When World War I ended in 1917, the world collectively thought everything was over. The world felt so strongly that to this day, it is still known from its original moniker, “The War to End All Wars.” Obviously, it would be anything but that moment. That is because…well…war is history. War has been at the heart of humans’ history for as long as humans have existed. Barely more than two decades after World War I ended, war broke out again in Europe in 1939 as Adolf Hitler and his evil minions started spreading their hate and evil across the continent. At the time, the Allied forces consisted of the United Kingdom, France, Poland, and UK protectorates, such as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Los of stories came from that period of combat prior to America’s entry in the fray in 1941, quite a few of which were so powerful and memorable (and sadly overlooked by Americans). For all of the key stories that came out of the early days of the war, there was at least one that has gone on to generate a lot of controversy. The story in question is that of professional magician Jay Maskelyne. Maskelyne worked in the British forces’ camouflage division but what he did during hi time with the organization has in the decades since the war come under great scrutiny, with the claims of his contributions in his own book Magic: Top Secret being doubted by academics, military officials and others alike. This past April, Maskelyne’s story was resurrected by New York Times best-selling author David Fisher in his new historical fiction, The War Magician.
It is fitting that even before the story starts, the book is listed as a historical fiction among Fisher’s body of work, considering again, that so many of the claims made by Maskelyne about his contributions to the war effort have come under such close scrutiny over the decades since the war. Even the very existence of Maskelyne’s so-called “Magic Gang” has come under question. In listing the book as historical fiction, officials at publisher Blackstone Publishing are saying to readers that neither they (collectively) nor Fisher are trying to pass the book off as any kind of fact. Rather, it is being presented wholly as entertainment-based on history. This is the book’s key positive that absolutely must be pointed out to the benefit of all involved. What can be said for certain is that throughout most of the story, the figures with whom Maskelyne interacts actually did exist. They include the likes of Brigadier Dudley Clark, Geoffrey Barkas, and Viscount Gort. Getting back to the events of Maskelyne’s time with the British military, Fisher takes readers on a rich journey, from Maskelyne’s early failed attempts to join the military to his eventual acceptance, which leads to the supposed creation of covers that his tanks, to a fake battleship, to lights that would protect Alexandria Harbor tohis and the alleged “Magic Gang’s involvement in the ultimate battle with Rommel’s forces in North Africa. The various alleged stories make up the bulk of each of the book’s 18 total chapters, which are themselves somewhat problematic. This issue will be discussed a little later. As a reminder, the stories that Fisher shares in his new book are meant to be considered wholly as entertainment value, not fact, considering this book is a historical fiction, as noted before the story even begins. The feats that Maskelyne and company allegedly managed come right out of the playbook of American military forces’ “Ghost Army” which actually did create false planes, tanks, etc. to fool Nazi forces. Their accomplishments are even mentioned at one point in the story, albeit only in passing. One cannot help but wonder, on another note, whether the events involving Frank Knox, Mike Hill and other members of the alleged “Magic Gang” happened or if those parts of the story were purely entertainment. All things considered, audiences must remind themselves throughout the novel that the central story here is historical fiction and not fact. Yes, Maskelyne and other figures noted throughout the story did exist, but other than that, it is unknown how many of the story is true. To that end, as long as audiences keep all of this in mind, they will actually find themselves relatively entertained by the story.
While the story that Fisher presents in his new historical fiction proves entertaining throughout its 419-page span, the length of the story’s chapters is somewhat problematic. The shortest of the book’s chapters – its 18th and final chapter—spans 15 pages. That is not counting the three-page epilogue that follows its end. The book’s longest chapter spans 28 pages. That is its sixth chapter. Chapter Nine spans 34 pages, but only 20 of those pages are composed of actual content to read. The other 14 pages are pictures of newspaper articles and other items featuring Maskelyne and his exploits. To that end, Chapter Six is, again, the book’s longest chapter.
Making things somewhat more problematic within the chapters is that from one chapter to the next, those with a notable number of section breaks are few and far between. This is important to note because it results in readers feeling pressure on themselves to read the entire chapters so as to not get lost within each chapter (so to speak). Section breaks within chapters are psychological elements. They make readers feel like they are actually accomplishing something. By largely ignoring section breaks in favor of simply having chapters at full length, it actually makes the chapters (and the book in whole in turn) feel somewhat intimidating.
Add in the fact that in many of the chapters, there are points at which chapters could have been split into additional chapters, and the chapters come under even more scrutiny. Case in point is the point in the story at which Frank Knox dies following the plane crash at the airport (not to give away too much). The chapter, at that point, could have ended and another chapter could have started to show how Jaye and the members of the “Magic Gang” dealt with Frank’s death. Instead, Fisher opts to push it all together into one chapter. It eventually leads to a sense of being tired, showing yet again just why the overall makeup of the chapters is so problematic. Now while the overall composition of the chapters is clearly problematic, it is not enough to doom The War Magician’s presentation. Keeping that in mind, there is at least one more item worth noting, that being Fisher’s ability to make the story so accessible.
In regard to the story’s accessibility, Fisher does something that few authors do in writing books about military history, fiction or otherwise. He does not let the story get bogged down in notes of various divisions, battalions, generals, lieutenants, etc. So many books centered on the military spend far too much time focusing on all of these minutiae, and in turn end up losing readers along the way. Thankfully Fisher does not go that route. Instead he makes the story easy to follow from one chapter to the next, focusing primarily on the interactions between Maskelyne, his superiors, and fellow “Magic Gang” members. Along the way, he does just enough to make it easy to see the story play out in readers’ minds. This aesthetic element, the ability of readers to see the story play out in their own minds, makes up for the fact that the chapters are far too long throughout the book. The enjoyment that readers will feel in watching the story play out in their own personal theaters will help readers overlook that aspect of the chapters’ lengths, and in turn keep reading, slightly reducing the pressure to finish each chapter. That is not to say that the stress of trying to finish the chapters will not be there. It will be there as a matter of fact, but it will be reduced at least to a point. Keeping that in mind, the “distraction” provided by readers’ ability to follow the story in their minds works with the entertainment value of the story itself to make the book that much more reading. To that end, this latest offering from David Fisher proves an entertaining read for fiction and military history fans alike.
The War Magician, the recently released historical fiction from David Fisher, is an intriguing presentation from the New York Times best-selling author. The novel is of interest at least in part through the fact that it is pointed out in no uncertain terms that this book is historical fiction. It is not being passed off as non-fiction. This is a good thing, again, considering the scrutiny of many of the claims that Jay Maskelyne made in his own book about his alleged accomplishments decades earlier. That note makes it easy to take in the story plainly as entertainment and nothing more. While the story is easy to take in as entertainment, the length of the novel’s chapters is somewhat long from beginning to end, with the shortest running 15 pages and the longest running as many as 28 pages. Section breaks are few and far between from chapter to chapter, definitely hurting the overall appeal. The problem that arises here is not enough to doom the book, though. The manner in which Fisher wrote the novel makes it easy to envision the entire story in readers’ minds. The result is that even with the issue of the chapters’ lengths, that ability to watch the story play out in readers’ minds thanks to the writing style, helps to make the chapters pass with at least a little more ease than they otherwise would have. Each item examined here is important in its own way to the whole of The War Magician. All things considered, they make novel a presentation that military history and fiction fans alike will find appealing.
The War Magician is available now through Blackstone Publishing. More information on this and other titles from Blackstone Publishing is available at:
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