What do readers think of Tides of War by Stella Tillyard? Write your own review.

This book provides an excellent history of the British fight against Napoleon in the Peninsular War. The characters are well developed and the writing (particular the section where the soldiers describe their sense of unfamiliarity upon returning home) is often exquisite. The author does a great job setting the historical stage for this story. Therein lies the main weakness of this work of historical fiction. The story is unfocused, cluttered with details, and often wanders vaguely from character to character for at least the first half of the book. Sharper editing would have greatly improved this otherwise worthy work.

"Tides of War" is an ambitious historical novel that tries to be a sweeping epic, but just falls short. I very much enjoyed the fictional Harriet Raven, Robert Heaton, David McBride X& Anne Cobbold as well as the portrayals of Kitty Wellington and Frederick Winsor, who lit up London with gas lighting. Whenever the story focused on these characters, the book kept me absorbed.
However, I skipped through many pages involving the Rothchilds, Lord Wellington and James Raven. The book could not keep me engaged with these characters.
Overall, I enjoyed the book which really explored the fact that during this time in history, women had an opportunity to experience a modicum of freedom and independence while their husbands went off to war. And widowhood could be a ticket to a life of comfortable independence. About 50 pages fewer and I would have rated this book very good.

I had a little difficulty getting into this book because the author introduced so many characters and stories initially, and she moves from one character's story to another so quickly. I thought I'd lose interest. It didn't take long however, to become totally immersed in plots and characters. I didn't know anything about the Peninsular War before I read this book. I found it fascinating. I especially enjoyed how the author intertwined some of the new discoveries of that period, e.g., gas lights and blood transfusions. It was very enlightening.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys historical novels. It's a great read.

I enjoyed this book very much- mostly after the first 100 pages. The author introduces so many characters in the beginning that it is hard to keep them all straight particularly since she is alternating between the war and home front. That said, after that point I really looked forward to reading it and learned a tremendous amount about the Peninsular War and aristocratic England. The characters are all quite genuine - some enigmatic and some quite likable. I would recommend this book.

Even though I read a good deal of history, I had very little knowledge of the Peninsular War. This book shows the English side and reasons for becoming involved.
The effect of war on individuals, families and countries is one of the main themes. These people experience many of the problems we hear about in the lives of our returning servicemen today.
The author skillfully integratesw real people with her fictional characters. Many of the new discoveries of that period are brought out, such as gas lights, blood transfusions,etc. Many items we take for granted are shown in their early development.
I sometimes found the book hard to follow as the author jumps from one person's story to another so often it is easy to lose track of the characters. The list of characters in the back of the book is very helpful in this regard.
Overall this is a good book for fans of historical fiction.

Complicated characters with historical backgrounds make for a very interesting read. The characters come together as the story evolves. Very interesting read.

I'm a fan of historical fiction but was disappointed in this book. The period is definitely interesting and the historical detail is superb as the story moves between London and Spain. Stella Tillyard obviously did a great deal of research in order to write this book. I found there were too many characters to follow and the book did not hold my interest as a result.

This book started off very slowly for me and I had a hard time really getting into the story. Lots of characters and new places. Once it had my interest I enjoyed it and found the in depth history interesting.