Great

Thought this was going to be a bit crappy and it did have a crappy seeming start but I loved it and would suggest to anyone

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decent book with a bad start

the story is rather interesting and is quite similar to the series "Destroyermen". my problem is the fact that the author can't write a subjective character, I am a European reading a book with an American civil war setting and the author has decided to invalidate a incredible complex geopolitical issuse by simply going "Slavery bad" and goes froth to write their character sas if they are on a moral crusade. they write their characters deifying Lincoln as if he was the Messiah reborn desire Lincoln many glaring failings .
The narrator does a good job with the Russian parts as well as the turgars lines but after a while you can't tell the Americans and other Russians apart.
I love the Character Hans but it honestly feels stupid to put a Prussian professional soldier that deserted to America and served before the war and only have him stay a sergeant in a random maine regiments, it is just nonsensical, same with alot of the enlisted men such as the ones with Chemical, industrial and engineering backgrounds. especially the good doctor Weiss who is a formally trained doctor from Budapest ( just to point out the "revolutionary medical science he brings was standard since 1809, the author didn't do their research",),Weiss is kept as a regimential doctor despite his formal advance training where he historical and in common sense would be assigned to medical corp to lead a field surgeon hospital, instead he is a single man assigned to the health of 600+ without any orderlies or stretcher bearers. this would be like having a your head of state follower a bunch of farmers around.
there is a reference to the Spanish empire with their arebuises early on but a glaring problem would be the fact that there has been constant warfare arcoss the whole world so only having a select few factions from history is a flaw, where it is the European empires that waged unceasing wars,the kingdoms that fought constantly.


and finally the worst part, the most insufferable character: Catherine, if you removed her from this book series it would be an improvement. This is supposed to be a woman in the 1800's that serves as a nurse in a medical corps but instead is a belligerent self-absorbed woman's that speaks like she is from 1964, her Frist introduction is her barging into a man room while he is suffering from a nightmare, for a medical nurse in the american civil war this is nonsensical as she could be injured and the door was mentioned to be locked. latter as she talks to the main character she mention her past lost of a loved one only to the shut down the conversation by mentioning the dead brother of the main character to avoid further conversation that she herself began, she jumps between civil with the main character and then being cold to him, such as the bar brawl where he tries to save a soldier's life only for her to insinuate that he is a cold blooded officer.tht dosen care for his men despite the oblivious difference,Catherine is a blight upon the book. it feels like no research was do into how society behaved back in the 1800's I'm regards to how men and women behaved

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harry turtledove like with a Civilation game feel

I wasn't sure about this title but i'd say if you like Harry Turtledove, Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series or the Civilization games by Sid Meier; then you will probably enjoy this!

I have a fondness SF Alternative history combos so was already its target audience but its look at religion, the task high speed industrialization and civil war battle tech and tatics really made this book enjoyable.

Also its nice to have a book where a Quaker is one of the main character and their struggle with non-violence principles in a barbarous world.

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1 person found this helpful