Reviews like this make it all worth it

Writers don’t write to get praise. Well, most writers don’t. They write because they feel the need to, and because they want to share their worlds with other people. That said, it bloody made this author’s day to get the following 5* review on Amazon.co.uk. Well and truly made up. Go buy it!

“Although it is highly appropriate that I’m writing this on 11 November, ‘Blaise Maximillian: Bitter Defeat’ is far from a conventional World War One narrative. The twenty chapters chronicle a series of episodes in Blaise Maximilian’s military career, following him through the horrors of infantry warfare in France and then into the realms of alternative history, for the ‘Bitter Defeat’ of the title refers to the victory of the German forces on St George’s Day 1923, after which Maximillian takes on a shadowy role for the intelligence services in occupied England. The horrors of war are presented vividly and in graphic detail, leaving the reader in no doubt as to the appalling nature of the experience for young men such as Ensign Maximillian. The author’s knowledge of martial arts gives the combat details an authentic feel; the violence is unsparing, and the descriptions of conditions on the western front are equally harrowing. It is no surprise that Maximillian emerges from the conflict a changed man, and there is ample material here to make readers reflect upon what modern military veterans may have gone through, and how they might be affected. Although much of the WWI detail reads convincingly, this is an alternative history narrative and the dieselpunk approach means there are some intriguing technologies introduced onto the battlefield as well as imaginative sequences exploring the dystopian postwar setting. It is these elements that justify the five stars, for despite some minor irritations – a few cliched phrases, repetitions and typos – the author has created a darkly memorable character and storyline that is crying out for further development.”