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Rating: 
Summary: I really wanted to like this book but...
Review: Comparisons to COLD MOUNTAIN are in order. BRAVE ENEMIES, too, is a love story set during the brutality and misfortune of a civil war. Here it is the American Revolutionary War with patriots and loyalists hanging each other and burning down each other's homes as well as the militia and redcoats doing battle. But while CM is burdened and slowed by literary pretensions, BRAVE ENEMIES is a fast-moving and entertaining tale, without heavy-handed symbolism or repeated flashbacks, of sixteen year old Josie Summers and John Trethman, a young itinerant Methodist minister, who fall in love and then are separated by the war. Being a history buff, I liked the realistic feel of the novel. The descriptions of the time and place, the clothes, food, weapons, homes, all seemed well-researched. And the battle of Cowpens was presented brilliantly. I feel like I was there. My only complaint is that the description of John's religious services went on too long in a couple places but that is a minor quibble. This is a gritty, realistic book, well-written, full of action and with a couple powerful sex scenes from the woman's point of view. Robert Morgan scores a double with BRAVE ENEMIES in that this is a novel I think both men and women will enjoy. Five cannonballs out of five.
Rating: 
Summary: great historical fiction
Review: I am not usually a fan of historical fiction, but Morgan does an
excellent job of describing the details of life in frontier South Carolina in 1789-90 at the height of the internecine civil war between loyalists and rebels, with such colorful figures as Daniel Morgan and Banastre Tarleton thrown in. Yes, there are ambiguities and coincidences which move the plot along, but this was a turbulent place and time, as any biography of Andrew Jackson's youth in the Waxhaws at the same time will demonstrate. This is a great book, worthy of comparison with Cold Mountain, which was set some 75 years later in a nearby place. Even if you are not familiar with the Battle of Cowpens, you will enjoy the dramatic impact of the writing, the vivid if brutal battles and killings, and the balm of religion in that time and place.
Rating: 
Summary: I loved Gap Creek but this is a poor follow on effort
Review: I greatly enjoyed Gap Creek, Morgan's novel about the difficult life of a 17 year old girl who lived 100 years ago but Brave Enemies, the story of a 16 year old girl (who pretends to be be a boy to protect herself) who lived 225 years ago falls flat for me. Josie/Joseph is just too saintly to believe while the preacher who takes in Joseph (only to discover a woman under the rags) seems to have real psychological problems. Their relationship doesn't seem real.
The book has too many examples of unrealistic coincidences and miraculous escapes. I did enjoy Morgan's portrayal of day to day life in the Carolinas but I can't recommend the book.
Rating:
Summary: A great readed
Review: I just picked this book out as one of the books I was going to read on vaction. The problem is that it never made withme on my trip to the Gulf. I finished the book in two days. Because I could not put it down. I am not one who would read a love story. I got the book because of the Battle of Cowpens. I found the love story between Josie and John was my favoir part of the book. I do not what to give anything away. This book gives us many gifts. Robert Morgan gives us poetly, history, and gripping story of love. As well as a taste of the South during the Revolution. I hope Mr. Morgan will write his next book with Joise and John picking up where we last see them. A
great book that you well be glad you read. It will warm your heart to the very end.
Rating: 
Summary: Very descriptive but violent, but left many questions....
Review: I read this book because I like history and the American Revolution. I think that Morgan did a great job describing everything...and I mean everything, but I still had so many questions at the end of the book. For example, how did John finally find himself free of Tartlton? And by the way...what a wimp John was....If you like Morgan's work and like his style, buy this book. If not, go to the library and borrow it. Buy a book by William Martin instead...great author!
Rating: 
Summary: There isn't enough fiction about the revolution
Review: I thought this was a perfect title to buy. There's a lot to enjoy in Brave Enemies, but there is a lot that is disappointing. For example, Christmas trees weren't used in the Americas until the 1850-60's. Strictly a German custom. Nothing in the plot is resolved. Josie kills her stepfather, and her mother disappears from the book. No one looks for the murderer, or Josie. To many loose ends. The ending does make me wonder if there is a sequel planned, but I didn't get a good feeling for the love story. I did enjoy the discriptions of the mountains, of the battle, however, it just didn't tie together well.
Rating:
Summary: There isn't enough fiction about the revolution
Review: I thought this was a perfect title to buy. There's a lot to enjoy in Brave Enemies, but there is a lot that is disappointing. For example, Christmas trees weren't used in the Americas until the 1850-60's. Strictly a German custom. Nothing in the plot is resolved. Josie kills her stepfather, and her mother disappears from the book. No one looks for the murderer, or Josie. To many loose ends. The ending does make me wonder if there is a sequel planned, but I didn't get a good feeling for the love story. I did enjoy the discriptions of the mountains, of the battle, however, it just didn't tie together well.
Rating:
Summary: I really wanted to like this book but...
Review: It was tedious. I was hoping that the story would get interesting at some point, there might be some sort of passion or driving force but the characters just got swept along. There was nothing to make me care about any of the characters; they were all generic, taken from "central casting". The book was violent and ugly without a strong moral center. It was truly a struggle to finish.
Rating:
Summary: Tedious and repetitive
Review: Set in the backwoods Carolinas in 1781, this brutal, tumultuous story centers on the narrator, 16-year-old Josie Summers, who murders her rapist stepfather and flees in men's clothing. Rescued (as Joseph) by an evangelical, itinerant preacher who's aghast when he discovers her deception, but then secretly performs a marriage ceremony, Josie embraces religion and love.But calamity is never far away in the war-torn colonies as roving bands of redcoats vie with vigilante patriots in cruelty towards their enemies. When the preacher, John, is seized by the British and his cabin burned, Josie flees again and - still dressed as a man - joins the North Carolina militia, where (as we know from the prologue) she is wounded and her disguise revealed. The story's near-constant fever pitch of danger and desperation is disrupted from time to time by a switch to John's point of view, and a man tormented by his own human frailties is not nearly as interesting as a girl marching to war in the freezing mud without boots, or even shoes. Josie's period-perfect voice and the eloquent immediacy of Morgan's ("Gap Creek," "This Rock") descriptive prose keep the reader immersed in a world of hurt and hardship. The battlefield scenes are a riveting mess of confusion, blood, terror and bewilderment, and the love scenes are transporting. A visceral story, elegantly told.
Rating:
Summary: Good -Not Great
Review: There's a lot to like in this book, but some to dislike too. The description of life in the 1770's South, and of the battles themselves are excellent. But the basic plot of the book never seems to hit home. There are too many coincidences and too many purely good v. purely evil characterizations. Also, the relationship between the two main characters seems forced. While I usually like creativity, a more conventional plot line would have been a better idea as it wouldn't have gotten in the way of the excellent background writing.
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