Buffalo Soldier, Maurice Broaddus
I think my enjoyment of this book would be greatly enhanced if I knew my US history a bit better. As it is, it’s an alternate history, and yet I can’t judge the cleverness of it and what it’s trying to show. I feel like I might’ve got into it more at novel length, even without more history knowledge; events might have come upon me a little less abruptly, then.
It’s definitely readable and pacy; that’s not the issue at all. There’s some great lines, including some bitterly funny ones (“We call them engineers. It’s from the Navajo meaning… engineers”). The world building is intriguing, but I just didn’t know enough — either about the world being built, or about the world it is building on. There’s great action scenes, but.
After the whole concept of his King Arthur retelling totally failed for me, though, it’s good to have tried some more of Broaddus’ work. I think I’ll pick up something else by him if I get the chance.
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