

However, much of this novel concerns itself with military healthcare. Griffin has touched on some of these issues before, but never at such length. We get an inside glimpse into the healthcare for our nation’s wounded, both physically and emotionally. I can also say that the author did a great job of integrating this into the narrative, and I can take no issue with any of the medical facts of the story so he must have done his homework.

W.E.B. Griffin, in the afterword of the novel, shares with us that he had two excellent sources for these novels. The first is that he was a combat correspondent during the Korean War which gave him access to plenty of source material. The other is that he was personal friends with Lieutenant General Ned Almond, one of MacArthur’s inner circle, better known as “The Bataan Gang.” With this level of access to first hand and not generally known information, I can comprehend why this series is so rich in inside information that’s not found in the history books or on Wikipedia.
Preliminary Grade: A+
Final Comments on “The Corps” Series
Now that I’ve finished both The Brotherhood of War, and The Corps series, I can draw some conclusions. I think they both are excellent, but overall The Corps is the stronger series. This is because it is better organized, and it moves forward in a more linear fashion with really no backtracking that characterizes Brotherhood. The Corps is less ambitious in the years of the story taking us from the Shanghai Marines from 1938 on up to the Korean War in 1950. Brotherhood on the other hand starts in the middle of World War II, but takes us up through the middle of the Vietnam Conflict which spans a longer period. One other slight disappointment is that nowhere do any of the characters from the two series meet. I really was hoping that Killer McCoy was going to bump into Craig Lowell somewhere in Korea! Seriously though, anyone with an interest in the military will enjoy The Corps immensely. The only real downside is that they are addictive, so don’t plan on reading just one. Once started, you can’t be satisfied until all ten books have been read. The author does have some other, shorter series and we’ll be looking at some of those as well in the months ahead.
Overall Grade: A+
2 comments:
I don't know if this was intentional, but good job the Cosair model. It actually has korean war era markings, and not WWII, which was the plan is actually known for. It was sold to south america and saw action in the 1970's. Not bad for a plane developed in late 30's in Ct.
I tried to be as accurate as possible, thanks for noticing. Before I read these books, I thought that the Korean War was all jets, and I was surprised to hear that the Marines were using these things in 1950! Then again, there's probably some WWII surplus ammo being used up in Iraq as we speak.
Post a Comment