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jeastley's review
adventurous
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
tarmstrong112's review
4.0
I enjoyed this one, but like it's predecessor it's doesn't quite rise to the level of the first 2 in the series. I am sad that this is the final book of this series and that the author hasn't picked it up to finish the Starbuck Chronicles because this is really good Civil War fiction and I've enjoyed it a lot. I would love to know where the characters stories go and where they end up. Here's hoping the author decides to write additional books in this series/
alexctelander's review against another edition
3.0
In the final book of Nathaniel Starbuck’s Civil War adventures, he is given command of a collection of cowards, thieves, deserters and murderers, known as a punishment battalion. Starbuck and his men team up with General Robert E. Lee’s army and join Stonewall Jackson at Harper’s Ferry, where the Union garrison is defeated. Then they move onto Sharpsburg, beside Antietam Creek, infamously remembered as the bloodiest single day of the war.
The Battle of Antietam will be the final showdown for this conclusive novel of the renowned Nathaniel Starbuck series. As to whether Starbuck triumphs or dies, you’ll just have to read the book and find out.
Originally published on November 4th, 2002.
For over 500 book reviews, and over 40 exclusive author interviews (both audio and written), visit BookBanter.
The Battle of Antietam will be the final showdown for this conclusive novel of the renowned Nathaniel Starbuck series. As to whether Starbuck triumphs or dies, you’ll just have to read the book and find out.
Originally published on November 4th, 2002.
For over 500 book reviews, and over 40 exclusive author interviews (both audio and written), visit BookBanter.
ericwelch's review
4.0
There are just so many good mysteries out there. The Starbuck books view the Civil War through the eyes of a transplanted New Englander fighting for the Confederacy. This is the 4th in the series. Not being a fan of the Southern point of view, I was reluctant to pick these up, but Cornwell tells such a good tale that they are very difficult to put down. Nothing deep here, just lots of fun. Starbuck in this one has been yanked from his company — he’s a major — and assigned to the Yellowlegs, a regiment so-named because they ran away from a fight. Starbuck, unhappy with the assignment, and also a transplanted northerner, arrives at camp only to be mistaken for a drunk Lieutenant Potter, who is late in arriving at his new assignment to the Yellowlegs also (interestingly, yellowlegs was an appellation given to U.S. cavalry troops). Masquerading as Potter, Starbuck soon discovers a pattern of corruption and with the help of his friend Delancey — who happens to be a Yankee spy unbeknownst to Starbuck — turns tables on the other officers in the company who had been tormenting him, believing Starbuck to be a lowly lieutenant. The events of the novel revolve around the Battle at Sharpsburg (known as Antietam in the North), the bloodiest battle in United States history, where more than 23,000 soldiers died. McClellan does not fare well, seen rightly so, as a vacillating, reluctant, overanxious general who placed too much reliance on his Pinkert[b:on intelligence|1185416|La Voie et sa vertu = Tao-tê-king (Points Sagesses ; 16 ISSN 0339-4239)|Laozi|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181735892s/1185416.jpg|100074]. Lee had invaded the North with far fewer troops than McClellan had at his disposal, but McClellan insisted he was outnumbered. Starbuck and his brigade are placed in the thick of the battle (most of the characters are completely fictional — and the famous copy of order 191 is delivered to McClellan by Delancey who appears to have no basis in fact).
An example of Cornwell’s fun: Starbuck is speaking with Potter: “You’ve still got the whiskey?” “Safe in its stone bottle, wrapped in two shirts, a piece of canvas, and an unbound copy of Macaulay’s Essays. It isn’t a complete volume. I found it dangling in a Harper’s Ferry privy and the first thirty pages had already been consumed for hygienic purposes.” “Wouldn’t you rather have found his poetry?” Starbuck asked. “In a privy? No, I think not. Besides, I already have swathes of Macauley in my head, or what remains of my head,” Potter said, touching the bloody bandage over his left ear. “ ‘To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late, And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds.’ ” Potter shook his head at the appropriateness of the words. “Too good for a privy, Starbuck. My father hung the works of Roman Catholic theologians in our outhouse. It was, he said, the only thing they were fit for, but the insult misfired. I damn nearly converted to popery after reading Newman’s lectures. Father thought I was constipated till he found out what I was doing, and after that we used newspapers like every other Christian, but father always made sure that any verses of scripture were cut out before the sheets were threaded on the string.”
In a historical note at the end, Cornwell references [b:Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam|681617|Landscape Turned Red The Battle of Antietam|Stephen W. Sears|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177102615s/681617.jpg|668010]by Stephen Sears as the best book on the battle, so I’ve added that to my reading list which continues to grow beyond an unreasonable size.
An example of Cornwell’s fun: Starbuck is speaking with Potter: “You’ve still got the whiskey?” “Safe in its stone bottle, wrapped in two shirts, a piece of canvas, and an unbound copy of Macaulay’s Essays. It isn’t a complete volume. I found it dangling in a Harper’s Ferry privy and the first thirty pages had already been consumed for hygienic purposes.” “Wouldn’t you rather have found his poetry?” Starbuck asked. “In a privy? No, I think not. Besides, I already have swathes of Macauley in my head, or what remains of my head,” Potter said, touching the bloody bandage over his left ear. “ ‘To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late, And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds.’ ” Potter shook his head at the appropriateness of the words. “Too good for a privy, Starbuck. My father hung the works of Roman Catholic theologians in our outhouse. It was, he said, the only thing they were fit for, but the insult misfired. I damn nearly converted to popery after reading Newman’s lectures. Father thought I was constipated till he found out what I was doing, and after that we used newspapers like every other Christian, but father always made sure that any verses of scripture were cut out before the sheets were threaded on the string.”
In a historical note at the end, Cornwell references [b:Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam|681617|Landscape Turned Red The Battle of Antietam|Stephen W. Sears|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177102615s/681617.jpg|668010]by Stephen Sears as the best book on the battle, so I’ve added that to my reading list which continues to grow beyond an unreasonable size.
alexctelander's review
3.0
In the final book of Nathaniel Starbuck’s Civil War adventures, he is given command of a collection of cowards, thieves, deserters and murderers, known as a punishment battalion. Starbuck and his men team up with General Robert E. Lee’s army and join Stonewall Jackson at Harper’s Ferry, where the Union garrison is defeated. Then they move onto Sharpsburg, beside Antietam Creek, infamously remembered as the bloodiest single day of the war.
The Battle of Antietam will be the final showdown for this conclusive novel of the renowned Nathaniel Starbuck series. As to whether Starbuck triumphs or dies, you’ll just have to read the book and find out.
Originally published on November 4th, 2002.
For over 500 book reviews, and over 40 exclusive author interviews (both audio and written), visit BookBanter.
The Battle of Antietam will be the final showdown for this conclusive novel of the renowned Nathaniel Starbuck series. As to whether Starbuck triumphs or dies, you’ll just have to read the book and find out.
Originally published on November 4th, 2002.
For over 500 book reviews, and over 40 exclusive author interviews (both audio and written), visit BookBanter.
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