Fire Over Acadia

I am a volunteer book reviewer for Olympia Publishers based in London, England. Reading novels from British authors is an opportunity for me to share books from other countries. It is fun reading these books to see how they write for I am and do have British relatives across the pond. The first British novel that I have read for Olympia Publishers is 'Fire Over Acadia' and there will be more. I will also, hopefully, be offering more book reviews from the online company that I also review for presently.

'Fire Over Acadia' written by Ronald E. Gaffney and is a totally different look at the period of the French and Indian War. It is from the standpoint of the British army and navy. 'Fire Over Acadia' is a novel as seen through the main character of Bryan Hawkins, a member of the British navy who has a private mission to accomplish.

This novel has a glossary of the many terms that are used throughout the book, as in whose who and where. It is also a novel as seen through the Canadian eyes of the 'Seven Years War' and the exploits of all involved civilian and military. The map at the beginning of the novel seems explicit enough to know of all the locations throughout the book. The one-page introduction was factual for it did give a basic understanding of the time period covered in this fictional story of England, France, America and Canada.

The story starts out with Bryan Hawkins being captured and then being sent on a secret mission in a way to find out information anyway they (he) can. As the story progresses Bryan is treated as a prisoner and now sent on the mission, so his old crew will not be killed when the mission is accomplished. Bryan Hawkins has many adventures and thanks to Ronald's research the reader can see what is going on in a visual sense as the story flows from one chapter to the next. The characters were thought out and even the bad guys were to me kind of likable in the end. Further along in the story it seems even with a war going on they found ways to get alongand work things out some ways.

The chapter entitled 'Revenge' was one of my favorites for it taught Bryan new skills to use on his mission as well as staying alive. This novel has been written as a Book One and Book Two starts out giving a detailed description of what is and had happened so far and showing how regimented the armies were on all sides. Ronald's verbal descriptions from the details of the characters to the locations of the book to all the different battle scenes that were depicted were the reasons that 'Fire Over Acadia' was a fascinating read and gave this American reader a different way of studying the French and Indian War. Problems at all levels can be worked out one way or another.

'Fire Over Acadia' is a novel that I feel could be used as a supplemental reading assignment for a middle school, high school or even a college World history courses as well as English and Literature, if available. This is also a novel that shows in a way a biography of a major character as in Bryan Hawkins and researching what he is going through and the effects that these various events have on him for the present and the future of all involved. It is also a book that gives American students a way of looking at our various historical events in a different light. This is a book that shows what the British and Canadian citizens did during this time in history and that they did what they had to do in the events of the 'Seven Years War'.

'Fire Over Acadia' would also seem to fit Sociology courses as well and have discussions on how this war and its' battles affected Bryan and his crew mates and the others that Bryan had met in solving his various issues that are presented to him throughout the book. Bryan Hawkins is actually an 'Everyman' in this book for we can maybe see what makes us all think the way we think through various issues and problems.

Another area that this book could be used in would be as a vocabulary lesson in an English Language Arts course in using the glossary of the terms and societal words that are used in throughout the story. In a middle school lesson and the use of the glossary would be a good introduction to how other dialects, accents and syntax of words are used in literature and these lessons can be adapted further in the high school and college courses.