Three and a half stars.

I've read a review of this book, the top rated review here on Goodreads, and I must say I am astounded!

I do wonder if this person read a different book to the one that I read. I found no pseudo Christian moralising in this book, and I must say I am absolutely astounded that the woman who wrote the top rating review seems to find such a strong Christian message in the novel . This is a book about honour, despair, death, war, adventure and loss. It's not a book that should be seized upon by doe-eyed US bible bashers to advance their own fairy tales.

Beau Geste is first and foremost a boys own adventure from the beginning decades of the 20th century. It provides a snapshot of the British Empire and the thinking of its upper class citizens at that time: rollicking adventure, personal loss and tragedies, and a little stiff-upper lipped British romance.

Whilst the writing is truly dated, and the first part of the book is in need of a desperately good edit, the remainder of the book scoots along at a cracking pace.

As I was reading it as research for a book I am writing, I enjoyed it a little more than I thought I was going to.

Tally go and all that, and to those who find religious moralising in the every shadow and pavement crack, may I remind you that what you're doing is no different to shamen finding portents in the entrails of sacrificial chickens!

Bought this book after being addicted to the tv series back in the 80's and falling in love with Benedict Taylor! Loved the book...just wish I still had it! Obviously lost over the years and this particular edition can't be purchased now.

A classic ripping adventure yarn that should be a third shorter than it is. Nonetheless, it's a must-read for anyone that has ever read Henty, or Holmes.
I'm very sorry that George Macdonald Fraser died before he could get Flashman into a Legionnaire's képi.

From BBC Radio.

Fort Zinderneuf is silent now, manned by the dead. Each of its defenders shot by Tuareg raiders and propped up on the walls to make it appear their numbers were undiminished. In the finest tradition of the French Foreign Legion, they have fought to the last man. But there is one exception. A man, impaled by a bayonet and holding in his hand a confession to stealing the fabled “Blue Water”, signed by a man who is clearly not the corpse himself. What are we to make of this mystery?

As I have mentioned in previous reviews regarding the Legion Etrangere, P.C. Wren’s novel is the best known fictional story of the French Foreign Legion. It was enormously influential on other portrayals of the mercenary unit.

It begins by setting up the mystery of the fort manned by the dead during a lengthy conversation between British official George Lawrence and French army officer Major Henry de Beaujolais as they travel out of Africa together. It was Beaujolais who discovered the unnerving incident, but Lawrence who knows Lady Brandon, to whom the sapphire Blue Water belongs. Lawrence visits Lady Brandon (whom he has long loved, despite her arranged marriage to the cruel Lord Brandon) but she sheds no light on the story.

After this lengthy prologue, we flash back to the childhood of the Geste brothers, Beau, Digby and John (the last being the narrator.) They are orphans under the guardianship of Lady Brandon, along with a few other children. They are all present at the apparent theft of the Blue Water, and all come under suspicion. One by one, the brothers decide to run off and join the French Foreign Legion to divert suspicion from each other.

We follow the brothers through their induction into the Legion, meeting various characters both heroic and villainous, training to become soldiers, and then assignment.

Eventually, we learn what really happened at Zinderneuf, but the story isn’t over. The surviving characters must make their way out of French territory if they want to continue to survive, and it’s by no means an easy task.

This is not a novel for the impatient reader. There’s a lengthy prologue, then several chapters of backstory before our protagonists even join the Legion, and after the big moment there’s still a long slog to the end. For those just interested in “the good bits” I recommend the movie.

Good: The initial mystery is set up well, creating intrigue. The characters are sharply drawn, and the brothers showing a peculiarly English sense of honor to each other and their benefactor. Once the fighting starts in earnest, the tension builds as the Legionnaires drop like flies.

There’s an amusing bit in the last section where the narration refers to the then standard adventure trope of finding a lost white civilization in the heart of Africa, and says “nope, it’s a lost city inhabited by local people.”

Less good: The novel could stand to be a good third shorter than it is, as the establishment of the mystery is deliberately drawn out and other sections are padded.

There’s a lot of ethnic stereotyping going on, which works to the benefit of the white American Legionnaires, but not so much to any other group, and especially comes off as anti-Semitic.

The very ending is a bit odd, with one character given an ignominious offhand death, while another is handed a happy ending on a platter.

Recommended to fans of French Foreign Legion tales and brotherhood who are willing to put up with the pacing issues.