"Wings of Contrition", by Leon Hughes

[cmatthewbacon]

I wouldn't normally do this, but I was persuaded into buying "Wings of Contrition" by the large number of 5 star reviews on Amazon. I think they've been reading a different book from me (or their critical faculties have been blunted somehow -- I find it really suspicious that there are so many glowing reviews...)

Anyway, given that this place has a higher than average number of people who are likely to be interested in a novel about RFC pilots in WW1, I thought I'd share my review with you here:

Not ready for first solo

There's a reason why publishers employ readers to decide whether to publish a book, and editors to improve it when they have. This book needed both, and should probably have remained in Leon Hughes' bottom desk drawer while he tried a few more times. I finished it, but it was hard going at times -- though given that I'd only paid a couple of quid for it, I can hardly complain too much.

Amazon's "Leon Hughes page" asserts that "aside from a few novels and diaries published in the immediate period after the war, very little is known or understood about the air war". Now, it may just be because it's an interest of mine, but I can think of (and have on my shelves) rather a lot of history and fiction relating to the aerial battlefield of WW1, from W.E. Johns' Biggles through to the latest Derek Robinson. And "Wings of Contrition" suffers by comparison, very badly in some cases. From Cecil Lewis' "Sagittarius Rising" and VM Yeates' "Winged Victory" -- virtually contemporaneous accounts -- to Derek Robinson's "War Story" and John Biggins' "Two-Headed Eagle", the ground covered by "Wings of Contrition" has been overflown so much better. A pinch of Flambards, a nod to the BBCs 70s TV drama "Wings"; an echo of the splendid Puffin young adult book "B Flight", by Bruce Carter: I recognise a number of things I enjoyed as a youngster myself, but this is a writer serving his apprenticeship, not creating his masterpiece.

In particular the characterisation is one-dimensional, and cliche is never far away. There's not much plot, which in itself is not terminal -- most of Robinson's WW1 books have no great arc story driving them along, but follow their believable, three-dimensional, human, cynical characters through their terrifying day to day existence. But as Dan Brown has proved, if you only have one-dimensional characters, you have to propel them at breakneck speed through a barely-believable plot to get away with the sleight of hand. And the much praised "beautiful writing" consists mostly of using a very wide vocabulary, sometimes not entirely accurately (someone should look up what "egregious" actually means), which creates a "voice" for the point of view character which is utterly unconvincing. And there are some very odd descriptions of parts of aircraft, often put in the mouths of people who should know better.

The denouement left me in equal parts thinking "what the...?" and "why have I bothered?" and left a sour taste in my mouth. Deeply unsatisfying.

If my tone seems too harsh, it's partly because I bought this on the strength of the many five-star reviews, and was really disappointed in the book and its ending. Some balancing perspective seemed in order.

Full marks to Leon Hughes for getting down to the keyboard and writing a novel at all, but this one would have been better filed under "learning experience". This pilot's got a few hours under his belt, but needs a deal more instruction before he's ready for squadron service alongside "Aces" like Yeates, Robinson, Biggins and Lyall.

Your mileage may vary, obviously...

bestest,

M.

[Ed Russell]

-- I find it really suspicious that there are so many glowing reviews...

It's called "astroturfing" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

Britmodeller occasionally has a reverse form of it where people sign up to the forum, submit one post highly critical of a product and are never seen again.

For an example, Post 40 in this thread...

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/79881-anyone-got-the-fly-172-whitley-yet/page-2

Incidentally, as far as the book goes, you did better than me - I got half way through the library copy and gave up.

Edited July 28, 2013 by Ed Russell