Fortune’s Soldier (The Ballantyne Chronicles 1)
In 1744, young Nicholas Ballantyne, fresh from his studies, expects to spend the rest of his life as the heir, and later laird, on his beloved uncle’s Scottish lands – and could not be more surprised when said uncle despatches him to Hindustan, to learn about life and leadership with the East India Company. Disappointed but dutiful, Nicholas travels to Calcutta, where he starts out as a lowly “writer”, and soon becomes a soldier, along with his new, mercurial and ambitious friend, Robert Clive. He also begins to fall in love with Hindustan, its beauty, its customs, its languages – and soon, with the lovely dancer Meena… all of it for the best seeing that, back in Scotland, Nicholas’s uncle has lost everything by joining the doomed Jacobite Rising.
What follows is a tale of war, espionage, friendship, love and intrigue in the shadow of the East India Company – exciting stuff, in theory. Alas, episodic and disjointed narration, generic descriptions, a lot of exposition, and flatly sketched characters (Nicholas is so very perfect, and Clive comes across as petulant rather than charismatic) do no favours to what could have been an interesting story set in an interesting time.
