Review by ysyuan -- Brutal Valour: The Tragedy of Isandl...

[ysyuan]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Brutal Valour: The Tragedy of Isandlwana" by James Mace.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Brutal Valor The Tragedy of Isandlwana, book one of the Anglo-Zulu war series written by James Mace was published in 2016. As a life-long historian, James Mace is the author of 21 books which he guides his reader into the historical events via stories. Brutal Valor The Tragedy of Isandlwana was set in the year of 1878, where the war between the British soldiers and Zulus warriors crept into the South Africa continent.


The book had introduced several protagonists from the two fractions of the Anglo-Zulu war, namely, Cetshwayo, and Kwanele from the Zulus; Lieutenant-General Sir Frederic Thesiger, Baron Chelmsford, and Privates Arthur Wilkinson from the British fraction. Each one of the protagonists was an individual with his own backstory and unique personality. The story starts with the war between the Zulu’s brothers, Cetshwayo and Mbuyazi, when the Zulu King, Mpande, directed Mbuyazi to take up the land in the south of Zulu kingdom that belongs to Cetshwayo. Although Mbuyazi had received help from the members of the Natal police force equipped with rifled carbines and a couple hundred of old smoothbore muskets and firelocks, but facing the army of Cetshwayo which had nearly 3 times more warriors, Mbuyazi faced defeat and was killed in the war along with twenty thousand people from the iziGqoza. Cetshwayo proclaimed the throne of Zulu as he expected fifteen years later when Mpande breathed his last. After knowing the fact that Cetshwayo claimed the throne of Zulu by sacrificing twenty thousand of his kind, the British authorities were eager to pledge war against him as they had seen him as a bloodthirsty barbarian. Hence, when Mehlokazulu kaSihayo stepped into the Natal land to slay his own mother who betrayed his father and fled with her lover to the Natal land, the British military officers were enraged and seized this opportunity to start a war against the Zulu at once. The story continues with the preparation of war for both parties, engagement of war and post-war events, each was presented from the view of different protagonists.


Brutal Valor The Tragedy of Isandlwana had successfully introduced the cause of the Anglo-Zulu war to his reader with a lot of details. Furthermore, this book progressed by switching into the shoes of different protagonists, which offers his readers to have a good grasp of the situation from all of the parties when the events unfolded. The book also demonstrated to us how cultural differences and prejudice towards a race would lead to huge consequences. For example, betrayal of a marriage is considered a shame for the Zulu and will be executed without mercy, however, the British would consider such act is too cruel and believed the Zulus who pursue this kind of lifestyle be blood-thirsty monsters. In my opinion, I, myself would be siding the British for this statement as this is way too cruel and the Zulus had been killing their own people without any mercy once they are considered at fault. However, this is their kind of living and the British who pledges war against the Zulus done the same thing they referred to as barbarians, which is killing humans. Furthermore, this book also shows the cruelty of the war by detailing the events occurred during the war. It hits me when the story demonstrated how easily a life is lost during a war. This book not only provides the details of the events unfolded during the Anglo-Zulu war, but also leaves a question to his readers, is war necessary?


However, there is too many characters were introduced in this book which I found that it is quite hard to keep up with all the names and military ranks the character holds. Other than that, the story was dragged too much in the beginning by detailing events that doesn’t have much impact on the stories, which I found to be a little frustrating and confusing at the same time.


I would rate this book 2 out of 4, recommending it to those readers who like to read about historical fiction and also those who would like to know more about the Anglo-Zulu war. The reason I’m not giving it a higher rating is because it isn’t recommended to all the readers as someone who knew little about the history of the Anglo-Zulu war would find it to be boring and confusing. Hence, in my opinion, this book would be great if the number of characters introduced was reduced and maybe focusing on one or two protagonists.

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Brutal Valour: The Tragedy of Isandlwana
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