The Keys of Hell and Death
Cordell’s sequel to God’s Vindictive Wrath, part of the Divided Kingdom series, is set during the English Civil War and explores the conflicting emotions of English citizens divided by religion and royal rule, and the appropriate place for parliamentary government. The conflict parallels the symbolic place of royalty in modern democracies, and the will of the people to choose their elected officials.
Beginning at the battle of Lansdown Hill, characters arrive from the previous book, and pitting brothers Francis and Ralph Reeve against each other, the novel shows the national thinking in microcosm, reducing the larger conflict to a more manageable level. A former soldier himself, Cordell writes with pinpoint accuracy, but I found myself stumbling over encyclopaedic detail; minute-by-minute action throughout known battles, coming one on top of the other for the first 40 percent of the novel. This felt overwhelming and pushed the telling to the forefront, leaving showing far behind. Brief sojourns into character background, lifestyle and belief systems are fascinating until so much detail is added that the reader is distanced from the events. Hence, I found it difficult to engage with the characters, and the novel needs a strong edit – repetitive mentions of shortages of food, shot, powder, etc., and belief in God-ordained purposes, belabour points well made early on in the novel. However, Cordell expertly captures the horror, fear, and hopeless futility of war, whilst imbuing his characters with strong patriotic duty.
This is a well-informed novel delving into historic battles from a unique perspective, and it definitely belongs on the shelf of any English Civil War aficionado who values the kind of detailed historical accuracy worthy of nonfiction. Cordell’s author notes are a vividly rendered clarification of the broader European context.
