Stars and Stripes Triumphant

Rating:
Summary: Terrible read.
Review: This is undoubtedly one of the worst books I've ever read. The characters are wooden,the plot is predictable, but the ending is a blessing since I don't think I could have finished reading this pro-American drivel if it had been 100 pages longer. That being said, the sheer arrogance of the story line draws considerable parallels with current events in Iraq with the roles reversed. It's bad enough to be a cult classic akin to "Surf nazis must die!", if only books could be like cult films. I expected better from an author whose other books I've enjoyed.

Rating:
Summary: Zzzzzzzzzz
Review: What a disappointing end to this trilogy. I enjoyed the first two books in this series, particularly the first, because the historical twist was quite different from other civil war alternate histories. The first part of this book starts well enough. As the climate for war builds up-with Britain harassing the newly free Ireland, interning the Irish living in Britain in concentration camps, and searching and seizing US trading ships-General Sherman, in the role of a spy, scouts out the defenses of Britain disguised as an officer on a Russian ship. In the second part of the book, as war becomes inevitable, the US launches a surprise invasion of Britain. With over half the book spent on the buildup to this conflict, I was expecting some intense and exciting battle sequences. Instead, all I could think while reading this section was that the author must hate everything associated with the British Empire. I have no problem with the British being vilified, especially by a writer living in Ireland. After all, one man's British Empire is another man's Iraq. But whatever the author's intent, by having the US wipe the floor with the British in a humiliating completely lop-sided military defeat, the story suffers. I could watch documentaries all day long on the German blitzkrieg through France, the attack on Pearl Harbor, or either of the Gulf Wars, but in a work of fiction having a weak and completely ineffective villain is just not interesting. The remaining part of this book finishes with the surrender of the remaining British military forces and the introduction of democracy to Britain. Yawn.