Book Review - Little soldier by Bernard Ashley.

The main character in the story is Kaninda. About 14 years of age he is black, quite tall and quite muscular. He joined the Kibu army to avenge the death of his family. He was a well-trained soldier. He was fast and agile and always alert for danger. He had a bullet wound in his arm. The same bullet had gone through his mother’s stomach. He was left for dead amongst a pile of corpses that were his family. Torn by conflict he showed little emotion. However beneath the mask that was his face, He had feelings. He was honorable. When Laura saved his life he repaid her by taking part in a tribe battle for her. He supported her as much as he could over her problems. Although he hated the Yusulu bitterly, he was sympathetic to the Yusulu boy because they both were victims of war. He was brave, as he didn’t flee from four opponents at the same time in the tribe war. He was patient and trained in the tactics of war. He set up ambushes for the more numerous enemies.

Laura is another main character in the story. She is 13 years of age. Not bad on the figure front for her age, she could look up to 20 years of age. She like her family is very devoted to Christianity, she is the drummer in the God’s force band. She found life a bore so became a bit of a rebel. But her fun was short lived when she thought she had run over the little girl. She gave up on rebellion and every day she begged forgiveness from god. He gave her no sign. She is a very emotional person and is torn with guilt. She is quite helpless and looks up on Kaninda for support. She is not brave as she was too scared to tell anyone what she thought she has done, she also was not brave enough to run the obstacle course that will give her full membership to the ‘Crew’ the tribe her boyfriend is involved with. She tries to run away from her problems rather than stand and face them.

Theme main theme of the story is war and loss. The war in Laisai between the Yusulu and the Kibu. The tribal fighting in the streets of London. The suffering and loss on both sides. Both Kaninda and the Yusulu boy lost their families in war. And at the end of the clashes in London, dozens of people were injured. The minor themes are guilt, racism and hope. The guilt that nearly destroyed Laura. The racism many blacks felt from the society and the police and finally Laura hope for a better future.

To conclude this novel is about a refugee boy living in London and the horror and tragedy of real war. The story explores many themes from war to tribal conflicts. Death and loss, guilt and hope. In my opinion the story is okay but the beginning is poor as it takes a while for me to get into the story. The ending is not great either, as we don’t know whether Laura is hurt badly or not. Otherwise the author has achieved getting his message through that war is never good for either side. I especially liked the way he sort of uses flash backs from Kaninda’s memories to tells what happened earlier in Laisai. Over all I would give this book 6/10.