ARA Review by Alginon Ernest of The Warramunga's War

[Alginon Ernest]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, The Warramunga's War.]

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2 out of 5 stars

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The Warramunga's War by Greg Kates is set during WW2, from Egypt and then to Australia. The plot started off fine, introducing characters and all. I found the characters a little bit 2D and also there were some unrealistic things that happened. For example, they are in the middle of a firefight and just chatting. Also, I think Jacko’s character and the accents were a little bit overdone in this part. However, I quite liked the beginning and was excited to continue the book.

After the war, Jamie becomes a member of MI6, bringing his aboriginal friend with him. It was here where the plot disintegrated. The book went from a war novel to a spy novel, with not nearly enough background to make such a massive change. A bunch of girls are introduced but they are all the same and also all prostitutes, which kind of ruins the good-guy feel for me if you don’t understand their backgrounds. Then there is a short-lived mystery about a SERIAL KILLER! And I was like c’mon man, choose what novel you are gonna write. He has got a spy/mystery placed under a ww2/historical fiction plot. I kind of lost interest here completely.

And then all of a sudden we find the protagonists back at their homeland, Australia. However I had to keep reading to think that maybe, just maybe, the plot would save itself at the last moment. It did not. Now they are both police officers. They need to get a gang, one of whom might have been linked to something in Egypt. (Coincidence, I think not.) Then they just hang out, going around through villages for a little while and eventually bringing along Jackos sister Sarah. She doesn’t speak very good English, which makes trying to understand what she is saying incredibly difficult. No offense, as this may be trying to reflect the times, but still, a little bit annoying. And I felt like it kind of ruined the brotherhood aspect a little bit.

Finally, after hours of reading, I reached the main confrontation and it was a real, anti-climatic let down. At no point in the entire story do you ever feel like Jamie and Jacko are in any sort of danger. It is impossible to relate to them and a little bit disturdbing in the fact that they seem to always be enjoying themselves even when witnessing graphic violence and some scenes of rape. Also, there seems to be some sort of magical thing with Jacko, like him hitting targets without seeing them and things like that, which is never really looked into and, again, this would not be the right novel to apply something like that.

All in all, I would give this a two out of five, the extra star being for the fairly good beginning and the fact that at times there was quite a bit of WW2 facts and things that beginners would want to know. I feel that Greg Kater has great potential as a writer, but just not the experience to currently pull off putting several interwoven plots into a relatively short book. Read this book if you want, but I wouldn’t waste any money on it.

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