Shenandoah (The Civl War Battle Series)

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Summary: The Bannon family manages to survive into the year 1864
Review: I had high hopes for The Civil War Battle Series when I picked up James Reasoner's first volume about "Manassas," but from the vantage point of Book 8 "Shenandoah" it is clear that from the beginning the idea of each volume in this series being about a particular battle was just a hook. The title battle always takes place in the last couple of chapters of the book. It has been equally clear that The Civil War Soap Opera Series would have been a better title.

Actually I am getting tired of making that crack, because the idea was to tell the story of the Civil War from the perspective of one family, the Brannons of Culpeper County in northern Virginia. The family consists of a widowed mother, five sons and a daughter, all named after characters in Shakespeare plays or the bard himself. But it is hard not to think "soap opera" when it is 200 pages before the Civil War intrudes on the lives of these characters. "Shenandoah" begins around Christmas of 1863 when Titus Brannon, believed to have been killed at Fredericksburg but until recently held in a Union prisoner of war camp, arrives home. This would be good news except for the fact that Titus discovers his wife Polly is now pregnant and married to his younger brother Henry. What matters the plight of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia or the Confederate States of America when you have this sort of Greek tragedy being enacted out on the Brannon farm.

The second half of the book does get back to the war, covering the Battle of the Wilderness and Cold Harbor as Ulysses S. Grant takes control of the Union armies and begins the push on Richmond. Phil Sheridan's campaign to make sure the Shenandoah Valley would no longer serve as the main source of food for the Confederacy provides the climax of the book. Reasoner provides general background on the battles, but keeps the focus on how the battles appear to the older Bannon boys, Will and Mac, in the Stonewall Brigade and with Jeb Stuart's cavalry, respectively.

I am inclined to think that there is a high level of attrition for readers of this series, especially when I notice that this book has been out for almost half a year and has received no reviews. But Reasoner's books are quick reads and I am stilling hanging in here because there are two things I am having been waiting to see happen for several volumes. The first is for one of the Bannon boys to get killed. I mean, four sons, we are up to 1864 and the fourth year of the year, and all four Bannon boys are still alive. What are the odds? The other thing is for somebody to realize that Polly, the wife of apparently both Titus and Henry, has been in an incestuous relationship with her planter father, Duncan Ebersole. We know how the Civil War is going to turn out for the Confederacy, but it is when and how Ebersole pays for his sins that is taking about as long to be resolved.

There are two volumes left to go in the series: "Savannah" will be out later this year and then the final volume should be "Appomattox." These books are quick reads and with chapters perfect in length for the commuter lifestyle.

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Summary: A Much Misunderstood Series
Review: I have read all eight volumes (released so far.... there will be ten volumes in the series) in James Reasoner's The Civil War Battle Series, and all of the customer reviews on Amazon. Many of the reviewers are missing the point of the books. They are not meant to be historical texts, with great details about every battle of the Civil War. There are already plenty of those, many of them too dull to read, in print. The books in James Reasoner's Civil War Battle Series are NOVELS about the BRANNON family, as the author himself has made clear. The cover of each book clearly states, in good-sized print, A NOVEL.

All of the books in this series are fast-paced, hold the reader's interest, and are well-researched, providing enough historical facts and details to make the reader feel as though the fictional Brannons really were participants in the various battles in which they appear.

My only complaint with the series is, due to a production problem, the release of the ninth book in the series, SAVANNAH, has been delayed somewhat. Hopefully, it will be available soon.