Rating: 
Summary: A Behind The Scenes Look At The Civil War
Review: If one is too insistent on the principal figure having a consistent psychology, then this book is not for you. It does have an interesting mix of characters, and it gave me a sense of the personal dynamics of life during the Civil War (when one thought of distance and transportation in terms of being on the back of a horse). The depiction of battle from the perspective of a regular soldier, with the killing being an entirely local phenomenon, the continuous confusion, and no picture of the greater strategy (are we actually dying for some good purpose, or is my commander an idiot?), is well illustrated. I don't know if I will bother with the rest of the series, but I thought this book was worth the read. Having been at Manassas/Bull Run, I also found the first book of this series interesting.
Rating:
Summary: A Behind The Scenes Look At The Civil War
Review: If one is too insistent on the principal figure having a consistent psychology, then this book is not for you. It does have an interesting mix of characters, and it gave me a sense of the personal dynamics of life during the Civil War (when one thought of distance and transportation in terms of being on the back of a horse). The depiction of battle from the perspective of a regular soldier, with the killing being an entirely local phenomenon, the continuous confusion, and no picture of the greater strategy (are we actually dying for some good purpose, or is my commander an idiot?), is well illustrated. I don't know if I will bother with the rest of the series, but I thought this book was worth the read. Having been at Manassas/Bull Run, I also found the first book of this series interesting.
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining read
Review: `Copperhead' is the second in the `Starbuck Chronicles' and it provides the reader with all we have to come to expect from author Bernard Cornwell. If you know Cornwell's writing, this novel will not disappoint, similarly if you have never heard of the name, I would encourage you make his acquaintance. During the Civil War a Copperhead was generally held to be a Northerner who sympathised with the Southern cause. Within the pages of this book, although he is the son of a Boston abolitionist minister, Nathaniel Starbuck fights for the South. If you know your Civil War history - and that is no way a requirement for this novel - the action depicted within the pages of `Copperhead' takes us from Ball's Bluff near Leesburg in Virginia to Gaines Mill close to Richmond. However, the main part of the novel takes Starbuck away from the battlefield and into the arena of espionage and deceit. The book also gives us an insight into the insecurities of the Northern generals, in particular McClellan and his `spymaster' Allan Pinkerton. There is no doubt that in Nate Starbuck, Cornwell attempts to create the heroics of Richard Sharpe (for those who don't know, Cornwell has written a whole clutch of novels about English rifleman Richard Sharpe who served both in India and the Napoleonic Wars). To some extend he has succeeded in this, although at times `Copperhead' lacks the pace of some of the Sharpe novels. Nevertheless, I enjoyed `Copperhead', it is in the main well written and informative and is without a doubt an entertaining read. As a point of interest, although I'd recommend the reader to work his/her way through the series in order, it is not vital that you do this as each novel is self-contained.
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