Rating: 
Summary: A Napoleonic "Killer Angels"
Review: After learning that this military-history novel had won the Prix Goncourt and other French literary honors, I asked a friend to send me a copy, and plowed through the French edition with great delight (even looking up a word every page or so in the French-English dictionary). It is truly a French counterpart to Michael Shaara's "Killer Angels", the magnificent fictionalized retelling of the Gettysburg story through the viewpoints of key participants (and the basis for Ted Turner's 1993 epic movie). I was delighted to see that an English translation appeared last summer, so that non-French-readers could enjoy this stirring tale. It's too bad that the publisher chose a wholly anachronistic cover image (Napoleon crossing the Alps in 1800, on the way to Marengo, when the book's story takes place nine years later, nowhere near the Alps...although in both cases he did do battle with the Austrians). Evidently the translator has done a commendable job, and I hope we can look forward to Rambaud's next installment, published in French last year, entitled "Il neigeait", about the 1812 Invasion of Russia, appearing in English soon.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting Rollercoaster of War
Review: For a blood and guts narrative of Napoleonic war in a simply but descriptively written style, this book tops the list. There is little doubt why Rambaud won several French literary awards for this book, it is extremely colorful, brutal, emotional and telling of what one can imagine Aspern-Essling waould truly have been for one who fought there, and many times in this tale, died there as well. This may well be the best story of Napoleonic battle I have read, as not only could I feel the pulse of battle for the common voltegieur in the front, but Rambaud also manages to take you into the mind of Lannes and the emperor himself, creating vivid characters that keep you turning the pages. Though not for the feint of heart (anyone seeking anything romantic or joyful need look elsewhere) I would fully recomend this title.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting Rollercoaster of War
Review: For a blood and guts narrative of Napoleonic war in a simply but descriptively written style, this book tops the list. There is little doubt why Rambaud won several French literary awards for this book, it is extremely colorful, brutal, emotional and telling of what one can imagine Aspern-Essling waould truly have been for one who fought there, and many times in this tale, died there as well. This may well be the best story of Napoleonic battle I have read, as not only could I feel the pulse of battle for the common voltegieur in the front, but Rambaud also manages to take you into the mind of Lannes and the emperor himself, creating vivid characters that keep you turning the pages. Though not for the feint of heart (anyone seeking anything romantic or joyful need look elsewhere) I would fully recomend this title.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to put down
Review: I had trouble putting this book down. There was something that felt so realistic about the story (actually, I didn't realise till the end of the book that it was actually a researched historical novel - I thought it was just a good story!). One thing I got from it was a very clear picture of how warfare in the 19th century was for the people involved - helps to put into perspective our tendency to think that somehow the world is getting worse.
Rating:
Summary: Very lucid french writter (first volume of a great trilogy).
Review: I must first say I read the original opus in french and was amazed at the quality of the prose!, (it did strech my french to its limits...), so I have to recommend it on the first place.
BUT MORE IMPORTANT!, for once a french writter deals with the lows of Buonaparte's career instead of the highs and lows or solely the Highs (as it is the usual way...)...
"The Battle" is the first part of a trilogy followed by "The Retreat" and "L'absent" (in french) wich I still do not know how it will be titled in english...
They are melancholic pieces of history but the detail is astounding (I must confess the battle of Aspern-Essling is a long favorite of mine...).
A MUST READ.
Rating:
Summary: Napoleon before Waterloo
Review: On May 16, 1809, the battle of Essling took place at the gates of Vienna. It lasted two days. 40'000 soldiers were killed. Napoleon, accompanied by his trusted marshals Berthier, Lannes and Massena, was on his way to Vienna. The Austro-Hungarian forces met him at the Danube, at the plain of Essling. Napoleon miscalculated the terrain and hesitated. He lost the battle. The author describes the 48 hours, meticulously researched, in incredibly vivid detail. The sound of the battle. The cannon shot ripping through the ranks of Napoleon's imperial guard. The field hospital awash in blood, amputated limbs and the dead. The surgeons' muscles giving out from sawing arm after arm, leg after leg. Soldiers fleeing across the Danube to a little island in the river, not being safe there either. An incredible carnage, interspersed with observations of the life in Vienna. The writer Stendhal and the painter Lejeune caught up in it. The author paints a picture that is incredibly vivid. It is on the same level as Plivier's "Stalingrad" in describing th command of the battle and the mortal fear of the common soldiers. In 1998, this book won the highest French literary award, the Prix Goncourt. It amply deserved it. It must be read by everyone interested in military history. Two weeks after the battle of Essling, the composer Haydn died in Vienna.
Rating: 
Summary: Gritty Account of the Battle of Essling.
Review: The author of this book utilised the efforts of Honore de Balzac who 150 years previously had researched this battle with a view to writing this book. Rambaud has done a commendable job portraying the battle and the reader is cartwheeled headlong into combat and into the Aspern-Essling battlefield. Napoleonic battlefields were anything but glorious and this is conveyed by Rambaud who gets down to the nitty gritter of warfare. I enjoyed the book, especially the description of combat itself. The depiction of characters such as Napoleon and his marshalls was also interesting. Overall, this was a good read. It does not match the fantastic battle scenes depicted in Stephen Pressfields 'Gates of Fire' (few books ever will) but it doesn't pull any punches either about the horrors of war. The hardcover version has a plain tan cover and a glossy dust jacket featuring a rather dashing Napoleon on a white steed. The cover notes that the book was a 'Winner of the Prix Goncour and Grand Prix du Roma de L'Academie Francaise' awards. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Fighting a nightmarish battle for a ruthless Napoleon
Review: The description of a napoleonic battlefield by a modern writer is a difficult undertaking since the mechanics of war have changed beyond recognition in the years since that period, but the nature of battle remains surprisingly the same. Patrick Rambaud has achieved though a magnificent success presenting the little known battle of Aspern-Essling (1809) in a detailed and very realistic way using a mix of historical characters and fictional heroes. The tactics, the experience of battle, the sounds, the smoke, the disorientation, the cruelty and the human misery of the typical napoleonic battlefield is expertly given, with many unforgettable scenes like the destruction of the french bridges on the Danube, the burning of the villages, the atrocities against the innocent population, the horrible treatment of the wounded and the blind strokes of Fate during the battle itself. It is true that Rambaud presents only the French side and does not tell anything about the Austrians, but this adds reality to the story because transfers the reader to the place of ordinary soldiers who are ignorant of the enemy's intentions and strength and fell surrounded by the famous "fog of war" according to Clausewitz's term. As for who won the Aspern-Essling battle, there is no doubt that the French suffered a tactical defeat but no wholesale destruction, such as that they themselves inflicted on the enemy in the battle of Wagram, a month later. Regarding the historical characters, Rambaud spares no effort to paint with vivid colours the celebrated marshals of France like Massena, lannes, Davout, Bessieres and Berthie with all their virtues and vices, emphasising above all their absolute and almost religional devotion to their emperor. I was really shocked by the way that Napoleon is presented, as an uncultured opportunist, brutal, rude and selfish dictator who didn't hesitate to insult his most trusted and faithfull aids, cynically analysing the battle and sending tens of thousands of troops to their death and mutilation, while himself remained detached from the horror of battle enjoying a comfortable living. To be fair this portrait is probably not far away from the real person.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Historical Novel
Review: The French novelist Patrick Rambaud has written an excellent historical novel that is based on several eyewitness memoirs. The subject is the Battle of Aspern-Essling in May 1809, which was Napoleon's first serious battlefield defeat. Napoleon attempted the most difficult military operation of all: an opposed river-crossing against an alert and resolute enemy. A hard-fought two-day battle for the villages of Aspern-Essling resulted, exposing the fact that the emperor was not infallible and that he could make mistakes. Rambaud's version of this brutal slugging match is equally brutal. Heads are blown off by roundshot, civilians are murdered and the thousands of wounded are left to suffer in the rain and mud. Numerous soldiers, including one of the fictional enlisted soldiers, commit suicide under the stress of battle. This novel is not as good a work as Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels, partly because Rambaud does not attempt to interpret what the characters were thinking. The other reason is that there are no Austrian characters; in Killer Angel's, Shaara brilliantly portrayed soldiers from both sides and their efforts to prevail over the other, but that balance is lacking here. The characters in the battle range from Napoleon on high, to Marshals Massena and Lannes, to mid-rank soldiers and even a few enlisted soldiers, although the focus tends to stay mostly on the upper ranks. Massena is probably the most interesting figure in the novel, since his battlefield performance as Aspern was incredible. Others however, like Colonel Lejeune, a general staff officer, become tedious as he spends far too much of the novel mooning of his Austrian girlfriend in captured Vienna. Rambaud also omits or alters some key aspects of the battle. The French three-division counterattack on the second day is portrayed as a success in breaking the Austrian center when in fact, the nearly-routed Austrians were personally rallied by Archduke Charles and their center held. The French attack ran out of steam, but Rambaud's account says that the French called of the attack because their bridges over the Danube had been broken. In fact, Rambaud clearly portrays the cause of this defeat as bad luck and the rising waters of the Danube River in frustrating Napoleon's efforts to get reinforcements across the river. In reality, Napoleon's slipshod river-crossing effort and gross underestimation of the enemy were prime contributors to his defeat. The fact that the Austrian army had learned something from its earlier defeats in 1796-7, 1800 and 1805 at Napoleon's hands is not even alluded to. The strength of this novel lies in excellent battle descriptions that convey both the desperation and futility of this action. However a weakness of the novel is the addition of minor characters and sub-plots, including a dim-witted assassination attempt on Napoleon and opera performances, that distract the reader from the battle. These minor characters and sub-plots persist to the end, but without resolution or even relevance. Nevertheless, Rambaud's novel gives an excellent "feel" for what it was like to be in a Napoleonic battle.
Rating: 
Summary: It's not "Gates of Fire"
Review: This book was recommended to me after I had read Steven Pressfield's two masterpieces, "Gates of Fire" and "Tides of War." While I found "The Battle" of interest, it falls well below the intensity I had anticipated. Although Rambaud interprets the historical facts accurately, the surrounding characterizations did not produce empathy save for LeJuene. There are smatterings of detail to describe the horrors of the battlefield, but they occur too intermittantly throughout the book and lack the continuity to bring them together as one vivid picture. I'd recommend this book for those who are unfamiliar with European warfare during the Napoleanic era. Don't be misled, however, it's not "Gates of Fire."
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