Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky Series: Standalone
Published by Panmacmillan on 2015 February 12
Genres: Military Fiction, Fantasy
Pages: 658
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
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The first casualty of war is truth . . .
First, Denland's revolutionaries assassinated their king, launching a wave of bloodshed after generations of peace. Next they clashed with Lascanne, their royalist neighbour, pitching war-machines against warlocks in a fiercely fought conflict.
Genteel Emily Marshwic watched as the hostilities stole her family's young men. But then came the call for yet more Lascanne soldiers in a ravaged kingdom with none left to give. Emily must join the ranks of conscripted women and march toward the front lines.
With barely enough training to hold a musket, Emily braves the savage reality of warfare.
But she begins to doubt her country's cause, and those doubts become critical. For her choices will determine her own future and that of two nations locked in battle.
It was in 2018 that I bought Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky…back when the Big Bad Wolf visited the City where I was currently working. And I picked it because the whole cover spoke of this steampunk aura, a genre that I have come to love as I journeyed through my reading career.
Guns of the Dawn would be my first Adrian Tchaikovsky and it was a pleasant surprise despite me having to put it down numerous times. I started reading the book in 2018 and only finished it this year. Wow. I guess my faculties were not that ready to absorb the story that it’s trying to tell, hence, the long timeline of finally finishing it.
Set in an era wherein the ladies were born to stay at home, and care for the children and the husband, the Guns of the Dawn follows the story of a noblewoman named Emily Marshwic. Caught up between an ally-turned-enemies war, Emily Marshwic was forced to leave her life as a genteel woman and swap her gowns and knitting accessories for military uniforms and guns. Emily could have sent the household’s lowborn maid to the war but she did it despite the fact that she’s a highborn woman and the eldest child of the Marshwic house. Out of duty, honor, and her sense of doing what is right, Emily volunteered.
So for the next two years of her life, Emily Marshwic endured the ugliness of the war, to get a grip with the harsh reality of it, to cope with the losses, and to ensure that she can keep up with the physically, emotionally, mentally draining war. There were no shortcuts for Emily. She had to start from the bottom while facing the obstacles (i.e. rape and discrimination) that she faced while serving the military. I was glad that Tchaikovsky did not glorify the whole process into something that’s out of reality leading to excessiveness.
It’s also worth mentioning that while there are several fantasy elements in Guns of the Dawn, it never veered from the fact that it’s a military book. The tactics Emily and her comrades-in-arms had to employ, on how to deal with the innocent indigenous people who were greatly affected by the war, and how the troops navigated through the dynamics of war and military, it all felt real to me without being exaggerated or suspending my disbelief.
Though I got bored with some of the chapters of the book because the plot was admittedly slow-paced, I still found myself rooting for the different characters in the book especially Emily Marshwic, Cristan Northway, Mallin, and Angeline (hands down, not just a pretty face afterall) whose development had really come a long way when the story had come to its fruition.
Guns of the Dawn ended admirably and well worth the mental stress that I had to endure as I read through the chapters. And despite the fact that I love Emily and her troops who are fighting for Lascanne, I am still betting for Denland to win. Thank to the book gods for hearing my prayer.
So have you heard about Guns of the Dawn? Or anything similar to it?