with the German soldier reminds me of the painful way it supposedly (and likely) was. Some very interesting stories in a Belgian WWI museum made a lasting impression on me. There are letters displayed from soldiers who'd written home about singing Christmas carols together with the soldiers of the enemy camp and they refused to fight each other during the holidays (and in some instances even shared a meal). After the holidays they couldn't disobey their orders any longer and had to start shooting again at the men they had come to know were exactly like themselves...Men who didn't want to fight in that war, were scared and wanted to go home to their families, just like them.
You even added the dead horse. I'm very strange in that sometimes stories of 'innocent animals' dying hit me harder than those of soldiers.... I love the fact there's a monument for animals that died in war in London. The phrase "they had no choice" inscribed on the monument explains it...(Of course I do realise soldiers often didn't have a choice either). After completing my Masters Degree in History I lost interest in it a bit, but a story like this makes me search for the historical details and rekindles my passion for a while. (as you might have noticed :P)
And this was just about the world building. The characterisations and dynamics... Unbelievable this was your first TT story! The warmth and support between the four of them is so strong, the deep, but subtle, love between How&Jay and Mark&Rob is beautiful and captain Barlow's understanding nature softens that hell of trenches.
Oh dear I rambled on there... Summarised: Just. Wow.
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Date: 2012-06-03 11:24 pm (UTC)This first part had me utterly captivated from the first till the last letter. Arguably the worst war in modern western history.. and you turn it into something... stunning..
The world building... The details in this are amazing, sentences like: The whistle was sounding and the whole platoon was crawling out of the trench like a colony of ants intent on its own destruction. make it all so painfully visual. Especially the last part of that sentence, I don't think I've come across a description that better captures the total madness that was WWI. (won't get into politics and the madness of every war ;), but solely based on the mixture of warfare tactics from an old and new era during this particular war).
The encounter with the German soldier reminds me of the painful way it supposedly (and likely) was. Some very interesting stories in a Belgian WWI museum made a lasting impression on me. There are letters displayed from soldiers who'd written home about singing Christmas carols together with the soldiers of the enemy camp and they refused to fight each other during the holidays (and in some instances even shared a meal). After the holidays they couldn't disobey their orders any longer and had to start shooting again at the men they had come to know were exactly like themselves...Men who didn't want to fight in that war, were scared and wanted to go home to their families, just like them.
You even added the dead horse. I'm very strange in that sometimes stories of 'innocent animals' dying hit me harder than those of soldiers.... I love the fact there's a monument for animals that died in war in London. The phrase "they had no choice" inscribed on the monument explains it...(Of course I do realise soldiers often didn't have a choice either). After completing my Masters Degree in History I lost interest in it a bit, but a story like this makes me search for the historical details and rekindles my passion for a while. (as you might have noticed :P)
And this was just about the world building. The characterisations and dynamics... Unbelievable this was your first TT story! The warmth and support between the four of them is so strong, the deep, but subtle, love between How&Jay and Mark&Rob is beautiful and captain Barlow's understanding nature softens that hell of trenches.
Oh dear I rambled on there... Summarised: Just. Wow.