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WW1 + WW2 Novels


kingofashes

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No one has yet mentioned The Guns of Navarone by Alistair Maclean (fiction). This is an omission that should be rectified, if only because GRRM nicked one tiny plot point from it and stuck it in ACOK.

Maclean's output includes several other war novels, including the novelisation of a film he wrote for Richard Burton, Where Eagles Dare. I like Where Eagles Dare a lot but I wouldn't call it classic literature - TGoN is a better war story. Maclean's book of short stories, The Lonely Sea, contains several WWII pieces, some fiction and some dramatic non-fiction. When I was eight I could pretty much recite the first section of the one about the Bismarck's sinking. (ETA: Maclean's first book, HMS Ulysses, is a good war novel, but don't read it if you're in a downbeat mood.)

Changing tack, Frederick Taylor's book Dresden is an excellent non-fiction account of the Dresden firebombing.

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No one has yet mentioned The Guns of Navarone by Alistair Maclean (fiction). This is an omission that should be rectified, if only because GRRM nicked one tiny plot point from it and stuck it in ACOK.

Maclean's output includes several other war novels, including the novelisation of a film he wrote for Richard Burton, Where Eagles Dare. I like Where Eagles Dare a lot but I wouldn't call it classic literature - TGoN is a better war story. Maclean's book of short stories, The Lonely Sea, contains several WWII pieces, some fiction and some dramatic non-fiction. When I was eight I could pretty much recite the first section of the one about the Bismarck's sinking. (ETA: Maclean's first book, HMS Ulysses, is a good war novel, but don't read it if you're in a downbeat mood.)

Changing tack, Frederick Taylor's book Dresden is an excellent non-fiction account of the Dresden firebombing.

Ooh! Could you please spoiler tag what plot point that was, pleeeease!!! :) :)

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Ooh! Could you please spoiler tag what plot point that was, pleeeease!!! :) :)

OK!

The bit where Squire Dalbridge volunteers to stay behind and stall Jon and Qhorin's pursuers, knowing that he will be inevitably killed. I've seen people on this forum saying how moving they found that bit: I kind of agree, but I'd seen it before...

It's a bigger issue in Guns of Navarone than in ACOK.

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OK!

The bit where Squire Dalbridge volunteers to stay behind and stall Jon and Qhorin's pursuers, knowing that he will be inevitably killed. I've seen people on this forum saying how moving they found that bit: I kind of agree, but I'd seen it before...

It's a bigger issue in Guns of Navarone than in ACOK.

I think that has happened in lots of sequences across lots of media.

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OK!

The bit where Squire Dalbridge volunteers to stay behind and stall Jon and Qhorin's pursuers, knowing that he will be inevitably killed. I've seen people on this forum saying how moving they found that bit: I kind of agree, but I'd seen it before...

It's a bigger issue in Guns of Navarone than in ACOK.

Aww. Thanks! That stuff is so heart-wrenching!!!

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