I really enjoyed the journey this novel took me on. Very well researched throughout, The hero's trip to the deep interior of Canada before setting out back to Europe and war was fascinating and powerful, to say nothing of the risky trip from the Isle of Man to get there. His early family life and the tensions with French and British Canadians also very interesting.
The only problem (if it can really be a problem) is that it was two books in one and hence very long. I loved the start of the tale and would have been happier reading the WW1 section as a stand alone second book, not least because I'd bought into the idea that it was a book about the Western Front and that's what the cover told me to expect. The first section was easily powerful and interesting enough to stand alone and then I wouldn't have kept thinking but when to we get to the Salient?
I do believe Canadians would /should read this and learn a lot about this stage in the countries history. Brilliant read.

This although well researched goes way into the back story before really encapturing the actual battle details. This is an area of my interest but found the other parts did make it more disjointed. I do read plenty of war history and found this to be a long winded side story with minimal actual detail.