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imabrunette23's review against another edition
4.0
I first read this when I was 12 or 13 and remember loving it. It was still pretty good but not as great now that I'm grown up and have read better writers. The writing was a little bit simplistic and everything that happened to Philipe/Philip was just a little TOO coincidental. Still a good story though.
c8_19's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.0
I wished I had liked this more because this came highly recommended to me. It just didn't do it for me, unfortunately.
I'm all for the history and having a character who gets to meet these key, influential players. Lafayette...Ben Franklin...Sam Adams...A fun concept for sure. But Philip was too surface level to me. Maybe because it's so easy to see where his path must go, so you don't really see him wrestle in a way that feels genuine? Like, you know he's gotta get to America, so for him to halfway wrestle with reservations only slowed down the plot instead of helping me get a better view into who he was as a person. And then I had some issues with the way he was with Anne. He just seemed like a scoundrel too often (and not the good kind).
I'm all for the history and having a character who gets to meet these key, influential players. Lafayette...Ben Franklin...Sam Adams...A fun concept for sure. But Philip was too surface level to me. Maybe because it's so easy to see where his path must go, so you don't really see him wrestle in a way that feels genuine? Like, you know he's gotta get to America, so for him to halfway wrestle with reservations only slowed down the plot instead of helping me get a better view into who he was as a person. And then I had some issues with the way he was with Anne. He just seemed like a scoundrel too often (and not the good kind).
firerosearien's review against another edition
4.0
This series is in the Michener/Rutherford (I'm pretty sure I didn't spell either of those right) vein. Fun, entertaining, a great vehicle for exploring a place's history, although not exactly mind-blowing with the prose.
greatlibraryofalexandra's review against another edition
2.0
I didn’t hate this novel, but I didn’t think it was spectacular. I read the North and South series many, many years ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I remember Jakes taking great care to analytically delve into characters such as Brett Hazard / Main and how they had to cope with their issues with race, etc. etc - but not to get too far off topic. I remember Bent being a horribly shallow and badly written villain who kept miraculously surviving death, and it seems Amberly was like this as well. The women in this novel were done badly (why do all of them want to sleep with Phillip immediately? It’s the 18th century, Jakes) and the characterization was weaker than N&S, but I do always very much appreciate Jakes’ historical settings.
disasterchick's review against another edition
5.0
I remember I had read this in high school, but did not finish the series. I decided I should go back and restart this series. I really did not remember very much about this book, but I really did love it. I have discovered that two distant grandfathers have fought in the Revolutionary War with one dying so learning more about this era is something that is important to me. Yes, I know this is fiction, but fiction does make history come alive. I'm trying to space out my series a bit so I have a few books I want to read before I read the next in the series - but I'm eager to start it.
libkatem's review against another edition
3.0
Honestly, this is how I truly learned American history. These books follow generations of the "Kents" and their lives in America.
therealbookaholic's review against another edition
5.0
this series is just wonderful, at least what I've read of it. I loved Jakes' writing style and his use of historical truths. Great stuff.
sarahdworjan's review against another edition
5.0
I read this because my mom told me to. But it was good! If you're into historical fiction and really long chapters, this book is IT.