Die Fasting

By Jonathan Carriel

The year is 1758, and though the locale is workaday New York, the landscape is wildly exotic. Our fresh-faced hero is Thomas Dordrecht, raised on a remote farm-now in the heart of modern... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595415105
• ISBN13: 9780595415106
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

I'm hooked

The book started slowly, but once the voyage to Albany was underway, the action picked up and before I knew it I was hooked. The story is fast paced, and by the end I found that I was looking forward to keep on reading more. I can't wait for the sequel.

A 249 year old mystery!

I really enjoyed this book! The historical setting was well described and made me feel the flavor (and the food!) of the times and the enormous difficulties of moving an army long before any mechanization was even thought of! It was fun imagining upstate New York as it looked in 1758 and made me want to visit the battlegrounds and picture all the characters there. The mystery is very well formed and kept me guessing all along. Looking forward to the next adventure!

The only thing wrong is the title...

Just about the only thing I didn't like about this fascinating novel was the title, even though the quote from Benjamin Franklin in which it originates is displayed at the beginning. However, the young hero is totally believable as he narrates what happends to him after he is convinced to leave his peaceful Brooklyn farm (this takes place in 1758 and yes, Brooklyn and much else of what contemporary New York City now look like is still farmland) to join the King's army and fight in the French and Indian War. In an age where armies were made up of untrained youngsters who didn't know how to load the muskets they were given, or even how long it would take to sail up the Hudson to get to where their camp would be, I learned an incredible amount about life in pre-Revolutionary America, very much still a British colony. The background is complex and rings with authenticity, and yet the characters do come to life...I really cared about what happened to them. The descriptions of military training and battles (historic ones at that!) were riveting, even the food (as the narrator actually becomes the cook for his unit) is interesting. And the discussion of the various Indian tribes involved on both sides and their distinguishing manner of designing weapons becomes pivotal as the plot does involve a murder. I am glad this is said to be the first book in a series about Thomas, I'm looking forward to his new involvements, as I know I'm going to learn even more as I follow his adventures.