History Literature / GunsOfTheDawn

* MadDoctor: The enemy army is under the command of the notorious "Dr. Lam", said to be a physician who rose to power in the chaos of revolution and who now enjoys dissecting captured prisoners. When Emily gets captured, she's taken to see him. [[spoiler:It turns out that not only is Dr. Nathanial Lammegeier [[NotThatKindOfDoctor not a medical doctor]] (he's an engineer), he's also one of the nicest characters in the book. This isn't the biggest falsehood believed about the Denlanders and their "bloodthirsty revolution", either]].

* MoralEventHorizon: When Emily discussed the potential end of the war with [[spoiler: Dr. Lam]]. Getting either side to accept the rule of the other would be incredibly difficult, and when discussing what might end up happening if Denland wins, he teaches Emily a new work: Genocide. He makes it clear that such a course of action is currently very unpopular in Denland, but not out of the question, especially if the Lascanne people were to resist after losing. When the war does end [[spoiler:he reiterates the concern to Emily via a messenger, fearing she may become a figurehead for the resistance, and warns that things like work and even execution camps have been discussed by Denland's parliament. He desperately wants to avoid Denland crossing this line, with his messenger saying "Once we have made ourselves into monsters, we shall never again be men"]].

* SimpleYetAwesome: [[spoiler: For Denland, inventing the rifle turns out to be this. By milling a spiral groove into the barrels of their muskets and using leather-encased musket balls as ammunition, they create a gun which can shoot at a long-range, is far more accurate than any other firearm of their time, and turns the war with Lascanne into a shooting gallery. At least on the wide open Couchant front, where the sight lines are long enough to actually use them effectively.]]

* WarHero: [[spoiler:Emily]], after the events of the war. Rapidly rising in ranks to be one of the highest ranking officers left in the final portion of the army to surrender leaves them widely considered to be one of the greatest heroes of the war by both sides. All this in spite of being on the losing side, and [[spoiler:her own protests that others deserve much of the same credit, and that she didn't do anything that couldn't have been done by someone else. It also means both sides consider here to be a likely key figure in any potential rebellions, for better or worse, although she has little interest in it herself, knowing all to well how the war has all but destroyed both countries already, as well as receiving some explicit, ]].

* BittersweetEnding: Emily survives, and at least some of the people she cares about survive too (including the one she had developed feelings for). As a bonus, the person responsible for the war is dead. However, this occurs against the backdrop of [[spoiler:her country having lost the war, and now being under foreign occupation]]. This is less of a downer then might have been assumed at the start of the book, though, since [[spoiler:the foreigners weren't the ones who started it and aren't the crazy anarchists they were portrayed as]].

* TheQuisling: After the war is over, [[spoiler:Mr. Northway, formerly Mayor-Governor of Chalcaster for the king of Lascanne]], continues in that role despite the change in leadership. His motivations are reasonably good — ''someone'' has to be in charge, and continuity of government will avert dangerous instability. It doesn't do wonders for his public image, but he wasn't exactly popular regardless.
* TheRemnant: By the end of the book, [[spoiler:the army in which Emily is fighting]] has become this without realising it. Fighting in an inaccessible area, they don't know that their forces elsewhere have collapsed until the enemy informs them. They don't believe it at first, of course, but are eventually convinced to surrender. They still gain a lot of praise from the citizenry for being the last survivors — which becomes important when [[spoiler:the fugitive king tries to use Emily, now as much of a war hero as you can get in a defeated country, as the centre of an uprising. The king's own band, however, is not so much a remnant of his old forces as a new gang of bandits he has recruited through bribes]].
* ShootTheMageFirst: It's noted that being a MilitaryMage means that the enemy will make killing you their number one priority. Hence those that are left opt to wear normal uniforms rather than their robes, which would only make them stick out from the other troops.

* WarHero: [[spoiler:Emily]], after the events of the war. Rapidly rising in ranks to be one of the highest ranking officers left in the final portion of the army to surrender leaves them widely considered to be one of the greatest heroes of the war, despite being on the losing side, and [[spoiler:her own protests that others deserve much of the same credit, and that she didn't do anything that couldn't have been done by someone else]].

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Mr. Northway, Mayor-Governor of Chalcaster, is widely unpopular — everyone knows him to be corrupt, and the aristocrats who are just as bad nevertheless view him as a shabby commoner who they'd rather not have at parties. Emily has particular reason to dislike him, but finds that he's used to being disliked and doesn't take it amiss — he even gives her his blessing. She eventually decides that he's not so bad... but his approval rating with everyone else is likely still low, since [[spoiler:he's now working for the victorious foreign occupiers, mitigating their rule while enduring the inevitable unpopularity]].

* AnArmAndALeg: Emily's brother-in-law, Tubal, finishes the war minus a leg. He's not as bitter about it as he might be — after all, a lot of the people he fought beside got worse.
* BittersweetEnding: Emily survives, and at least some of the people she cares about survive too (including the one she had developed feelings for). As a bonus, the person responsible for the war is dead. However, this occurs against the backdrop of [[spoiler:her country having lost the war, and now being under foreign occupation]]. (This isn't as big a downer as might have been assumed at the start of the book, though, since it turns out [[spoiler:the foreigners weren't the ones who started it and aren't the crazy anarchists they were portrayed as]].)

* {{Deconstruction}}: The novel deconstructs PoliticallyCorrectHistory and does a realistic take on the concept of female soldiers fighting alongside men in a historical period where this wouldn't have been the case. Lascanne is depicted as a very patriarchal nation with StayInTheKitchen attitudes being the norm. ''Guns of the Dawn'' explores the question of what would drive a sexist country like Lascanne into conscripting women for their army. The answer? ''Total desperation''. It turns out that the kingdom is on the receiving end of a CurbStompBattle in a HopelessWar against a TechnologicallyAdvancedFoe. The military is facing a severe MookDepletion and all of Lascanne's able-bodied men are either dead or worn out by the fighting against Denland. The kingdom essentially has no choice but to enlist women, many of whom are unprepared for war and only given minimal training.
* DePower: Warlocks get their powers from their king, so when Denland's monarchy fell, it was left without warlocks to bolster its army in the war against Lascanne. This kind of de-powerment becomes unexpectedly useful at the end of the book, when [[spoiler:Giles Scavian, a warlock of Lascanne captured when the Denlanders won the war, is rendered harmless and therefore safe thanks to Emily killing her own country's king]].
* FantasyGunControl: [[spoiler:Denland's secret weapon isn't something fantastical like AppliedPhlebotinum or MagiTek. It's a new invention Dr. Lam refers to as "the rifle". It turns out that a firearm with more accuracy and range than your enemies is just as dangerous as any MilitaryMage. Moreso, since, unlike Lascanne's warlocks, rifles can be mass-produced.]]
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: The Marshwic family has Mary and Emily, who tend towards the serious, and Alice, who is interested in balls and dresses despite the family not really having the money to support that kind of lifestyle any more. It's played with a bit, though, in that Alice's determination to lead a properly aristocratic social life is revealed to be partly motivated by her belief that a good marriage is the only way to alleviate the financial troubles that keep the others so glum. On the other hand, her good motivations don't make her any smarter, as proven when she [[spoiler:runs away to meet someone who turns out to be a ransom-seeking outlaw]].

* GoingNative: The armies of Lascanne and Denland are fighting through a swamp, and Mallen, the chief scout on the Lascanne side, has spent so long there that his sympathies lie more with the swamp's "indigines" than with either army. He helps his own side in the fight, but always in a way which doesn't conflict with his apparently higher priority of keeping the indigines out of harm's way.
* TheGoodKing: King Luthrian IV of Lascanne is widely adored by his subjects, and his call to arms against invading republican revolutionaries from Denland is well supported. It doesn't hurt that he also has a good amount of PrinceCharming about him, being young, handsome, unmarried, and a good dancer — as Emily personally discovers. In the end, [[spoiler:it turns out that the war which he portrays as a heroic defence was actually the result of his own failed attempt to annex Denland by assassinating its king. He shows no remorse for the countless deaths his scheme caused, even after Denland has won and he's a fugitive. In fact, he has the gall to expect Emily to help raise rebellion in his name — instead, she shoots him]].

* INeverGotAnyLetters: Mary is upset that she hasn't had much correspondence from her husband, Tubal, who is away at war. When Emily ends up at the front and meets Tubal, she learns the reason — the army censors letters "to preserve morale", so Tubal knew that any letters he sent would just disappear unless he lied to Mary about what things were like.

* TheQuisling: After the war is over, [[spoiler:Mr. Northway, formerly Mayor-Governor of Chalcaster for the king of Lascanne]], continues in that role despite the change in leadership. His motivations are reasonably good — ''someone'' has to be in charge, and continuity of government will avert dangerous instability. It doesn't do wonders for his public image, but then, people didn't think much of him anyway.
* TheRemnant: By the end of the book, [[spoiler:the army in which Emily is fighting]] has become this without realising it. Fighting in an inaccessible area, they don't realise that their forces elsewhere have collapsed and that they are now encircled. They're persuaded to surrender, but still gain a lot of praise from the citizenry for being the last survivors — which becomes important when [[spoiler:the fugitive king tries to use Emily, now as much of a war hero as you can get in a defeated country, as the centre of an uprising. The king's own band, however, is not so much a remnant of his old forces as a new gang of bandits he has recruited through bribes]].
* ShootTheMageFirst: It's noted that being a MilitaryMage means that the enemy will make killing you their number one priority. Hence why they don't wear robes, which would only make them stick out from the other troops.
* SimpleYetAwesome: [[spoiler: For Denland, inventing the rifle turns out to be this. By milling a spiral groove into the barrels of their muskets and using leather-encased musket balls as ammunition, they create a gun which can shoot at a long-range, is far more accurate than any other firearm of their time, and turns the war with Lascanne into a shooting gallery.]]

* FantasyGunControl: [[spoiler: Much like in ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', Denland's secret weapon isn't something fantastical like AppliedPhlebotinum or MagiTek. It's a new invention Dr. Lam refers to as "the rifle". It turns out that a firearm with more accuracy and range than your enemies is just as dangerous as any MilitaryMage. Moreso, since, unlike Lascanne's warlocks, rifles can be mass-produced.]]

* RealityEnsues:
** It's noted that being a MilitaryMage means that the enemy will make killing you their number one priority. Hence why they don't wear robes, which would only make them stick out from the other troops.
** [[spoiler: Much like in ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', Denland's secret weapon isn't something fantastical like AppliedPhlebotinum or MagiTek. It's a new invention Dr. Lam refers to as "the rifle". It turns out that a firearm with more accuracy and range than your enemies is just as dangerous as any MilitaryMage. Moreso, since, unlike Lascanne's warlocks, rifles can be mass-produced.]]

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler: Much like in ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', Denland's secret weapon isn't something fantastical like AppliedPhlebotinum or MagiTek. It's a new invention Dr. Lam refers to as "the rifle". It turns out that a firearm with more accuracy and range than your enemies is just as dangerous as any MilitaryMage. Moreso, since, unlike Lascanne's warlocks, rifles can be mass-produced.]]

* {{Deconstruction}}: The novel deconstructs PoliticallyCorrectHistory and does a realistic take on the concept of female soldiers fighting alongside men in a historical period where this normally wouldn't be the case. Lascanne is depicted as a very patriarchal nation with StayInTheKitchen attitudes being the norm. ''Guns of the Dawn'' explores the question of what would drive a sexist country like Lascanne into conscripting women for their army. The answer? ''Total desperation''. It turns out that the kingdom is on the receiving end of a CurbStompBattle in a HopelessWar against a TechnologicallyAdvancedFoe. The military is facing a severe MookDepletion and all of Lascanne's able-bodied men are either dead or worn out by the fighting against Denland. The king's order to draft women into the army is treated by many in-universe as crossing the GodzillaThreshold and is a result of LoweredRecruitingStandards rather than social equality.
** WomenAreDelicate and many of it's associated tropes get brutally deconstructed here. The idea that women are "fragile" and need to be "protected" is shown to do more harm than good. Because many of the female conscripts grew up in a culture which enforced StayInTheKitchen, they are initially completely unprepared for combat and struggle with their new roles due to being taught that MenActWomenAre. Once they learn to discard the sexist beliefs that they grew up with, many of the women quickly prove themselves to be just as skilled and as capable as their male counterparts.

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler: Much like ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', Denland's secret weapon isn't something fantastical like AppliedPhlebotinum or MagiTek. It's a new invention Dr. Lam refers to as "the rifle". It turns out that a firearm that shoots with more accuracy and at a greater range than your enemies is just as dangerous as any MilitaryMage. Moreso, since, unlike Lascanne's warlocks, rifles can be mass-produced.]]

* SimpleYetAwesome: [[spoiler: For Denland, inventing the rifle turns out to be this. By milling a spiral groove into the barrels of their muskets and using leather-encased musket balls as ammunition, they create a gun which can shoot at a long-range and is more accurate than any other firearm of their time.]]

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler: Much like ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', Denland's secret weapon isn't something fantastical like AppliedPhlebotinum or MagiTek. It's a new invention Dr. Lam refers to as "the rifle". It turns out that a firearm that shoots with more accuracy and at a greater range than your enemies is just as dangerous as any MilitaryMage.]]

* SimpleYetAwesome: [[spoiler: For Denland, inventing the rifle turns out to be this. By milling a spiral groove into the barrels of their muskets and using leather-encased musket balls as ammunition, they created a firearm just as deadly as Lascanne's MilitaryMages.]]

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler: Much like ''Film/WonderWoman2017, Denland's secret weapon isn't something fantastical like AppliedPhlebotinum or MagiTek. It's a new invention Dr. Lam refers to as "the rifle". It turns out that a firearm that shoots with more accuracy and at a greater range than your enemies is just as dangerous as any MilitaryMage.]]

* RealityEnsues: Throughout the book, there is a mystery surrounding Denland's secret weapon which has allowed Denland's soldiers to CurbStomp most of Lascanne's armies. Most of the protagonists assume that it's a new form of magic. [[spoiler: Much like ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', Denland's secret weapon isn't something fantastical or magic-based. They've just drilled a spiral groove inside the barrels of their muskets, essentially creating the first rifles. In a world with warlocks and magic, a gun which can shoot with devastating accuracy and outranges your enemies' weapons is the most dangerous thing.]]

* BittersweetEnding: Emily survives, and at least some of the people she cares about survive too (including the one she had developed feelings for). As a bonus, the person responsible for the war is dead. However, this occurs against the backdrop of [[spoiler:her country having lost the war, and now being under foreign occupation]]. (This isn't as big a downer as might have been assumed at the start of the book, though, since it turns out [[spoiler:the foreigners weren't the ones who started it and aren't the crazy anarchists they were portrayed as]].)

* MadDoctor: The enemy army is under the command of the notorious "Dr Lam", said to be a physician who rose to power in the chaos of revolution and who now enjoys dissecting captured prisoners. When Emily gets captured, she's taken to see him. [[spoiler:It turns out that not only is Dr Nathanial Lammegeier [[NotThatKindOfDoctor not a medical doctor]] (he's an engineer), he's also one of the nicest characters in the book. This isn't the biggest falsehood believed about the Denlanders and their "bloodthirsty revolution", either]].
* TheQuisling: After the war is over, [[spoiler:Mr Northway, formerly Mayor-Governor of Chalcaster for the king of Lascanne]], continues in that role despite the change in leadership. His motivations are reasonably good — ''someone'' has to be in charge, and continuity of government will avert dangerous instability. It doesn't do wonders for his public image, but then, people didn't think much of him anyway.

* WhyCantIHateYou: Mr Northway is (by his own admission) corrupt and self-interested, and his rivalry with the Marshwic family led to its current impoverished status and the suicide of Emily's father. Emily starts out hating him, and makes this clear to him. However, this openness of disregard actually enables them to converse more freely and honestly than if they were pretending to be polite friends, and Emily finds that she's glad to have someone to correspond with who treats her as an equal adversary, doesn't assume he can trick or patronise her, and isn't put off by her barbs and criticisms.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Mr Northway, Mayor-Governor of Chalcaster, is widely unpopular — everyone knows him to be corrupt, and the aristocrats who are just as bad nevertheless view him as a shabby commoner who they'd rather not have at parties. Emily has particular reason to dislike him, but finds that he's used to being disliked and doesn't take it amiss — he even gives her his blessing. She eventually decides that he's not so bad... but his approval rating with everyone else is likely still low, since [[spoiler:he's now working for the victorious foreign occupiers, mitigating their rule while enduring the inevitable unpopularity]].

* {{Deconstruction}}: The novel deconstructs PoliticallyCorrectHistory and does a realistic take on the concept of female soldiers fighting alongside men in a historical period where this normally wouldn't be the case. Lascanne is depicted as a very patriarchal nation with StayInTheKitchen attitudes being the norm. ''Guns of the Dawn'' explores the question of what would drive a sexist country like Lascanne into conscripting women for their army. It turns out that the entire kingdom is on the verge of total collapse in a HopelessWar against a TechnologicallyAdvancedFoe. The military is facing a ''severe'' MookDepletion due to heavy casualties and there are no more able-bodied men left to recruit. The king's order to draft women into the military gets treated as a sign of just how ''desperate'' things have become and is the result of LoweredRecruitingStandards rather than social equality.

* {{Deconstruction}}: The novel deconstructs PoliticallyCorrectHistory and does a realistic take on the concept of female soldiers fighting alongside men in a historical period where this normally wouldn't be the case. Lascanne is depicted as a very patriarchal nation with StayInTheKitchen attitudes being the norm. ''Guns of the Dawn'' explores the question of what would drive a sexist country like Lascanne into conscripting women for their army. It turns out that the entire kingdom is on the verge of total collapse in a HopelessWar against a TechnologicallyAdvancedFoe. Lascanne's military is facing a ''severe'' MookDepletion and they've run out of able-bodied men and boys to recruit. Thus, the order to draft women into the military is treated as a sign of just how ''desperate'' things have become and is the result of LoweredRecruitingStandards rather than social equality.

** WomenAreDelicate and many of it's associated tropes get brutally deconstructed here. Throughout the novel, it's shown that women are just as capable as their male counterparts. If anything, the idea that women need to be "protected" does more harm than good. Because many of the female conscripts grew up in a culture enforced StayInTheKitchen, they are initially completely unprepared for combat and struggle with their new roles due to being taught that MenActWomenAre.

The book is set in a world of [[GaslampFantasy roughly the same technological level as the Napoleonic Wars]]. The protagonist is Emily Marshwic, the middle sister of a family of proud lineage but lately diminished wealth. Emily's country, the kingdom of Lascanne, is engaged in a war with neighbouring Denland, which was an ally until a revolution in Denland overthrew its monarchy. To stop the ravaging hordes of bloodthirsty revolutionaries from plunging Lascanne into the same chaos, the good and noble king of Lascanne leads his people in a heroic defence of their beloved country — or that's how most people in Lascanne see it, anyway. The only person who'll present things to Emily in a different light is Mr Northway, an old enemy of her family — and everyone knows how corrupt and cynical he is, so she's not about to believe him.

* GenderIsNoObject: Deconstructed. Lascanne is shown to be a very patriarchal society with women constantly being told to StayInTheKitchen. Thus the kingdom's decision to draft women into their army is a result of LoweredRecruitingStandards rather than egalitarianism.

* ImpoverishedPatrician: The Marshwic family was once fairly wealthy, but a series of misfortunes left it in dire financial straits (and [[DrivenToSuicide led to the head of the family shooting himself]]). The family blames much of this on their old rival, Mr Northway — the fact that his fortunes went in the opposite direction (he's now governor of the city) is, to the Marshwics, a great injustice that will surely be corrected as soon as the king learns how wicked Mr Northway is. Mr Northway, while not denying his own corruption, says that Emily's late father was just as bad and that the king cares more for obedience than integrity. [[spoiler:He's right]].

'''''Guns of the Dawn''''' is a stand-alone {{Fantasy}} novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky (best known for the ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheApt'' series).

The authorities perpetually claim the war is "almost won", and yet, the army always seems to need more and more people conscripted into it. Emily's family does it's bit — first her brother-in-law goes to war, then her brother. But when the word eventually comes that one woman from every household will be conscripted too, Emily herself marches off. The battlefield is a hellish swamp, the military leadership doesn't inspire much confidence, and the Denlanders aren't the ill-disciplined rabble people say — and on top of it all, the authorities may have been dishonest about more than just the progress of the war.

!!The book contain examples of:

* InMediasRes: The story starts with Emily's seeing one of her comrades/friends killed in battle; it then goes back to Emily's life before being conscripted and gradually works its way up to that point before continuing. (As such, we know that Elise's death is a ForegoneConclusion when Emily first befriends her.)