Iron Maiden: An Alternate History Novel

Jim Musgrave
Contemporary Instructional Concepts (2006)
ISBN 0977650359
Reviewed by A.J. Cooper for Reader Views (10/06)

"Iron Maiden" was about the American Civil War and building a great, war ship to defeat the south. John Ericsson was a ship builder that had a great idea he felt that would defeat all ships currently built for the Civil War. He had been in America with his wife and had great dreams of building this war ship. His first partnership prior to the war was not a success, due to no fault of his own. His plan was finally accepted by the U.S. Navy and he needed to complete the ship in a short amount of time. His wife had also left and returned to her family in England.

The South soon discovered through spies that the North had commissioned someone to build a great, war ship. The spy that was found was given threats of killing his family back in England if he did not find a way to kill Mr. Ericsson and destroy the war ship prior to sailing off to war.

“Iron Maiden” made for a great read. Even though most of the characters did not really exist by name if felt to me that they really played a huge part in history. As I read about the effort to build the ship for the North and the efforts of the South to destroy it I could hardly put the book down. I enjoyed the mix of characters that is what made it seem real to me.

All types of different people would be enlisted to help build the ship and to serve on the ship. The battle scenes made me feel like I was there close by watching everything play out and I could not wait until the USS Monitor arrived to help its sister ships in the battle.

It was very odd to me that a ship builder would want to take his wife and the people that he could enlist to go with him to an Island inhabited by natives. That portion of the story I did not find believable. I do not recall reading any history books that mentioned a naval officer wanting to go with a group of people he did not know to an island he did not have much information on.

Up until the group actually set sail for this island, I could not stopping reading the book. Once they started to sail for the island I lost interest in the book and put it down for days at a time to read something else. Overall “Iron Maiden” was a very interesting read and I enjoy reading books about history and based on history. I realize the concept of how societies survive is based on fact but I felt the book turned into fantasy writing and I really lost interest.

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