It is so refreshing to read a historical fiction book from this era. The War of 1812 is a fabulous satiety that rarely gets told in historical fiction.
The Ballad of John MacLea is a fascinating read, combining the historical facts with a marvellous story, full of intrigue, betrayal and some fabulous action.
The author draws you in to the atmosphere and wilderness surroundings of the American/Canadian border, and the political and military intrigues of the two emerging nations; the newly independent America and British controlled Canada.
The side-story of the development of spy-rings on both sides, and there involvement of the native Canadians provide an added depth and interest to the novel. While John MacLea is the hero, Tecumseh, the leader of the native Canadians, is a welcome addition to the stor. A man who rarely gets the recognition he deserves for his involvement in the War of 1812, and his support of the British, is always goes to see his story being told.
Highly recommended.

An adventurous novel set in Canada during the War of 1812 about a British militia Captain caught up in a spy ring.

There's a lot of action, which is fun, but there's also some head-hopping which is generally a bit jarring and I'm not a big fan of it. I know it's intended to give the reader perspective of more than one character, but that can be done without head-hopping. For me, it does the complete opposite and jars me out of the scene and makes it more difficult for me to connect with the characters. There's nothing wrong with multi-character perspectives, but keep them exclusive to different chapters or sections, don't jump back and forth within the same paragraph or section (or worse, sentence, though I don't think that happened here).

As a result, I didn't feel much connection to the characters and found it dragged a bit. The writing was otherwise good, and the characters believable and sympathetic, just a shame about the head-hopping.

Overall i would give this book a 2.5/5 star rating. It wasnt bad but it definitely did not wow me. It took a lot to get into, there were a fair few tedious and repetitious descriptions and passages throughout the book and even though the characters where built upon well the main protagonist, Captain McLea, seemed to be able to do no wrong. His morals were so impeccable that it nearly read as a Hagiography rather than a war epic.
Towards the end the book started to pick up pace, the plot lines started to converge which was exciting. But the ending didnt I feel didnt finish on a conclusive note, there was still a fair few loose ends that never tied up or got mentioned in which i felt a but let down on.

Having no knowledge of the war of 1812 beforehand I do like how well researched the novel was as i fact check a few topics along the way. The dialogue seemed genuine to the time and the scenes were well described.

A good premise for a story that to me was only let down by editing and needed a bit more structure to pace the book out more evenly.

Writing under a pseudonym husband and wife duo A.J. MacKenzie pen another enthralling historical crime novel in which no-one knows who they can trust. Captain John MacLea is tasked with identifying an espionage ring who are up to no good. You could really feel the danger that was building, and there were plenty of shocks in store for the reader. The Captain is a formidable character who has tenacity by the bucket load and no matter how much his life is at stake he carries on with the mission he was assigned. With so many secrets and lies and much deception and duplicity, will Captain MacLea be able to find these enemy agents and expose them, or will he die trying?

Many thanks to Canelo for an ARC. (less)

The Ballad of John MacClea is a new setting for husband and wife author AJ MacKenzie and it is another enjoyable historical thriller.

This time the setting is Canada and follows a soldier, Captain John MacClea, who finds out there is a spy leaking secrets.

The main characters are reasonably well formed and the ending allows for further adventures with the Captain

Recommended