cover image The Rule of Ranging Book One: Eclipse of the Midnight Sun

The Rule of Ranging Book One: Eclipse of the Midnight Sun

Timothy M. Kestrel. Timothy Kestrel Arts & Media, $32.95 hardcover (315p) ISBN 978-0-9886660-0-9

In Kestrel's kickoff to this historical series, it is 1854 and elderly Mr. Morton tells journalist Henry Raymond about the adventures of an orphaned teen named Finn, recounting a life%E2%80%94presumably Morton's own%E2%80%94full of adventures, wandering, and fighting. Set during the 18th century, the story unfolds as young Finn's initial military zeal leads to service in a series of battles in the New World. The horrors of war are a familiar coming-of-age theme, but Finn seems to carom from one encounter to another with little character growth. While the well-researched and evocative use of historical figures provides a dignified patina to the novel's events, the stilted dialogue and preachy messages of Finn's friends and associates provide a nearly fatal distraction from the vivid depictions of battle.