The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War

The fort is another great book by Bernard Cornwell. If you want to understand what life was like or serving in either army competing in long ago wars was like this is your author. You will love his main characters like they were your own family. Great sub plots. Amazing how accurately history is told while being entertained. In my option one of the top fiction authors ever.

Though this book is a bit long, it is very engaging. The historical research was so well done, that it truly made all the characters, both historical and fictional, come to life. This was the first book I read by Bernard Cornwell--it definitely won't be my last.

I'm surprised the state militia was allowed to bear arms after this fiasco. Vividly describes what happens if you go into battle with improperly trained troops and officers who purchased their commission with family or politico standing.

I would never have thought I'd be giving a Bernard Cornwell book only 2 stars, but here I am. Admittedly our American Revolution is a boring bit of history, but Mr. Cornwell did choose the subject to write about. "The Fort" contained neither drama nor action, the book could have easily been converted to a 10 page high school term paper or maybe a good wiki article.
Sorry Mr. Cornwell, I'm a fan, but you blew this one.

It is not a complex story with many twists but it has an extremely authentic feel. Sometimes simple makes for the best story - Cornwell is known for good historical research so it is a good and etertaining way to learn history.

I've read many of Cornwell's books and enjoyed them...but this one is a departure from the norm. We don't have a sympathetic POV character who tells the tale. In fact, we have few sympathetic characters at all and a depressing story of military bungling. The only character who approaches admiration is the British commander, McLean. A disappointing book.

I'm a huge bernard cornwall fan. This was brilliant. Kept my face in the book right until the end. Very interesting historical parts and characters in the book kept me gripped. Make a good film ! Recommend ir. I had to buy it twice as lost the first copy!

I am a huge fan of Bernard Cornwell. I always pre-order any titles that he has coming out. That being said, this was my least favorite of all of the books he has written. Usually I think he characterization of historical figures or fictional ones is one of his strengths. The FORT Lacked a character that I could put my emotions around. In addition, I found the story to be slow and the action to be almost non-existant. I am not a book critic or a writer but I just wanted to share my opinion on a disappointing book.

I am a huge fan of Bernard Cornwell. I always pre-order any titles that he has coming out. That being said, this was my least favorite of all of the books he has written. Usually I think he characterization of historical figures or fictional ones is one of his strengths. The FORT Lacked a character that I could put my emotions around. In addition, I found the story to be slow and the action to be almost non-existant. I am not a book critic or a writer but I just wanted to share my opinion on a disappointing book.

I have read all the Sharpes Rifles books by this author and this book though well written, wasn't as "entertaining" a read as his Sharpes novels. I do enjoy historical non-fiction, so I did enjoy this book.

This was my first Bernard Cornwell novel and I can honestly say it will not be my last. A perfect mixture of fiction and historical research this novel brings to life a chapter of the American Revolution that is a bit forgotten. As a historian I was happy to see the historical fact respected and not changed.

I am a fan of Cornwell and have read many of his books. The problem that I had with The Fort was the point of view. In his other books, Cornwell provides a first person POV that engages the reader and brings the reader into the story's point in history. The Fort never personalizes the story but speaks from the omniscient narrator perspective, so I did not get as engaged as with his other stories and was disappointed in the book.

Typically good Cornwell treatment of a battle. Those of us used to his other military books will be appalled at the stupidity of the American officers in this engagement. Also, an illuminating light on aspects of Paul Revere that are little known to the average American.

In order to enjoy this novel you mulst be a lover of American history. You will find out things you never knew about Paul Revere and the American Revolution. I am a social studies teacher and I highly recommend reading this novel. Bernard Cornwell makes history fun and interesting.

I am an avid Bernard Cornwell fan and have read everything that he has wrote. Never before have I been able to put a novel of his down before I finished it. Unfortunately this novel is not even close to par for such a great author. DRY is the best way I can put it. So often Cornwell's characters have great depth, but in "The Fort" the characters are so two-dimensional, I really do not care if any of them life or die. I can understand why Cornwell would write about the Revolutionary War, living on the Cape of Mass, he is sure to find constant reminders of the war and I ams sure some inspiration, but the book seems passionless. I have tried and tried and tried to finish the book, but unfortunately I do not care about the outcome. Read anything else by Cornwell and I am sure you will be pleased, but this is book should be passed on.

I have enjoyed everyone of Mr. Cornwell's books until this one, I felt that the story was leading to a place we never arrived to.
I was left wanted, the begining and the end were lacking and that leaves us with a middle full of unfullfiled potential. I mourn for what this book could have been, I hope Mr. Cornwell returns soon with his usual success so I may bury the memory of this book.

Let me start by saying that Bernard Cornwell is one of my absolute favorite authors. I have read almost everything he has written except the Sharpe series and eagerly anticipate each new book's arrival. I normally keep them for my collection, however, I could not wait to get rid of this book. And shockingly although I read over half of it, I did not bother to finish it. His characters are usually one of his strong points and in this book, NONE of them interested me in the least (except possibly Paul Revere and even he did not prove interesting enough to compel me to finish the book). I know many staunch fans and fellow readers will react badly to this review, but I am as shocked as they are I assure you. I teach literature and composition at the college level and this book bored me nearly to tears. Sorry, B.C. but perhaps you've raised the bar too high. I expect better of you and I will still look forward to your next book as long as it is not a sequel to this one...

All of the books that Bernard Cornwell has written this had to be only interested if you are a masocists,,,the ineptitude by the American leaders was off the charts without a doubt even if half of it is true! However, it begs the question why was the story even interesting to spend the time in writing it?

I like Bernard Cornwell's writings very much; particularly the Sharpe series, Azincourt, and Redcoat. If you want to read a good book about the American Revolution read 'Redcoat.' The Fort, on the other hand, is a slow, tedious read and I'm not so sure that I will finish it. Even the best authors have their bad days.

Bernard Cornwell is widely known as "Britain's storyteller." The Sharpe novels, the Grail Quest trilogy, "Stonehenge," the Warlord Chronicles, and the Saxon Tales are all steeped in the legends and lore of Britain and western Europe. True, with the Starbuck novels and "Redcoat" Cornwell has written a bit about America, but in general his prolific pen has focused on matters on the east side of the pond.

With "The Fort," his latest novel, Cornwell balances the score a bit. "The Fort" focuses on the ill-fated Penobscot expedition where an overwhelming Continental force - combining naval, infantry, and artillery forces on a grand scale - completely failed in its objective to oust a small British force from its spot at the mouth of the Penobscot River in what is now Maine. This is a painful novel for Americans to read, as in addition to the military defeat our forces suffered, Cornwell also uncovers a long-forgotten tale - the story of the cowardice of Paul Revere.

Yes - that Paul Revere - the guy in the poem. It turns out that in reality, the only time Paul Revere faced the British in arms he was a complete skunk. As an officer leading the American artillery, Revere neither knew his business nor led his forces with anything approaching dispatch, initiative, bravery, or duty. Instead, in a well-documented event, Revere actually fled on a barge to preserve his personal baggage rather than save American sailors from capture by a British ship. When you add this to his utter incompetence as an artillery officer who was more concerned with a hot breakfast than hot cannon, you get one damning indictment of an American hero.

All in all, this expedition was marred by bad luck and appalling leadership. Cornwell spreads the blame around - the infantry commander Lovell and the naval commander Saltonstall also disgrace themselves on numerous occasions. Choose your poison, and the Continental leaders and soldiers from it: indecision, pride, sloth, a failure to read terrain or the enemy, and an embarrassing unwillingness to fight. Combine those failings with poor communication and you've got an incompetent army.

Cornwell illustrates these failings as only he can - excellent characterizations of real historical figures combined with bloody action scenes. "The Fort" may not be Cornwell's greatest book, but there's too much competition for that title anyway. This is a thrilling, exasperating book about a tale that should be well-known, and not just by military historians. Check it out.

This was a interesting read by historical perspective. One of the major things is the "truth" of Paul Revere. I am truly amazed that the Continental Army prevailed with all of the befuddled happenings, egos, profiteering, and lack of "real military discipline" but I am very glad they did. Providence; I can only assume.
This is not Cromwell's best, don t judge him by this book. This seems more historical than novel. However, read "Redcoat" and the "Starbuck" series and you will find good character development.

Cornwell falls victim to the temptation of telling a story relying almost solely on the dialogue of the actors. When done judiciously this can be interesting, but too much expository dialogue is always a bad idea. The result in this case was that the setting, which could have been beautifully described in a few pages is left to be pieced together from endless and tedious dialogue starting on the first page. This continues through the book, so that as the battle progresses, the reader never gets a feel for the landscape or the action.
It is too bad because the campaign of 1779 in what today we call Maine is fascinating not least because one of its main characters was Paul Revere himself of "midnight ride" fame.

This is well researched and well written historical fiction set during the American Revolution in 1779. It is based on the disastrous Penobscot expedition. The author uses some literary license (which he indicates) but generally follows the actual events, mixing fictional characters with the real main players. A map is provided, and an afterward (Historical Note) provides references he used including The Penobscot Expedition: Commodore Saltonstall and the Massachusetts Conspiracy of 1779, etc. The author also provides information on what happed to the key players afterward, and a few notes on the surviving spear carriers. The main upshot of the expedition was that the Americans lost an entire fleet. It most certainly was not the best planned military operation, and left Massachusetts with an enormous debt (later assumed by the new United States government).

I generally found the book interesting and was surprised by some of the other reviews. Come on now, Bernard Cornwell does not write one star novels. For history buffs, it provides insights into a side action of the Revolution that is not generally covered in history books, and will give you a look at the character of some of the people.

The author does provide some interesting sidelights in his Historical Note, such as the fact that General Peleg Wadsworth, who wanted Paul Revere court martialed (historical fact), was the grandfather of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who immortalized Revere in the poem, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" - if Peleg would have still been alive he probably would have disowned his grandson.

What happened to the American pay chest will remain a mystery.

Bernard Cornwell's latest novel of the American Revolutionary War, entitled "The Fort" chronicles the greatest American naval defeat prior to Pearl Harbor. The campaign mounted by the Commonwealth of Massachusets, and assisted by the Continental Navy took place in 1779 to evict, capture, or destroy a British force on the Penobscot River, in what is now the state of Maine. A force comprised of Massachusets Militia commanded by General Solomon Lovell, very ably assisted by second-in-command Brigadier General Peleg Wadsworth, took a force of approximately 800 militiamen ( some were forcibly conscripted), and an artillery component less-than-ably-led by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere, north to Majabigwaduce to do battle with and destroy a small British force of Scottish Highlanders. The Highlanders were very ably led by Scottish Brigadier-General Francis Maclean, who was determined to hold the bay against the "Rebels" who were using the sheltered inlet as a refuge for privateers operating against His Majesty's shipping along the East coast of North America. To hold and defend the bay, Maclean decided to construct a small fort, oddly enough named "Fort George."

The American rebel land force was supported by Commodore Saltonstall who commanded the warships of the Continental Navy and a force of privateers. An elite group of Continental Marines were the backbone of the entire operation, but in the course of the struggles were grossly misused.

Oddly enough, this book by Cornwell simply didn't have the usual "sizzle" of his numerous other military adventures. It is based, however on quite a few historical documents limiting the artistic license of the author to facts. It is exceedingly well-crafted and artfully written, but for some reason the book seemed to drag and it took an effort to read more than 10-20 pages at a sitting. There were too many descriptions of councils-of-war with General Lovell bickering with Commodore Saltonstall, and even though there were some exciting moments, they were too few.

All turned out well for the British, who managed to completely destroy the naval force sent against the fort--nearly 40 American vessels were captured, sunk, or burned to prevent capture--resulting in Commodore Saltonstall's dismissal from the Navy and being designated the official scapegoat for the failure of the entire operation.

The final chapter, or historical note, thoroughly deals with the fates of the principal players: Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere was court martialled for cowardice and failure to obey orders; Commodore Saltonstall dismissed, as mentioned above. I suppose that some of the material is hard to take as an American reading our history in a less than favorable manner. It's amazing that we won our independence from Britain--in spite of the disasters we experienced!

I really would have liked to give this historical novel more stars that just 3, but the pace seemed awfully slow, and the events were dragged out too much to carry the tale along in a sprightly manner. Recommended, but not Bernard Cornwell's finest work!

Cornwall is not only a master story teller but a master researcher as well. His Sharp series peaked my interest in the Napoleonic Wars that resulted in several months research. His other series are equally thought provoking. As a history major I can attest to the research skill he shows along with the conclusions he reaches. The Fort has excited an interest in the revolutionary war, a period I have not had much interest in. His end chapters where he discusses the true history and gives recommendations for additional reading is invaluable.

I have read several books by Bernard Cornwell and this is the one I am least happy with. It just was lackluster work compared to his other books. I could not get into it and through it. So I switched to listening to it on a long business trip. I almost fell asleep at the wheel, it was just that boring and without continuity. Avoid this one friends, Bernards other works Saxon Tales and Sharpes books are much better. I was very surprised and disappointed in this one.

Reading this book, I had the feeling that I really wasn't enjoying it. I finally decided it wasn't the writing, which was excellent, or the way the tale was told, which was also excellent. It was the subject matter. Who can enjoy reading about the worst naval disaster before Pearl Harbor? It wasn't even a sneak attack; it was, to my mind, amateur soldiers and sailors against well-trained professionals.

The State of Massachusetts, on learning that the British were fortifying a harbor in what is now Maine, decided that they would send their forces against the invaders rather than calling on the Continental Army and Navy. The militia was headed by a popular farmer and legislator known for his cool head. The militia consisted of regulars and men taken from farms and street corners and bars and pressed into service. The navy was commanded by a cautious commodore and had added privateers to its small group of ships.

The American general started with dreams of the victory parade in Boston following the ouster of the British. I knew we were in trouble when he first experienced battle and the ugliness of blood and gore and decided to have his staff vote on whether to attack or not. The Commodore was equally reluctant to put his ships in harm's way. And the patriot, Paul Revere, in charge of artillery, preferred sleeping on his ship and having a hot breakfast to staying in the field and directing his guns. As it happened, he was not a very good artilleryman.

All these factors, plus the fact that the British were well organized and determined, made the outcome very likely, though the reader does hope for something better until the very end. Perhaps the final breath-taking event was the Massachusetts State's method of paying for the expedition. I will leave that for a small bit of suspense for the reader.

As I said at the beginning, I did not really enjoy the book, but I thought it worthwhile and helpful to appreciating our country and how hard it was to gain our independence. I'm glad I read it.

Bernard Cornwell, the great historical novelist, has written a tale about a little known battle between Britain and America in the summer of 1779. The results of the siege gave America its worst naval defeat prior to Pearl Harbor in World War II.

The novel begins with the British sailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Penobscot Bay, Massachusetts (now Maine). The 700 troops were led by Brigadier General Francis Mclean and three sloops of war by Captain Henry Mowat. They were welcomed to the area by the locals, since they were loyalist to the King. The only non-loyalist living there were the fictional brother and sister James and Bethany Fletcher. Bernard Cornwell makes the novel easier to understand by explaining before the novel starts that the fictional characters' surnames start with F, with a few minor exceptions.

Meanwhile, the State of Massachusetts Militia decides to oppose the British without the Continental Army's approval with an untrained, ragtag militia and over forty ships, mostly privateers. They are led by Brigadier General Solomon Lovell (a farmer by trade), second-in-command Brigadier General Peleg Wadsworth, Continental Navy Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, and Artillery Lt. Colonel Paul Revere.

**** Warning: spoilers ahead ****

The siege of the British fort starts well with the Americans storming the cliff near the fort. Then, things go terribly wrong. Instead of pursuing the attack, they are scared off by a few cannon balls shot their way. The British General was ready to surrender, but then to his surprise the Americans dug in defensively. This begins the indecisiveness between American General Lovell and American Commodore Saltonstall on who should start the attack. It gets worse when Lt. Colonel Paul Revere shows himself as an egotistical, disobedient, and inept coward. The only heroes of the siege were the few Continental Marines and General Wadsworth.

Reinforcements from the British Royal Navy arrive during this indecisiveness and destroy the fleeing American fleet. Instead of fighting back, the Americans actually set their own ships afire, even though they greatly outnumbered the British Royal Navy.

As a result of this conflict, Navy Commodore Saltonstall was dismissed from the Continental Navy, and Lt. Colonel Paul Revere was court-martialed. The reputations of Generals' Lovell and Wadsworth were unharmed.

I found myself very intrigued by this book. Did anyone even know about this conflict? The only thing I can criticize this book for is the lack of developing the characters of the Fletchers.

Bernard Cornwell's accurate and sad recounting of the disasterous Penobscot Expedition will not endear him to many with romantic images of early American patriots. His unflattering portrait of Paul Revere will certainly raise the eyebrows of those raised on the mythology of Longfellow's Midnight Ride.

Unlike most of Cornwell's novels which normally start with a bang, this one moves slowly at first - and contrary to assertions of some other reviewers - carefully builds the character of one of the key, if largely unknown historical characters, General Peleg Wadsworth from a benevolent father figure into that of a highly competent field officer. The incompetent General Lovell and Commodore Saltonstall are also sketched in fine if somewhat caricatured detail as are the far more competent and likable Britsh Commander, General McClean, and the budding talent of Lt John Moore who ultimately becomes one of Britain's great Generals and a key champion of the Light Infantry and Rifles. The fighting prowess of the early American Marines is also duly recognized.

The book is slow in getting started as Cornwell spends time introducing the characters and the details surrounding the organizing of the Expedition. The real action does not start until after about page 140 in Chapter 5 but what follows matches the best action narratives of Cornwell's other books. In truth the siege of the British Fort George involved only a limited number of engagements as is evidenced by the blessedly small number of actual casualties on both sides. Both sides had roughly equal sized land forces - about 800 British and 1200 Americans though the Americans had dramatically more naval firepower. Given this lack of historical action, Cornwell actually does a good job conjuring up the necessary action sequences and creating the right amount of tension and excitement. His descriptions of the brief but fierce naval engagements are as good and as technically accurate as Patrick O'Brien's - though much, much shorter.

Overall, this is a fine historical novel and an excellent catalyst for creating greater interest into the murkier and less pleasant aspects of the Revolutionary War and for reassessing some key Revolutionary War figures. As others have noted the historical note at the end is first rate and provides the reader with an excellent sumary of the aftermath of the expedition and a list of valuable secondary sources.

I have read The Saxon Tales, Agincourt, Grail Quest Series and the Warlord Chronicles. I LOVED THEM ALL. The Fort, however, falls far short of those. This book is quite boring. I am skipping entire sections and pages because nothing is happening. There isn't a single character that I care about and there's definitely no Uthred. I am 150 pages into it and I don't care if they all just drown in the Atlantic. Except for Paul Revere, who I just want to drop kick. I don't think I'm going to bother to finish.

I got this thru the store's Vine program because I've enjoyed Mr. Cornwell's works in the past and was intrigued by this taking place in Maine. I can honestly say that The Fort was unique for Mr. Cornwell's work; at least for what I've read. Rather than having one protagonist and an antagonist, Mr. Cornwell gives us the perspective of three sides from a fairly neutral position; that of the British, the American land, and the American maritime. Interestingly the American land perspective is the major focus with the relationship between the two American generals (General Lovell and General Wadsworth) and their subordinates (mainly represented thru Lt. Col. Revere) taking center stage with the American maritime commander (Commander Saltonstall) and his relationship with General Lovell playing second, and the British (with a young Lt. John Moore) placing third. Focus within the Americans' perspective deals with the indecisiveness of General Lovell (the overall land and expedition commander) because he wants Commander Saltonstall to destroy the small British naval component prior to his militia engaging the British in Fort George (really more of an improved position) while his second-in-command (General Wadsworth) wants the militia to assault the British position rapidly before it can be improved or a relief force arrives. Complicating the issue is that all forces (American land and sea, and British land) are fairly green, not having experienced war prior to this (the American forces, both the land and sea, had "pressed" the local communities to flush their forces out).

Rating wise this one's a four star book. Mr. Cornwell started very strong (really, he was headed to five thru the first third) and then slowly settled (call it a weak three stars by the end). Part of this is due to how the battle flowed (or failed to) and part is due to the changing perspectives. While Mr. Cornwell does a good job selling to us that General Lovell was terribly indecisive and really shouldn't have been in command while General Wadsworth was competent, he failed to show other aspects (namely that Lt. Col. Revere and the other militia commanders) were incompetent or not driving for the capture of Ft. George. Mention is made of the War Councils and how General Lovell put things to a vote rather than decided them, but we don't see "nay" saying Lt. Col. Revere was is said to have made or how the other commanders failed to motivate their militia past reading of militia troops who aren't willing to engage the British. Mr. Cornwell does a much better job explaining why Commander Saltonstall might not to have wanted to engage the British ships protecting Ft. George and does show us how General Wadsworth attempts to improve the American position. The British perspective is nicely done with young Lt. John Moore learning the value of light troops and the need for them to function in the way he'd make famous in the Napoleonic Wars. Historically Mr. Cornwell does follow things nicely but I will say he's a little unforgiving to Lt. Col. Revere; I say this because while the American artillery was largely ineffective against Ft. George, I have to believe the diversity of the guns, the greenness of the troops, and the fact that the shots were falling (the Americans where firing down on British, something that can be difficult even for experienced troops to compensate for [I suggest reading King's Mountain: the Epic of the Blue Ridge "Mountain Men" in the American Revolutionby Hank Messick for an example of this]) to explain why the American's were unable to "destroy" Ft. George.

It isn't easy, but somehow Bernard Cornwell, NYT bestselling author of Agincourt, managed to make it fairly interesting. It's not exactly that the battle at Penobscot didn't happen; it's that, after much planning and the first assault by the American Rebel forces against British Fort George, bickering and lack of cooperation among the militia, the Navy and the Marines -- and a frustratingly haughty and prickly, Paul Revere--caused them not to follow through and destroy the fort while it was still vulnerable.

I can't say I was hooked on this book from the beginning. There were too many characters introduced too quickly, and, outside of Peleg Wadsworth, none of them were treated with enough depth for me to really care. Cornwell ends with the destruction of the fleet, apparently considered the worst American naval disaster prior to Pearl Harbor. As a history, that's the proper ending point, but as a novel it felt as though it ended in midstream. Characters like John Fletcher and his sister Beth are introduced with great promise, but their stories go nowhere.

Cornwell's battle scenes are well-done and riveting. Indeed, that's when my interest first piqued, after which point I decided to stick with it. Some historical novels focus on the individual acting within the event, and some focus on the event itself. The Fort leans toward the latter, which was interesting for me, but not beyond three stars.

My husband is a huge Bernard Cornwell fan, particularly favoring the Sharpe series. I have probably read 5 or 6 of his books since I enjoy historical fiction, though not necessarily war-themed. This book seemed to have an intriguing premise about a little-known incident of the American Revolution involving Paul Revere, about whom I know nothing except the bit about the midnight ride and that he was a silversmith. Both my husband and I have read the book, and our reactions are very similar. Neither of us cared for it. There are a lot of characters in the book, and not much time is spent developing any of them. Cornwell goes back and forth between the British and American sides, and I felt he didn't give enough detail about the characters for me to even follow who was who and why they were important. When Paul Revere showed up a few chapters in, I hoped for the book to become more interesting and easy to follow, but it did not. The whole novel takes place in a very short time span, so in most chapters nothing much actually happens. It took me a very long time to finish the book because I found it very dull. My husband's response was that apparently this is a little-known episode because there's not much to it. The blurb on the book jacket was more interesting than the book, so I really can't recommend any one read this when Cornwell has written so many other books that are so much better.

This is a meticulously researched and IMHO highly entertaining novelised account of a largely forgotten campaign from the American War of Independence which is usually known today as "The Penobscot Expedition".

If you don't already know the outcome of the Penobscot campaign, I would advise against looking it up until after you have finished the book: it was a close-run thing which could easily have gone either way, and the tension of not knowing how it ends does enhance the book's first reading. (WARNING: Some other reviews here could IMHO be seen as spoilers for the same reason.)

"The Fort" is based so closely on real historical events that it is better described as a novelised history rather than historical fiction. Cornwall takes very few liberties with the real course of events, and he includes an 18-page historical note which explains the ones he did take, as well as a "heroic myths" essay which compares the legends which have grown up about the two most famous participants in the campaign with the historical reality as he sees it.

The book finishes with the two poems which have imortalised those two participants - "The midnight ride of Paul Revere" by Longfellow, and "The burial of Sir John Moore after Coruna" by Wolfe.

In 1779, the British sent a small force of regular but not particularly experienced troops with orders to build a fort at the location which is now called Castine but was then known as Majabigwaduce. Their short term aim was to deny the excellent harbour at that spot to the American patriots and enable it to be used as a base from which the Royal Navy could limit the depredations of rebel privateers: the long-term aim, had the British won the war, would have been to establish a new loyalist colony called New Ireland.

Within a few weeks of the arrival of the British, the Americans sent a force to expel them which had rather more soldiers, significantly more and heavier artillery, and a much larger naval force. And they arrived while the fort was only half completed, with walls which were still low enough that a man could jump over them. The British had only one significant advantage: their army commander, Brigadier-General Francis McLean, and the senior captain of the three Royal Navy ships supporting him, Captain Mowett, worked well together as a team. The American army and navy commanders did not.

The future Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, one of the most brilliant and humane generals ever to serve in the British army or any other, saw action for the first time as an eighteen-year-old lieutenant in this campaign and is one of the major characters in the book. So is Colonel Paul Revere, who was in command of the rebel artillery. But anyone who regards Paul Revere as an unblemished American patriotic hero and might be offended to read him portrayed rather differently may wish to leave this book alone.

Like almost everyone else who has ever studied him, Cornwall presents John Moore in a favourable light. Nobody could possibly have been as good as Moore's legend suggests, but most of those who have examined the matter concluded that he was pretty close to it.

But Cornwall is not a fan of Paul Revere, who does not come well out of this story. At the conclusion of the historical note at the end of this book, Cornwall point out perhaps the most extreme irony of the Penobscot expedition: Paul Revere was accused of disobeying an order from the second-in-command of the American forces, General Wadsworth, who threatened to have him arrested. Yet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who eighty years later was to write the poem which immortalised Revere, was the grandson of the same General Wadsworth! (At the start of this book, there is a scene in Wadsworth's home town in which his wife holds their one-year-old daughter Zilpha in her arms. Longfellow was Zilpha's son.)

To summarise, this is a well written and enjoyable book, laced with some of Bernard Cornwell's own opinions but giving both sides of the story on both British and American sides. Not all fans of the "Richard Sharpe" books will enjoy this, as the events of the campaign were not quite as dramatic or heroic as stories such as Sharpe's Eagle, but personally I found "The Fort" even more fun to read than the Sharpe books and can warmly recommend it.

Since finding this author last summer, I have read nearly everything by him except the Sharpe series, which I look forward to starting. This book is decent but not his best. The historical perspective, I believe, makes it worthwhile for someone who is not a historian but would like some insight into this period without reading history straight up.

As other reviewers have indicated, it starts more slowly than a typical Cornwell book, partly because there is a larger cast to introduce and I think Cornwell didn't want to "choose sides" in the war, so much as tell this largely unknown story that involves a well-known name or two (Revere, obviously) and some unknown names that seem like they should have more reknown.

Unfortunately, choosing to write a book about a battle that barely happens means the reading can seem a bit slow, even as a reader may identify with the character/s who are longing to act and do, and loathe the inert character/s. The large cast means that some characters do not earn reader investment, so their fates are not as interesting as they could have been if the cast were narrower, though again, I appreciated the apparent desire to present many sides. It also means that some of the scenes were a bit confusing, especially early on, when the characters hadn't been fleshed out and I was wondering who exactly was who when things were happening.

Bernard Cornwell writes about war and battle, which means that he also writes about stupidity. Writing about the stupid things officers in charge do when soldiers are in the field is as respectable as Tennyson (someone had blunder'd) and at least as old as Homer (Achilles sulking in his tent), probably older. There is something about military command that brings out the worst in some commanders; whether they are blind, stubborn, pig-headed, cowardly, useless, or just plain dumb, they can lead soldiers into the worst kind of trouble. "I am sick and tired of disaster and the fools that bring disaster upon us," wrote one New York private about a particularly idiotic Civil War general.

The Revolutionary War battle that Cornwell writes about in THE FORT is an obscure one, whose most famous participants (as Cornwell notes) are better known for their appearance in heroic poetry related to other conflicts. The action takes place in Maine, near an obscure settlement with a tongue-twisting Indian name, a short ways up the Penobscot River. The British are building a fort there, which will serve as a base for the Royal Navy to harass rebel shipping in and out of Boston. The Americans respond by sending an expedition to kill or capture the veteran British regiments, and that's where the trouble starts.

Because it's difficult moving overland through the rocky and thickly forested terrain of the Maine coast, the troops have to be sent by water. And since the threat posed by these particular British regiments is mainly to Boston's commerce, and not to the Continental Army itself, the troops that are available are green Massachusetts militiamen. This requires a great deal of coordination between the Continental Navy ships that are carrying and supporting the militia and the citizen-soldiers who make it up. That did not happen, and Cornwell glories in comparing the petty and small-minded rivalry between the army and navy --- as well as between the militia's army and artillery --- with the stiff-upper-lip professionalism of the British.

In your typical Bernard Cornwell novel, what happens when you get a situation like this is that the hero --- tough-minded, highly skilled, incapable of suffering fools --- takes charge and slices through the enemy lines like a rolling ball of butcher knives. This is not a typical Cornwell novel. The biggest hero on the American side is Paul Revere, later to get eternal fame in Longfellow's poem, and Cornwell paints him as shallow, vain and ineffectual. His counterpart in fame on the British side is Lieutenant John Moore, who will later become a General whose death in Spain fighting Napoleon will be recorded by the poet Charles Wolfe (and by Cornwell in his Richard Sharpe series). Moore is more in the cut of Cornwell's heroes, but here he is just a young lieutenant getting his first taste of battle.

It is the nature of this particular battle, unfortunately, that it is attended with unimportant political issues, petty rivalries, and unproductive councils of war. What action there is tends to be short and sharp, illuminated by Cornwell's thorough knowledge of the era's weapons and tactics, and enlivened by blood and gore sufficient enough for any armchair warrior.

THE FORT will please Cornwell's loyal readers, as well as fans of Revolutionary-era historical fiction. But there are drawbacks, prominent among them Cornwell's insistence on giving minor fictional characters names that start with the letter F --- a tactic that is more annoying than helpful. The non-military characters, particularly the American Loyalist refugees, aren't drawn with a great degree of subtlety. And the battle itself is so obscure that one wonders why Cornwell was drawn to the subject matter. But given his prolific and honorable career, no one can fault him for writing about a forgotten piece of history that interests him deeply. THE FORT is an outstanding effort by a master of the genre.

--- Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds

Though best known for his Sharpe series set in the Napoleonic period, Cornwell has extended his range to other historic eras, including Redcoat, an earlier novel about the Revolutionary War, and a series about the Civil War.

This novel depicts a little known campaign of the Revolutionary War and the frustrating reasons for its failure and the worst naval disaster for the U.S. until Pearl Harbor.

The action takes place in 1779 when the tide of battle had largely moved south and a small British force attempted to establish a foothold in what was then Massachusetts but is now Maine. In response, Massachusetts sent a fleet of 40 vessels and a thousand troops to halt the invasion.

Cornwell dispels the myth all Americans were dedicated to separating from Britain and shows the warts on both sides. There are genuine heroes in this tale as well as cowards, scoundrels and villains. Among the real heroes of the campaign were Peleg Wadsworth, second in command of the American army, who tried against enormous odds to accomplish the mission's goal, and the young John Moore, who later in life forged the army that defeated Napoleon. There are others equally deserving of the title.

Failure of the campaign rests largely with the indecisiveness of General Solomon Lovell, commander of the Massachusetts forces, and Commodore Dudley Saltonstall of the U.S. Navy. Another major contributor was Paul Revere who, despite the legendary status created by a descendant, actually faced courts-martial for disobedience and cowardice.

Firmly rooted in history and told in Cornwell's gripping narrative style, The Fort is a must read for fans of historic and/or military history.

Cornwell is known for his rousing battle scenes, detailed, historically accurate novels, and dynamic characters. And he delivers exactly what fans and newcomers alike are looking for.

The Fort starts off with General Francis McLean sailing into Majabigwaduce, 1779, intent on building a fort, and holding the area until reinforcements arrive. The state of Massachusetts doesn't want this, so they send one of the biggest fleets of ships ever deployed to defeat the ships. Here we're introduced to the influential characters: General Peleg Wadsworth, General Solomon Lovell, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Revere, and Commodore Dudley Saltonstall. Each of them plays their part that leads to the disaster that is the Penobscot Expedition.

Like with many Cornwell books, The Fort starts off rather slowly with much of the first third setting up the main action, and with a story like this, it is entirely necessary. There is a lot of background information needed to tell this tale, and the time spent unraveling the plot is still entertaining. Starting the second third, the book really picks up with the action, and it is nearly nonstop until the last third, when it slows down a bit while leading up to the semi-climactic moment. I'll touch on much of this later.

The pacing is not entirely consistent, but I can't say it was a bad thing, because it didn't bother me. The lead up to the action was well-written, and very well constructed. Cornwell writes about the armies positioning their troops, building the fort, setting up batteries, and an assortment of other activities, while developing the characters and showing us how they interact with each other. While many people may find this boring and slow, I found it interesting and very necessary.

Next up is the second third where the action starts off. This is standard Cornwell fare, and that is to say: prolonged, intense, bloody battle scenes. Which is exactly what most fans are looking for. Cornwell does an amazing job at writing these battle scenes. He captures the chaos from a soldier's point of view, at the same time giving us a picture of the whole battle from a general's point of view. It's a fascinating combination, and his highly effective.

While the third act does slow down, it is nonetheless interesting. This part rolls in with a bit more drama. No one wants to do what anyone else wants to, and the American forces fall into chaos. Cornwell does a great job of building the tension until the final pages of the book.

The ending was definitely not the most climactic moment of the book. To be honest, it sort of just dropped off. It left me with a sort of empty feeling inside. But I don't think any other ending would have suited The Fort any better. After all, this book is about a disaster, a disaster that comes about because someone is not acting, as opposed to someone taking action. And it is the lack of taking action that leads to the conclusion of the book. In that sense, it works and is fitting for the book.

The characters, while not all dynamic, are well developed. We come to loath Colonel Revere, once our perceived Revolutionary hero, and the arrogant Commodore, as well as the buffoonish General Lovell. While on the other hand we admire Peleg Wadsworth and, surprisingly, the enemies. Cornwell does a good job working with some good, strong characters. Wadsworth was probably the most dynamic and interesting of them all, starting off as a humble General with no military experience, to the most motivated person in the entire Penobscot Expedition. It is a shame to see his inspiration wasted.

One of The Fort's plusses for me was the marines. I liked how Cornwell captured their rough, determined character. Back in the 1700s, they were still the best military force in the country.

I very much enjoyed Cornwell's writing style. His descriptions are astoundingly vibrant, of bother action sequences and dramatic instances. And the dialogue is both compelling and realistic.

Over all, The Fort succeeds. While it isn't perfect, it is a very interesting and satisfying read. I recommend it to any fans of Cornwell, and anyone interested a realistic approach to a small segment of the Revolutionary War.

The last novel I read on the Revolutionary War was an unabashedly patriotic tale about the American spirit. This is not that kind of book. It's the kind of historically accurate, take-no-prisoners narrative that, had it been written decades ago and made into a movie, John Wayne would have refused a starring role. While a rebel is indeed the protagonist, the American portrait that Cornwell so brilliantly paints is that of a terribly unorganized, arrogant, and almost cowardly power structure making mistake after mistake at a significant moment of the American Revolution that leads to a sound British victory. Oh yeah, and surprise, Paul Revere was an incompetent horse's behind.

Told in vivid detail with a little humor and poignancy, "The Fort" is the kind of historical novel that makes the past come alive. Books such as this one should be mandatory reading in school. That said, those who only want to revel in patriotic tales of American victory best stay away. This is a novel for everyone with an open mind, particularly those who recognize that leadership, or a lack thereof, can be crucial in a land-and-sea battle. Recommended.

The Fort tells the little-known story of a disastrous (for the Americans) naval engagement during the Revolutionary War in waters near what is now the state of Maine. It is an often harrowing tale of military malfeasance, outright human stupidity as well as stunning bravery in victory and defeat. The renowned American legend of Paul Revere takes a mighty hit in this novel as he is revealed as a vain-glorious, greedily dishonest coward who craved battle only to slink away into the night when battle finally came. Cornwell is a marvelous writer who can bring history to life in clearly rendered prose that manages to convey events as well as illuminate the conflicting emotions and motivations of the various protagonists. As with all historical novels there are few degrees of freedom in plotting the tale. The author must confine himself within the framework of history while creating the personalities of figures that we know only through the scrim of the past. There are few writers who have ever done this with more grace and style than Mr. Cornwell, as readers of his marvelous Sharpe series of novels can attest. I enjoyed The Fort greatly even as I learned the ins and outs of naval tactics during this little-known skirmish. This is history given both flesh and substance by a master of the art. The Fort is a beautifully crafted historical novel - one that you will read with increasing fervor, especially if you love the genre as much as I do.

A great novel, that captures an important (but overlooked) event of the American Revolution. The cast of real-life characters (whose names were made famous elsewhere) involved in this event make it ripe picking for writing, and Bernard Cornwell does his best at writing a novel that captures what occurred. The writing is spot on, and captures quite well the thought processes (or lack there of for some) of everyone involved. The real excerpts helped greatly to solidify some of the things that seemed too unreal to be true (even though they were true).

Throughout reading of the novel, I was maddened by the ineptitude of some (sadly most) of the commanding characters in the American force ... however this isn't Cornwell's fault. In my opinion, he accurately captured what the personalities of his characters real-life counterparts.

To be fair, this book wasn't as fast paced or action packed as some of Cornwell's other books (e.g. The Sharpe series); however this is because the real-life events weren't fast paced or action packed.

So, if you're looking for another book from the Sharpe series ... this isn't it. But, that doesn't mean it isn't another great work of historical fiction from Bernard Cornwell.

This account of the disastrous American defeat at Penobscot Bay in what is now Maine in 1779 is realistic, intermittingly exciting, but ultimately too long for its effect. Like all of Cornwell's military histories featuring British troops, it tells of a stirring victory against an outnumbering enemy (in this case, the Massachusetts militia and navy). That the Americans were cursed with timid, dithering leaders and mostly "pick-up" soldiers and ships only emphasizes the quality of British discipline and training. Unfortunately, the battle itself was mostly a weeks-long siege, and the only lively characters (John Moore, Peleg Wadsworth, Paul Revere, all factually portrayed) never get to shine in superhuman feats worthy of Cornwell's other heroes, like Richard Sharpe or Uhtred of Bebbenburg. The book started very slowly, and generally dragged except for the few scenes of actual combat. As usual, Cornwell's details give the reader an admirable feel for the military experience in the late 1700's and all tactics and strategies are explained clearly. The sluggishness and missed opportunities of the real battle are what ultimately drain the excitement. I must compliment the narrator of the audio edition, who does excellent imitations of a wide variety of voices; only his New England accent is defective, as it sounds more like Middle American than a true Boston twang.

Readers used to Bernard Cornwell's medieval historical fiction series may be surprised with his latest book, covering the summer of 1779 near Majabigwaduce in the colony of Massachusetts, a small but important moment in the revolutionary war. But Cornwell does what he does best, taking this small and seemingly insignificant moment and expanding it into a book-length story of drama and emotion and action.

With the major battles occurring further to the south, a British force with almost a thousand Scottish infantry and three sloops-of-war sail into the eastern province of Massachusetts - what would one day be the state of Maine - and establish a garrison and naval base at Penobscot Bay. They are the only British troops between New York and Canada. Massachusetts answers immediately with a thousand infantrymen and over forty ships. Second in command is Peleg Wadsworth, once an aide to General Washington, along with a patriot known as Paul Revere will face down an eighteen-year-old Scottish lieutenant named John Moore.

What should be an easy battle for the men of Massachusetts turns into a big, bumbling embarrassment. Cornwell turns a history story into a gripping novel of people of the past come to life in this important time in the founding of a nation. As a British citizen who has lived for many years in New England, readers can't help wondering what side Cornwell associates with.

Originally written on January 1, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.

[...] for over five hundred reviews and over forty exclusive author interviews, and more.

I live next to Revere, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, where the legend of Paul Revere is alive and well. People take tours of his house in the North End, visit his capture site in Concord, go to the Old North Church where a one-man show often plays (I've seen it), and to his grave next to the Park Street Church. I was totally unaware of the "rest of the story" and of the battle we lost just north of here. For this reason alone, The Fort is worth reading.

However, Revere is not the main character, and indeed there is no central figure, much unlike Cornwell's very popular Sharpe novels (I've read several), and not as fun. The action shifts from British to Colonist often, depicting the two sides with great detail. I got the impression Cornwell favors the Brits here a bit, but overall his account appears fairly objective.

The historic notes at the end (a tradition in Cornwell's novels) are very helpful. Cornwell cleverly makes it clear which individuals are historic and which are invented for the purpose of the story.

The more observant amongst you may notice I am British, but I suspect you probably know as little about the events of Majabigwaduce in1779 as I did.

So, to put this into perspective, In Britain we had a brilliant cunning plan - we shipped out convicts to Australia and our religious nutcases over to the newly discovered America. In retrospect we are well aware that we should have left these two groups at home and shipped ourselves out to the paradise of Australia and the land of plenty that was America. But I digress, let's roll forward to the point where America tired of British rule, British Kings and, more importantly, British taxes. Obviously an unreasonable attitude but the War of Independence was your way of kicking us out and this novel, based on fact, is set during that war.

Some spoilers here, but I'm not sure if they count in a factual novel...

A force of Scottish infantry with limited support from the Royal Navy was ordered to hold a key peninsula in Maine while the Americans were equally determined to take it back.

British author Cornwell tries very hard to be objective and portray both sides in this conflict with balance. He obviously discovered an piece of American history that was not well known and decided to base a novel on it, partly because of the historical interest, but also because some key historical figures were involved, John Moore (later to become one of Britain's finest soldiers and leaders) and Paul Revere (made famous by Longfellow's famous poem which gives him far more credit then he was actually due).

There is no doubt that this is an interesting book, but here Cornwell has taken an event and placed his story in it, he normally takes characters like Sharpe with distinct personality and then places them in historical events. It doesn't work like the Sharpe stories for this very reason as his main characters here were real and that does not allow him much to play with.

The Scots were inexperienced troops but had experienced and inspirational leadership and were regular soldiers who did this for a living. There was joint strategy and effective communication with the Royal Navy but the position was still very weak. Enter the Americans with more troops and a superior naval force, but with conflicting leadership and poor communications. From Cornwell's telling the American troops varied from experienced and brave marines to conscripts and volunteers who really wanted to be farming, not fighting. With naval and land commanders not agreeing on any strategy they delayed for so long that the Royal Navy turned up to re-enforce the garrison and the Americans decided to retreat. This was not from cowardice but, given that they no longer had the upper hand, was probably the best thing to do given the situation and that they had delayed for so long. Having said that, they had the chance to regroup where the river narrowed but once again poor leadership meant that they didn't do so, and as a result the fleet was destroyed by their own hands or by the British in the biggest American naval disaster prior to Pearl Harbor.

Of most interest was probably Paul Revere who comes over very poorly here, lazy arrogant and self serving - we Brits have hardly ever heard of him, but it may be hard for you Americans to see a historical icon painted in a different light.

So this is an interesting book, but not a real page turner, it lacks tension because you know the outcome before you turn the first page. Cornwell has shed light on a small but important bit of history but fails to make it into an enthralling read.

I won't repeat much of what has been said, except to tell you that you might need to push yourself to finish the first 3 chapters. There is a lot of background information to get things going, but once you get into the meat of the book, you won't put this down.

Cornwell has a knack for keeping all the pieces of his stories, including many different characters, all straight. Yes, that's a factor in the story by the way, that there are a LOT of characters. But in a story like this one, I don't know how it could have been avoided. On one or two occasions, I had to stop and figure out, "Ok, wait, who was that again?" But overall everything moved so fast this little nitpick didn't really bother me.

One thing this book does really well is to not make the British all fit the pompous officer "lord so and so" stereotype, and not every Continental is a hero. There are heroes and cowards on both sides, and he shows this really well.

You will really enjoy the characters, and if you get a chance to try the audio book, you'll love it even more.

This is an excellent book. If you like historical fiction, you'll love this book.

Although panned by some, I found "The Fort" to be intriguing in many ways. Picking the Penobscot campaign was daring for the author...a little footnote (if that) in the full spread of the setting of the Revolutionary War. He pulls it off though, with situations one can understand--and faults glaringly to match. The background story is quite interesting, and the overall sequence of events shown is humanity spotlighted with all its indecisiveness and character flaws readily apparent. Not the usual Cornwell fare, but highly entertaining nonetheless.

Readers used to Bernard Cornwell's medieval historical fiction series may be surprised with his latest book, covering the summer of 1779 near Majabigwaduce in the colony of Massachusetts, a small but important moment in the revolutionary war. But Cornwell does what he does best, taking this small and seemingly insignificant moment and expanding it into a book-length story of drama and emotion and action.

With the major battles occurring further to the south, a British force with almost a thousand Scottish infantry and three sloops-of-war sail into the eastern province of Massachusetts - what would one day be the state of Maine - and establish a garrison and naval base at Penobscot Bay. They are the only British troops between New York and Canada. Massachusetts answers immediately with a thousand infantrymen and over forty ships. Second in command is Peleg Wadsworth, once an aide to General Washington, along with a patriot known as Paul Revere will face down an eighteen-year-old Scottish lieutenant named John Moore.

What should be an easy battle for the men of Massachusetts turns into a big, bumbling embarrassment. Cornwell turns a history story into a gripping novel of people of the past come to life in this important time in the founding of a nation. As a British citizen who has lived for many years in New England, readers can't help wondering what side Cornwell associates with.

Originally written on January 1, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.

[...] for over five hundred reviews and over forty exclusive author interviews, and more.

I live next to Revere, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, where the legend of Paul Revere is alive and well. People take tours of his house in the North End, visit his capture site in Concord, go to the Old North Church where a one-man show often plays (I've seen it), and to his grave next to the Park Street Church. I was totally unaware of the "rest of the story" and of the battle we lost just north of here. For this reason alone, The Fort is worth reading.

However, Revere is not the main character, and indeed there is no central figure, much unlike Cornwell's very popular Sharpe novels (I've read several), and not as fun. The action shifts from British to Colonist often, depicting the two sides with great detail. I got the impression Cornwell favors the Brits here a bit, but overall his account appears fairly objective.

The historic notes at the end (a tradition in Cornwell's novels) are very helpful. Cornwell cleverly makes it clear which individuals are historic and which are invented for the purpose of the story.

The more observant amongst you may notice I am British, but I suspect you probably know as little about the events of Majabigwaduce in1779 as I did.

So, to put this into perspective, In Britain we had a brilliant cunning plan - we shipped out convicts to Australia and our religious nutcases over to the newly discovered America. In retrospect we are well aware that we should have left these two groups at home and shipped ourselves out to the paradise of Australia and the land of plenty that was America. But I digress, let's roll forward to the point where America tired of British rule, British Kings and, more importantly, British taxes. Obviously an unreasonable attitude but the War of Independence was your way of kicking us out and this novel, based on fact, is set during that war.

Some spoilers here, but I'm not sure if they count in a factual novel...

A force of Scottish infantry with limited support from the Royal Navy was ordered to hold a key peninsula in Maine while the Americans were equally determined to take it back.

British author Cornwell tries very hard to be objective and portray both sides in this conflict with balance. He obviously discovered an piece of American history that was not well known and decided to base a novel on it, partly because of the historical interest, but also because some key historical figures were involved, John Moore (later to become one of Britain's finest soldiers and leaders) and Paul Revere (made famous by Longfellow's famous poem which gives him far more credit then he was actually due).

There is no doubt that this is an interesting book, but here Cornwell has taken an event and placed his story in it, he normally takes characters like Sharpe with distinct personality and then places them in historical events. It doesn't work like the Sharpe stories for this very reason as his main characters here were real and that does not allow him much to play with.

The Scots were inexperienced troops but had experienced and inspirational leadership and were regular soldiers who did this for a living. There was joint strategy and effective communication with the Royal Navy but the position was still very weak. Enter the Americans with more troops and a superior naval force, but with conflicting leadership and poor communications. From Cornwell's telling the American troops varied from experienced and brave marines to conscripts and volunteers who really wanted to be farming, not fighting. With naval and land commanders not agreeing on any strategy they delayed for so long that the Royal Navy turned up to re-enforce the garrison and the Americans decided to retreat. This was not from cowardice but, given that they no longer had the upper hand, was probably the best thing to do given the situation and that they had delayed for so long. Having said that, they had the chance to regroup where the river narrowed but once again poor leadership meant that they didn't do so, and as a result the fleet was destroyed by their own hands or by the British in the biggest American naval disaster prior to Pearl Harbor.

Of most interest was probably Paul Revere who comes over very poorly here, lazy arrogant and self serving - we Brits have hardly ever heard of him, but it may be hard for you Americans to see a historical icon painted in a different light.

So this is an interesting book, but not a real page turner, it lacks tension because you know the outcome before you turn the first page. Cornwell has shed light on a small but important bit of history but fails to make it into an enthralling read.

I won't repeat much of what has been said, except to tell you that you might need to push yourself to finish the first 3 chapters. There is a lot of background information to get things going, but once you get into the meat of the book, you won't put this down.

Cornwell has a knack for keeping all the pieces of his stories, including many different characters, all straight. Yes, that's a factor in the story by the way, that there are a LOT of characters. But in a story like this one, I don't know how it could have been avoided. On one or two occasions, I had to stop and figure out, "Ok, wait, who was that again?" But overall everything moved so fast this little nitpick didn't really bother me.

One thing this book does really well is to not make the British all fit the pompous officer "lord so and so" stereotype, and not every Continental is a hero. There are heroes and cowards on both sides, and he shows this really well.

You will really enjoy the characters, and if you get a chance to try the audio book, you'll love it even more.

This is an excellent book. If you like historical fiction, you'll love this book.

Although panned by some, I found "The Fort" to be intriguing in many ways. Picking the Penobscot campaign was daring for the author...a little footnote (if that) in the full spread of the setting of the Revolutionary War. He pulls it off though, with situations one can understand--and faults glaringly to match. The background story is quite interesting, and the overall sequence of events shown is humanity spotlighted with all its indecisiveness and character flaws readily apparent. Not the usual Cornwell fare, but highly entertaining nonetheless.

I have read nine other books by Cornwell. I mostly have read his fiction set in the early middle ages, which I have found enjoyable if often redundant. But I was amazed at Cornwell's depth of knowledge and attention to detail in this work. He manages to explain minute details of eighteenth century warfare from the nautical terminology, formations, and weapons without sacrificing an interesting story. The characters in this book are richly drawn and quickly draw our sympathy and reprobation.

I notice some reviews have stated that this book was too "slow moving" but I really attribute this to Cornwell's skill at making us FEEL the frustration Wadsworth experiences being caught between the egos and incompetence of Salonstall, Lovell and Revere. Cornwell's talent as a storyteller shines through elegant but readable prose.

As a fan of historical fiction I recommend this book without any reservations. Cornwell blended a great investigation into a little discussed historical event (which as a history major I never heard of) into a great story where battle scenes and internal struggles are vividly told.

I would hope for a sequel to this work either following the fate of Peleg Wadsworth or (even better) a series of novels following the career of Sir John Moore.

I freely and happily admit it, I'm a Bernard Cornwell fan. I've read lots of books of his over the years, especially the Sharpe series, but others as well. I was honestly expecting more of the same and I'm very happy to say I was disappointed. Instead, I got something very different from Mr. Cornwell. This is not a Sharpe novel. Not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the one character that resembled a Sharpe character doesn't come off well. I don't want to spoily anything about the book because if you don't know the story of this, somewhat obscure, battle from the American Revolution, well, it's just chock full of surprises. Mr. Cornwell's writing is excellent, as always. I enjoyed the characters, real and imagined. The story was fun and entertaining. Best of all, I didn't realize why Mr. Cornwell had been interested in this story until the after finishing the book I was reading the Afterward and it all became clear to me. Yet another surprise that I won't spoil for anyone.

This was a great read by a great author and I highly recommend it.

I guess there are probably two schools of though on this one.
Some will prefer their historical fiction to be strictly factual, deeply researched, and resultingly slightly burdened and slow as a result.
Others will like their historical fiction to be embedded in an interesting time period but are prepared to sacrifice some of the detail to speed up the story and allow the author more freedom.
The Cornwell stories I truly love are the best balance of the two - but are either distant enough in time or removed enough from the chief historical figures - with a slight leaning towards the freedom of fiction. The pace of this book (being slightly ponderous) clearly shows that it tends more toward the Historical side of Historical fiction than the Fiction side.
That said, Cornwell remains the master of historical fiction and one of my favorites. This book is still worth a read, both for the stylish writing and the curiously underexposed history.

In the summer of 1779, a British force of seven hundred and fifty men landed at Penobscot Bay, Massachussets, and built a fort there. Their purpose there was to prevent privateers attacking British shipping during the American War of Independence. American congress sent an army of ships, marines, soldiers, and volunteers to remove them. This novel is based around the battle and events that took place.

I thought the story got off to quite a slow start, but got more interesting, as the book progressed. There was no one main character that you could 'hang your hat on'. It was more a mixture of characters form both sides, both real and fictional. I think the story would have worked better if there had been a main character from both sides.

The writing is vivid, and the battle scenes are described in great detail, as you would expect from this author. Overall, I quite enjoyed it, as I have an interest in history. If history in not your thing, though, you might want to give this book a miss.

I love history and was really looking forward to reading this account of a not so well known event in the Revolutionary War. The story is interesting, but not as engaging as I would have liked. I was never drawn into the characters enough to care about the outcome. I have not read any of Cromwell's books in the past and this experience with The Fort will not prevent that from happening in the future as he obviously knows what he's doing. This book was obviously well-researched and well-written. It was just not engaging in my opinion.

When commenting about books, I always try to be fair. Was I restless, distracted, or bored when I read it? Did I choose the right book for what was going on in my life, such as a busy holiday season? In the case of The Fort, the answers did not fall into the book's favor. I had just read Kevin Baker's Paradise Alley (one of my all time favorites) and knew my mind was still wrapped around its characters and setting (New York during the Civil War).

I am a huge fan of Bernard Cornwell's writings, and have read all of his books to date; some more than once. I suppose I was expecting something along the lines of "Redcoat", and, therefore, was sadly, and slightly disappointed with "The Fort". I won't go into a synopsis of the book other than to say that you will learn some facts of historical note regarding the Revolutionary War period that I'm sure you had not heard before. I never knew that Maine, at one time, made up the very northern part of Massachusetts.
If you haven't read Bernard Cornwell before, I will tell you that he is a master at creating characters you either feel that you know, or, would like to know. I am accustomed to Mr. Cornwell's development of a main protagonist and following his/her story set in a historical period. "The Fort", for my tastes, had no "main" character to identify with, and left me on the outside looking in at an, albeit, interesting historical event.
That said, I can't wait for his next book!

The history is well-researched and enjoyably presented, with the caveat that Cornwell always seems to fixate on a single concept in his books that he returns to again and again and again until the reader just wants to shout "Enough Already!" In many of the Saxon-era books it's "The Shield Wall"; in this novel it's the height and breadth of Fort George's unfinished ramparts. That said, I enjoyed the insights into Revere's character and Cornwell's airing the buffoonery of the leadership on both sides; I like Allan Eckert's books on the era better, but I do appreciate Cornwell's impartiality in dragging both British and American skeletons out of the historical closet.

I've read most of Bernard Cornwell's novels -- the Sharpe series, the Starbuck series, the Uhtred series, the ones about Crecy and Agincourt, and others. Mostly, I've mildly enjoyed them: swashbuckling stories set against a well-researched historical backdrop. Not a patch on Patrick O'Brien, but then not much is.

However, this book was well below Cornwell's average. It may be based on real events, but the story was not gripping, and the writing was even more clunky than usual -- to the point of being utterly distracting. This book could have done with far more editing and revision before release.

I've always been somewhat irritated by Cornwell's consistent use of short "tumpititumpititum" cliff-hanger sentences at the end of sections or chapters, along the lines of: "And tomorrow it was time to die", or "And time to confess he had failed". In this book, such snippets are scattered in such profusion that at times I thought I was reading a Bernard Cornwell Pistache by Sebastian Faulks rather than a genuine Cornwell oeuvre.

Characters' motivations are either laid out in repetitive and mind-numbing detail or sketched so scantily that they appear to be mere stereotypes: the stiff-necked admiral, the dashing rebel, the cowardly Colonel. Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that most of the principal characters in this book are real people, with reasonably well-documented lives, in contrast to his other novels where main characters are fictional.

I really struggled to finish this book. I found the brief, factual, historical postscript far more interesting than the fictionalized account in the main text.

This is my first Cornwell novel and I must say that I am now a convert. His historical fiction is very detailed and very compelling. The Fort is chiefly about the Penobscot Bay campaign, which was an attempt by the Americans to oust the British out of Penobscot Bay (Maine). Despite what I thought was a good understanding/education in Revolutionary War history, I had not heard of this particular expedition. Cornwell's writing was exact and compelling....I was very impressed. His level of detail was enough to satisfy picky historical fiction readers such as myself, without sacrificing interest. He never bored me, never lost my attention.

I'm a new fan....and thank goodness he's written enough to keep me in books for a very, very long time.

I read much of Cornwell's work, some of which I find outstanding and some of which I didn't. 'The Fort' stands in the first category. Although I'm a history nut, I must admit to have never even hearing of the events that Cornwell pens so well. My guess is that few of us have heard about it which says something about the vagaries of real history but probably more about us poor, frail humans. This is a story of the Revolutionary War in which our...American...side proved less than the stalwart ideal. Therefore this very destructive event has been all but completely forgotten

Examine the events at Alamo 175 years or so ago. Everyone knows the basics of the story. But how about Goliad, an arguably more important event--at least in terms of Texas lives lost? How many of us know anything about it, let alone know the details. Precious few I'd venture. Certainly the Alamo wasn't a victory in the usual sense but Goliad was a crushing Texas defeat in every sense, so therefore we conveniently let it slide from our memories and imagination.

We remember our great WWII aces, some of whom shot 30 or more enemy aircraft from the skies. How many of us know, however, that the Japanese had an ace that shot down over 70 allied pilots and the Germans had a pilot [Hartmann] who shot down a reported 352 enemy aircraft? We like to remember the successes of our side and forget the reverses. I suspect this is a major human weakness.

Anyway 'The Fort' is a fine history by an author who just turns out to be quite a novelist.

I've been an avid reader of Bernard Cornwell's work and have been very happy with them. Books such as Agincourt and the Richard Sharpe series have provided me with many hours of reading, and listening, enjoyment. Unfortunately, The Fort fails to deliver that same feeling of being in the story and standing with the main characters as the other books have done. The word I would use for this book is Tedious. I never knew from chapter to chapter which way the various plot lines would jump and was left wanting with incomplete story lines that never were brought to fruition. It just seemed like Mr. Cornwell had a bad day when this was written the way the story jumped all over and was wrought with repetition. I was quite happy when the book ended even though there were times when I wanted to stop and begin another book mid way through this one. Conversely, anyone who hasn't read Agincourt: A Novel should do so as it's one of Bernard Cornwell's finest, in my opinion as well as the Sharpe series which is a close second. These books I didn't want to put down at any time! Please don't get me wrong, Mr. Cornwell is a very fine writer and I personally love his work, just not this one.

This book covers the American military blunder that is known as Penobscot Bay. People should read a little about the history of the expedition before reading this book to know that the Americans don't win, in fact they leave with their tails between their legs. It is a good read and very accurate in terms of true history but starts off pretty slow. It picks up as you turn more pages and depicts the characters of the men present at Penobscot I think very well. We get to see the true nature that is the American Revolutionary hero: Paul Revere, who was nothing but a self serving indulgent. If you're an admirer of revolutionary America, this should definitely be on your book shelf. The reason I gave it only 4 stars is because of the lack of detail to the American ships present at the seige. Its hard to describe a ship of that time, I think it would have been better to at least illustrate, in picture, the frigate Warren and the other ships the state of Massachusettes sent to boot out the British. It was the largest mustering of American naval forces during the revolution and I think there should've been more praise to the state for joining such a land and sea force.

This is Cornwell's attempt at the American Revolution, as told mostly from the British perspective, but it is also true to the history of the events, and takes some of the luster off of heroes such as Paul Revere, while elevating some
other lesser known heroes of the revolution. The British build a fort in Maine to lure the rebels to a battle of their choosing. The rebels fall for it and send an expeditionary force that is ill led and ill conceived. Cornwell again does a great job developing his characters, and even though I am a colonial, I found myself cheering for the British in this one.

THE FORT is one of those great historical fiction works that actually incorporates historical, factual events and characters into a great fictional novel. Fast reading and entertaining. THE FORT is everything I like in both history and fiction!

The number of truly fictional characters is limited to the periphery, which leaves a minefield of "real" people for author Bernard Cornwell to incorporate into the story. Thankfully, that task is accomplished admirably!

Prior to the story, author Cornwell takes the time to explain which characters are fictional and he devised a simple method for the reader to keep things straight while reading. Afterwards, the author provides historical notes explaining the events, scenes and character interactions with which he took literary license. Cornwell also provides follow-up to the story and relates historical findings related to the events portrayed. While not a bibliography, there's enough original source material cited if you want to do your own research and verification.

Paul Revere gets a rather unforgiving treatment, which kind of caused me some discomfort, but Cornwell adequetely explains the origanal sourcing of why his Revere character does and says the things he does. Having recently read a Revere bio, I must say that Cornwell is much less forgiving and flattering than the other "scholarly" book was. But Cornwell limited himself to contemporary, original source reports of Revere's conduct, so all I can say is that I am now intrigued to read more about Revere. While Revere's contemporaries knew him and had first hand knowledge of events, they also had their own biases one way or the other. Some current scholars may be able to dispassionatly report the facts, but often times their own modern, political bias is introduced. The result being that the reader needs to do a bit of research and thinking and come up with their own conclusions!

THE FORT is well-written and entertaining. The dialogue is realistic. A few minor instances of mild (for today!) profanities including a couple of G..D......s, so beware. Otherwise, if it were a movie, I'd give it a PG rating. A few bits of gruesome battle wounds, but nothing really graphic. Handy close-up map provided for "orientation" of the reader, along with a tiny inset of the east coast. I could have used a "mid-scale" map depicting the not-so-obvious relation of the fort, coast, river and bay. I was confused for a bit as the "bay" is 26 miles upriver and the fort faces WEST and the attack went EAST, which of course is backwards from what you'd expect. Not Cornwell's fault, just a quirk of geography that would have been better explained by a middle sized map of the fort in relation to the coast of Maine (Eastern Massachusetts at the time).

I give FIVE STARS to THE FORT. Entertaining, seemingly well-researched, "real" characters accurately portrayed and treated with respect. Nothing imparted unto them that couldn't be backed by original source material. This is what historical fiction should be. Kind of like the older Kenneth Roberts fiction, but less ponderous. You learn history while having fun doing it with THE FORT. Best of all, it makes you want to delve deeper into the actual history!

The Fort is a historical fiction book based on the Penobscot Expedition in 1779. There were fewer than 1000 Scottish soldiers. The United States fought back with many more men and ships. The main characters were Lt. John Moore, who later became a General and helped defeat Napoleon and Paul Revere, a famous patriot.

I liked the book. There was always battle action so I didn’t get bored. It might have been too gruesome for some. I felt like the author didn’t always clarify when each side was speaking so it got confusing. As you read more of the book you learn more about the characters and whether they were trustworthy.

One of the reasons this was a good read was that it was based on battles that really happened but that we don’t learn about in school.

I learned that some of the ships were privately owned and that the owners were more worried about their boat than the outcome of the fight. One American captain refused to put his ship where he was commanded which affected the outcome of the battle. There were a lot more people involved in battle in those days than you would think. The Americans lost this battle due to their selfishness. Paul Revere actually faced a court-martial.
I would recommend this book to anyone that has to read a book for school or if they are just interested in the revolutionary war.

I describe this book with the worst word that can be associated with novel writing---Boring. Why? I could not feel empathy for any character, not that I could keep track of who any of the characters were. The author found a history book and tried to get the details in, while forgetting that a novel is about people.

I found the story difficult to follow due to frequent and confusing switches between convoluted story lines involving perhaps a dozen or more characters that were involved. Several of the characters that were prominent at the beginning disappeared mid-book, never to be mentioned again. It was never clear who the "good guys" were; and I found the ending very unsatisfying, leaving me up in the air.

Corwell is a tremendous writer, and has almost unmatched ability at placing you in the arena. Unfortunately this book had a very unbalanced feeling. The action was minimal and sporadic. That may very well have been the feelings of the soldiers during this campaign, but as a reader I felt empty with the conclusion of the story. Personally I felt there was to many side characters with little to no impact on the story. I'm not sure if Mr. Corwell was trying something new compared to his proven formula, but I never got that sense of adventure B.C. can inject into stories.

This smoothly written book covers the Penobscot Expedition during the American Revolution. According to some historians it was the worst naval war blunder since Pearl Harbor. Paul Revere is shown to be an arrogant incompetent suffering court martial after the failed attempt against the British (but he appealed it under peculiar circumstances later); prickly Commodore Saltonsall is the fall guy in an attempt to have the other states cover the costs and General Peleg Wadsworth may be the only true hero of the upper echelon's land commanders. WHEN READ: September to November 2010; CHARACTERS: A minus; STORY/PLOT POINTS: A minus; OVERALL GRADE: B plus to A minus.

Every writer turns out a bad novel once in his or her career. I think this is Mr. Cornwell's bad novel. I have enjoyed every other book he has written that I have read (and that is most of them). But I found this one so badly disjointed and poorly written that I could not finish it. It still resides on my book shelf, waiting for me to try to gather the guts to read it again.

On the positive side, it did spur me to do some personal research into this forgotten part of the Revolutionary War, so it was not a complete waste of time.

Bernard Cornwell's latest is set in the Revolutionary War and describes in sometimes excruciating detail a very minor battle (an actual one). The problem is that while Cornwell undoubtedly knows his military history it is not clear why we should care about this one battle. I am a great fan of his Uther novels set in Saxon England at the time of King Alfred which have a healthy dose of cynicism to leaven his occasionally purple prose. Unfortunately in this novel all the young women are fresh face, charming and willing to sacrifice everything for the new nation's freedom while the future career of General Wolfe is telegraphed regularly.

I really enjoy Bernard Cornwell's novels and have always thought they were well researched and well written. I have read his books in the past and my mind seemed to travel to the battles that he was describing and on several instances I went to the internet to read more about the subject that was being discussed.

The Fort to me does not hold up to the prior works written by Mr. Cornwell. The characters lacked depth and the two main generals that were the focal points of the story seemed to be shallow with only one thing on their mind. The British were worried about defending and the American General wanted to attack. The book would have had the same outcome if it was half as long. I often was confused on which character was being focused on as the book jumped around from side to side. I was excited about Paul Revere being a character and the idea that he was a coward but he really was more of an after thought in the book and seemed like he was only used as a combatant to sell more books.

This was my least favorite book by the author however it was a better than average historical fiction novel.

Bernard Cornwall's long writing history places him in a position to debunk our favorite legends of history and folklore.

In this volume, "The Fort," he takes on our American hero, Paul Revere.

Although many of us know Revere from the Longfellow poem, riding through the night to alert the citizens, "The British are coming," few know of his trial for court martial and disobedience.

In this long and detailed novel of naval warfare, the setting of Penobscot Bay looms as one of the strongest antagonists. Add to that a woefully underprepared militia and inept leadership, and the story evolves in bursts of cannonfire, ships wrecking, and angry exchanges among those serving together.

The "reigning king of historical fiction" offers us a chance to re-live history that most have ignored or forgotten. Those who enjoy a good swashbuckling tale of intrigue and wits matched against odds fantastical to imagine, "The Fort" will provide many diverting hours.

Prose-wise it's well written and at times poetic, but it's a slower read, very dry, and could have been at least 100 pages shorter. Also, in hindsight, it seems that the Cornwell may have been a little too preoccupied with undermining america's patriotic archtypes/beliefs. Almost like a historic fiction thesis. This is the first book of his I've read and not my cup of tea. I think it may be more for readers who put historical information higher on the list than character.

As a big fan of historical ficiton, I was really excited to read "The Fort". I had heard great things about Bernard Cornwell's writing style and was hoping for a "can't put it down" novel.

"The Fort" is the story of the Penobscot Expedition during the Revolutionary War, an almost forgotten battle during which America was soundly defeated. Cornwell does a fine job in setting up the action for the battle and walking the reader through the siege and running battle up the Penobscot River.

And while Cornwell does a very good job of explaining what took place during the battle, the reader is left at arms length from the characters. We aren't able to emotionally invest in the tale because we don't really know or care for the characters. And because of that I think that "The Fort" which is very strong on the "historical" but it is a bit too light on the "fiction", reads a bit more like a text book.

Having read all of Bernard Cornwell's books till date, I was disappointed with 'The Fort'. Usually Mr,Cornwell's formula seldom fails to work - his authentic research, excellent writing skills and imaginative story telling makes reading his books a lingering pleasure. Unfortunately 'The Fort' has no heroes nor villains or even a credible plot. Based on a small battle between a British Force and American rebels in 1779 during the Independence war in the coast of New England, Mr.Cornwell tries to tell the story from both sides. But frankly, the story becomes very boring and it took me a great effort to complete the book. Some interesting facts about Paul Revere and John Moore do provide some excitement but does not make it worth the effort of reading over 440 pages.

As usual, Mr.Cornwell's research stands out - but you might as well read the last few pages of the Historical Note to enjoy that.

This book is OK. But not nearly as good as his other books. I didn't have any problems putting it down as with his other books. Some of this could very well be my disbelief at the incompetence of the American officers.

Why didn't someone shoot Salenstall or Lovel?
Anybody got a time machine?

The darn story is realistic and a peon to good officers and soldiers, but it was one of the most frustrating books I have ever read. The bad guys got reprimanded. The good guys were betrayed bit by bit, day, by day, by day.

But Cornwell has well drawn and sympathetic characters , not as Dickinsonian as his usual crew, and he keeps you interested in (and terrified about) what's coming next. One is reminded of lemony snicket's "a series of unfortunate events".

Some reviewers on the Audible site appeared to be bored. There was not enough red-to-the-elbows guts-on-the-ground stuff. Usually Cornwell relieves the tension with with a shot of violence at about the same intervals that soft porn writers throw in sex. But not here. He has ventured too close to a small historical flame, and he cannot get his characters into enough real fights to keep his accustomed rhythm.

He does get you there on the scene with his usual skill....if only to get you to want to shoot "dos guys" .. and not the British guys.

Salve,
a very nice break from Mr. Cornwell's Medieval novels, set during the disastrous Penobscot expedition, a Herculean struggle between brave but very incompetent American forces and Scottish Royal regiments. This one reads well and delivers a reliable feeling for the 18th century warfare, both land and naval. It is not as sweeping as Christian Cameron's 'Washington Ceasar,' but is very detailed and very enjoyable. It has a nice pace and will keep many a reader glued to a page after page to the story - preparation of defences, organization of the American expeditions, the arrival and initial fighting, assaults and failures to overtake the weaker Scottish troops, divided loyalties, abysmal performance of Paul Revere as general of artillery, final American defeat etc. It is as complete as it can be, being a military history. Great book for the fans of the American Revolutionary War.

This story is not a sweeping saga of the Revolutionary War. It takes a small time frame in a specific location and focuses the story on this part of history. The problem an author has in doing this is that he needs to make the actual history engaging. The author did not succeed in accomplishing this. So the story left me thinking that this small slice of history was not worthy of a telling. I am sure the author never intended this to be a conclusion of a reader.

As the second largest naval blunder in American history, this is a fascinating story. I can imagine it was a bit off putting in its treatment of Paul Revere to those heavily vested in his legend but for me it gave the story a feeling of reality. I was glad that the Marine legend survives throughout. I would recommend this book to those who enjoyed the other of Bernard's American based stories. The action is focused on the last 2/3 of the book but it is well worth the read.

I greatly enjoy reading Bernard Cornwell's books for their historic accuracy, realistic portrayal of military tactics and strong character development. "The Fort" did not disappoint. I quickly became swept up in the story, which helped me understand the motivations that drove the maddeningly dithering amateur commanders on the rebel side and cool professional British. I always appreciate Mr. Cornwell's inclusion of postscripts describing how a book's narrative deviates from actual history. "The Fort" lives up to this tradition and is historically accurate enough that it would be worthy of assignment as student supplemental reading in a course on the Revolutionary War. The eye opening exposé of Paul Revere's scandalous behavior is worth the read all by itself. That all said I must disclose that I have a personal interest in the Penobscot Expedition, which made it all the more interesting for me. My 4th great grandfather Charles Carrick was a soldier in the 74th and once the siege was lifted and garrison life prevailed he met a local girl, Rachael Clark, whom he married. In his postscript Mr. Cornwell mentions that some soldiers remained in the Castine area with the bulk of the regiment returning to Scotland for demobilization. He doesn't mention that 125 soldiers of the 74th chose to remain as colonists in British North America. They were given land grants and provisions in and around the new town of St. Andrews, just across the bay. At the time of their last muster in St. Andrews, Nova Scotia in May 1784 it was obvious that these soldiers had already put down roots in America as the group included 32 wives, presumably from the Castine area, and 48 children. What I have always found amazing is why the border was not established at the Penobscot as opposed to the ill-defined Schoodick/St. Croix River that was the nominal border between Massachusetts and Nova Scotia. The Penobscot region was relatively remote and underpopulated. With the large number of Loyalists that had become concentrated in the region it would not have taken much effort on the part of the British to have the line drawn there, especially as disputes over the position of the border in this region were not finally resolved until 1842. Dr. Calef lobbied long and hard and even traveled to London to present the case for the border being placed at the Penobscot - to no avail. It must have been a frustrating defeat for Calef as borders were already being redrawn in this area. By August 1784 the new colony of New Brunswick had been hived off from the western part of Nova Scotia. Many loyalists had been so confident that the border would be in the Castine area that they had already built new houses. Many were so angered that they would have to abandon their homes that they floated them over to St. Andrew's rather than let them fall into rebel hands. Washington didn't seem in any great a rush to get to his representatives to Castine either, although he and Sir Guy Carleton had corresponded on the matter. After the evacuation of New York, on Nov 25th, 1783 the garrison at Fort George remained, waiting to be relieved by American forces, and waited, and waited.... By January 1784 the last of the British garrison at Castine got tired of waiting for an official hand over and burnt the fort and stores. The region remained relatively sparsely occupied, partially explaining the ease with which the British re-occupied the region during the War of 1812. They were not attacked during this subsequent occupation, which again lasted well beyond the end of that war. In conclusion a great book and a boost for tourism in the picturesque Castine area, which I highly recommend visiting.

I have read a number of Cornwell's books, including some of the Sharpe books and all of the Saxon stories. I am a fan of his work, but found this story a bit of let down. I must first admit that I listened to this story as an audiobook, so the narrator may have influenced my less than enthusiastic response. My key complaint is that I found that the characters, particularly on the American side, to be very flat. He provided some backstory on Peleg Wadsworth, but that was about it. I also found the dialogue a little out of step with the times. I know that may sound a bit picky, but I think the whole idea of a historical fiction is to immerse oneself into the story to increase it's impact. In this case, I just found it hard to believe the American characters would have acted/spoken the way Cornwell wrote it. Lovell came off as a complete ninny, and Revere was about as 1 dimensional as could be imagined. My final complaints relate to what I have come to recognize as Cornwell's habit of repetition. He feels the need to repeat events or ideas from earlier in the book, in case the reader has forgotten why something was so. I found this particularly distracting in this book.

Finally my audiobook was missing an afterward. I have found that he usually includes a small chapter at the end of his historical fictions, to go over his research, how the imagined compared with the historical record, what the aftermath was, etc. This appeared to be missing in the audiobook and would have been appreciated, particularly given the way the story was ended (quite suddenly).

So in summary I enjoyed reading about this interesting skirmish, but found the text somewhat tedious and perhaps it would have been better as straight history.

I've read several of the other reviews about this book and those with four stars seem to be the fairest and most accurate. I am new to the Cornwell world or historical fiction and I dare say that he is excellent. Since I don't have the prejudice of having read his other novels from the Agincourt series or of Richard Sharpe (which I plan to look into) or what have you, I can say that it doesn't take an expert to recognize a great writer and style when presented. I have read other historical fiction (from Colleen McCoullough and Richard Harris) and I've read several histories on the Revolutionary War. So it was delicious, if you will, like dessert, to read a novel combining my literary interests. One can hardly argue the prowess of Cornwell's writing and the criticism of the dryness that many expressed of the first hundred or so pages is, to a lesser degree, deserved. But with such an expressed desire to be as authentic as possible without there being too much aridity, laying out the factual details and then going with those unchangable facts while making it a gretat read is a difficult thing to accomplish. The fact that the Americans lost and so doesn't have a triumphant or even happy ending, and that history, in all it's naked truth is, admittedly, boring (or that's what some readers would say). Only if you're an enthusiast of history as well as one who wishes for charchterization and storytelling then this book is for you. There were some who gave 1 star which I think is way off base and totally undeserving. But on the other hand it was wanting for little things like what happened the Miss Fletcher? Or you heard of nothing from Captain Mowat, whose three sloops were crucial to the story. Even Paul Revere is only seen through the second or third persons. Others have larger roles like Peleg Wadsworth and Lt. John Moore. I wish the ending didn't end where it did and gone through to the court martial trial of Commodore Saltonstall or of even Revere. And five stars is a bit much. I was certainly worth my time and money and would be yours.

I love Cornwell's Utred & Arthurian historicals. I was surprised to learn he took on the American Revolution, but was happy to read anything by such a master. I found his alternating back & forth between American and British characters an interesting device to capture a larger sweep of the battle. And I was surprised to learn that Paul Revere was such an SOB.
My little disappointment was not having a central character, like Utred, with whom I could identify and attach. But Cornwell's comparison of British professionalism to American idealism was enlightening and enjoyable, as was his comparison of American amateurism to British loyalty.

Bernard Cornwell takes a little known yet significant aspect of the Revolution and illuminates its importance and its historical ramifications. Having been weaned on the Revolutionary War novels of Kenneth Roberts, Cornwell is more compelling as a novelist and in linking some of the principal characters in subsequent events in history. The Historical Notes at the end really shatter some of the myths of the Revolution particularly regarding Paul Revere. This novel is Cornwell at his best and is required reading for any serious student of the American Revolution.

Great historical yarn. It is somewhat slow at first, heavy with dialogue, but is filled with detail about a little known battle of the American Revolution. There is certainly a new perspective on Paul Revere proving that it is sometimes not important how good you are but rather how good your press is.

Once again Mr. Cornwell has proven that he is the absolute master of the historical fiction genre. After the Sharpe series I could not imagine that he could keep it going, but one after another his books maintain great writing and good story telling to go along with careful research and superb period detail. If you are just discovering Bernard Cornwell's work you are in for a ride. Be sure to get them all, you will not be sorry.

One could read nothing but Bernard Cornwell books and be entirely satisfied. This new novel is meticulously research and brought to life with fascinating, colorful characters. It also educated me on a period of American history I really only knew thru mainstream sources.

I have read most of his books, and usually enjoy them. This one became a chore to finish. The characters spend a great deal of time puffing themselves up and talking about what they're going to do to the opposite side, but very little time doing it. You get a feel for how incompetent the Americans and their plan was, but it just goes on and on. I finally started to skip over pages, and found the story had not advanced after more than two chapters.

Interesting piece of history, but a poor read.

Considering Cornwell's track record, I am honestly shocked that he wrote this novel. Nothing in this book was remotely close to anything I've read by Cornwell (and I've read more books by him than I can remember). The story telling is boring. The story is boring. There is no sense of urgency to any of it. I love history, but this would be an example of a reason to not like history. Apologies Mr. Cornwell, you are my favorite author, but this book just didn't make the cut for me..

I'm a huge Bernard Cornwell fan. I've read almost everything he has written, (not quite all of the Sharpe books). And so I feel that I can give The Fort somewhat of a fair review since I'm familiar with his work, though three stars might be too high. Two and a half would have been more true of my opinion of The Fort.

I would advise against reading The Fort as your first Cornwell book. He has written so many better books than this one, i.e. The Saxon Series, The Holy Grail Series, Agincourt, Starbuck, etc. I think you will only like The Fort if you like Cornwell.

I don't really know why Cornwell thought he could make a novel out of the events that took place in The Fort. True, there is some interesting history that a lot of people probably don't know. For example, I always figured Paul Revere to be Revolutionary War hero, however, in The Fort he is portrayed as a coward. Some people may be angry by this, though I suspect Cornwell is close to Revere's true character because his books are always backed up with solid history. In fact, before each chapter, two or three letters written by the people who fought in this campaign present the facts Cornwell is basing his story on. So it is interesting for it's historical base.

The problem with it is that there is very little character-driven story. Usually Cornwell is so good at this. However, The Fort doesn't have a main character to get behind and see things through their eyes; it jumps around with many characters, some only seen for a couple of pages. I think Cornwell missed an opportunity here. He should have told the story from two people's perspectives; one American, and one Britt. Then we could have delved deeply into the lives of the characters.

I found myself cheering for the British even though I'm an American. I think this is because Cornwell made the only interesting characters British. That's fine--he's British after all, but this might turn some American readers off from the story.

The ending was such a big let down. Absolutely nothing happens, other than a disastorous retreat. I understand that this is history and so Cornwell is telling what happened, but this makes me question why he even spent a year writing this novel. Every single book of his that I've read ends with a big exciting battle. The Fort does not. Most of the action takes place early on, then the rest is just anticipating a battle that never comes. Also, there is no closer on any of the characters. Things are going on, threats of imprisonment are being made, and we don't get to see how they pan out. I want to know! The Fort neede at least two or three more chapters to wrap the story up.

If you pass The Fort up you won't miss anyting. It pains me to say this because of my love for cornwell's previous work. But save yourself some money and time by not buying The Fort. Instead, read the Starbuck books about the American Civil War, or The Saxon books about how Alfred the Great shaped England into a country. You'll be happy you read Cornwell's other stories.

Listen my children and you will hear
Of the unknown failure of Paul Revere
It twas the Summer of 1779.
Not a man left is still alive
Who recalls that infamous day and year

When the British came to Penobscot Bay
And a Massachusetts force came to drive them away
"Attack first by land",
"No, Attack first by sea"
While for the British, the commander McLean
Held Fort George though it was incomplete

While Lovell dithers, making Wadsworth seethe
And Saltonstall ships wait to engage the fleet
Col. Revere carries airs that you wouldn't believe
More interested in status than the British you see

Bernard Cornwell tells the tale
Weaving the story of land and sail
As once did he a fine story brew
Of Richard Sharpe and his Rifleman true
with Pelg Wadworth as the hero in lieu.

The tale is well written and the battles ring true
With fine characterzation and story too
Fans of his writing will no doubt cheer
Of the latest novel he presents to us here
The quality of his past is maintained
as a glimpse of a young Sir John Moore is made
long before his final fate
Is decided some decades and an ocean away

So if of Cornwell you are a big fan
Purchase the latest work of the man
Though fans of Revere might groan and wail
that he reminded the world of an embarrassing tale

I have read sixteen of Mr. Cornwell's previous books. All of the previously read books have a central character/narrator. The Fort was not a bad read, but I never was invested in any one character, which is why I love Mr. Cornwell's other series. I hope that he continues his Starbucks and Viking series.

I have greatly enjoyed several of Bernard Cornwell's previous efforts (Agincourt, Lords of the North, and several of the Sharpe's books) so I was quite pleased to have the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book as part of the store's Vine program. I tried reading/re-reading this book on several occasions and just could not get past page 75 -- it was just too dry and un-interesting. This was so disappointing as I was looking forward to learning more about Paul Revere as the book promised to be strongly rooted in actual people and events.

Cornwell is one of my favorite authors and I have enjoyed all of his novels......up until The Fort. For the most part, the characters had wooden-like personalities; a fact that Cornwell emphasized page after page. For that matter, unlike the tight writing in his other novels, this story just seemed to ramble on and on to an unsatisfying end. Overall, the novel was a great disappointment!

I normally give a book 50 pages to catch my interest, and at page 50 it was enough. My shelf, the bookstore and Athe store is filled with other stuff waiting to be read, so why waste time on such å boring book. I read Acincourt by the same autor, and I loved it - but this was just not interesting in any way. Sorry.

I am in general a fan of Bernard Cornwell, whose Sharpe novels are gripping, the best of the genre.

But in writing The Fort, the author forgot that a disaster per se does not make a good book.

A novel about our Revolutionary War need not glorify the American side to be admired by American readers (Kenneth Roberts' Oliver Wiswell, with a Tory hero, proved that); but I cannot imagine how either American or British readers could find good in this book.

I bought the novel second-hand for five dollars, read it, and threw it away. Which seems to me enough to say.

I'm a huge Cornwell fan, but this book was a let-down. There were too many characters, no plot, no action, and a lot of repeated phrases and flat dialogue. There was too much passive voice, too much telling instead of showing, and I could not connect with any of the characters.

This is a story of inaction. Nothing happens. For hundreds of pages. Then some ships show up and the rebels clear off.

My biggest problem with the book? Typos. After the first few, I lost complete trust in the writer. Here are just a few that I marked (there are lots more):

On page 153, "the range war far beyond any hope of accuracy"
On page 243, "here is comes"
On page 244, "He had not met Cames..." (the character's name is Carnes)
On page 317, "the Reverened Jonathan Murray suggested."
On page 372, "I reckon it will taken an hour..."

There's a great deal of missing punctuation speckled throughout the book, too. Everything combined made for distraction and a very disappointing read.

Sorry, BC, this one just didn't do it for me.

I have read sixteen of Mr. Cornwell's previous books. All of the previously read books have a central character/narrator. The Fort was not a bad read, but I never was invested in any one character, which is why I love Mr. Cornwell's other series. I hope that he continues his Starbucks and Viking series.

I have greatly enjoyed several of Bernard Cornwell's previous efforts (Agincourt, Lords of the North, and several of the Sharpe's books) so I was quite pleased to have the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book as part of the store's Vine program. I tried reading/re-reading this book on several occasions and just could not get past page 75 -- it was just too dry and un-interesting. This was so disappointing as I was looking forward to learning more about Paul Revere as the book promised to be strongly rooted in actual people and events.

Cornwell is one of my favorite authors and I have enjoyed all of his novels......up until The Fort. For the most part, the characters had wooden-like personalities; a fact that Cornwell emphasized page after page. For that matter, unlike the tight writing in his other novels, this story just seemed to ramble on and on to an unsatisfying end. Overall, the novel was a great disappointment!

I normally give a book 50 pages to catch my interest, and at page 50 it was enough. My shelf, the bookstore and Athe store is filled with other stuff waiting to be read, so why waste time on such å boring book. I read Acincourt by the same autor, and I loved it - but this was just not interesting in any way. Sorry.

I am in general a fan of Bernard Cornwell, whose Sharpe novels are gripping, the best of the genre.

But in writing The Fort, the author forgot that a disaster per se does not make a good book.

A novel about our Revolutionary War need not glorify the American side to be admired by American readers (Kenneth Roberts' Oliver Wiswell, with a Tory hero, proved that); but I cannot imagine how either American or British readers could find good in this book.

I bought the novel second-hand for five dollars, read it, and threw it away. Which seems to me enough to say.

I'm a huge Cornwell fan, but this book was a let-down. There were too many characters, no plot, no action, and a lot of repeated phrases and flat dialogue. There was too much passive voice, too much telling instead of showing, and I could not connect with any of the characters.

This is a story of inaction. Nothing happens. For hundreds of pages. Then some ships show up and the rebels clear off.

My biggest problem with the book? Typos. After the first few, I lost complete trust in the writer. Here are just a few that I marked (there are lots more):

On page 153, "the range war far beyond any hope of accuracy"
On page 243, "here is comes"
On page 244, "He had not met Cames..." (the character's name is Carnes)
On page 317, "the Reverened Jonathan Murray suggested."
On page 372, "I reckon it will taken an hour..."

There's a great deal of missing punctuation speckled throughout the book, too. Everything combined made for distraction and a very disappointing read.

Sorry, BC, this one just didn't do it for me.

I've read about half of this book and my disappointment is such that I'm cutting my losses and not reading anymore. While I love Cornwell's Saxon Chronicles this book hasn't captured my imagination in the least. In a word....it's boring. On top of that, it seems to be shaping up as another trendy work highlighting some American historical shortcoming or failure. True or not, fair or not, I'm simply tired of reading about what an inept/imperial/racist/misogynistic/genocidal/explotative history we have, especially in a read authored by a British subject. I'm tired of the negativity.

I love Bernard Cornwell and thought that a Revolutionary war story would be great. I found this one well written, however painful to read. Even based on a true story, most of the Americans were portrayed as totally inept and cowardly and the British were kind, intelligent and great warriors. Even in his Sharpe series when the British were down, they always had something redeeming or positive happen to counter the negative. This is not a pleasurable read, unless you are British!

I liked the Sharpe's series and looked forward to reading this novel. I did not care about the characters.
I felt like cardboard people moved through scenes and suddenly there was pretty good descriptions of battle followed
by more dull reactions. In fact, I was unable to finish the book and there are only a handful of books in my whole life
that I have not finished. The only saving grace is learning that Revere had feet of clay.

While this may be an accurate portrayal of the facts it shows the American revolutionaries to be a feckless
unworthy group of citizen soldiers. Led by two virtually worthless leaders, one a Commodore and the other
a General in name only, the reader is led through a tireless recounting of their weaknesses in their abortive
efforts to uproot a small band of British sailors and soldiers who have laid claim to a small peninsular then a part of
Massachusetts and now a part of the state of Maine. I only completed this book to see what
punishment was meted out to the so-called American patriots including one Paul Revere who it seems has gotten a
free ride in American History. If you want to read a book that will make you blanch at our history and wonder
what possessed Mr Cornwell in offering this to the American market go ahead. I was sorry I did.

With so many other interesting titles I suggest avoiding this one.

I've read most of B.C.'s novels including the Sharpe series. I read some of the other reviews on the store and figured I'd give it a try. I got halfway through and gave up.

I'v liked most of what Cornwell has put out. This book was definitely the exception. It was very boring and predictable. I gave up on it half way through the story.

The folks from England would probably like this book more than US readers since it is a story about incompetent colonists and how they bungled what should have been a sure win against the English.

I guess Cornwell is still a sore loser over the fact that the US routed the English out of our country. One would think he would have gotten over it by now. If it wasn't for the US, he would be speaking with a German accent right now instead of an English one.

As a long time follower of Bernard Cornwell, I was disappointed in The Fort. There is no central character to act as a proponent of the book, it is at times a confusing fictional narrative of a very minor event and mostly 450+ pages of tedium. Cornwell should stick to what he does best.

The Fort does not do justice to Bernard Cornwell's writing. Cornwell's books are typically among my favorites but I have found it laborous to read this one. I've had to push myself to get through it. I'm not sure I ever will. (M)