An often engrossing, well-researched tale of one of American history’s most infamous generals during the most famous battle...
Pierce presents a fictionalized account of the Union cavalry at Gettysburg that focuses on the young Brigadier Gen. George Armstrong Custer.
Retired U.S. Navy Captain Pierce returns with his second novel in a planned trilogy about the Battle of Gettysburg, which begins at a pivotal moment in Custer’s burgeoning career. He’s 23, and it’s only been a few years since his court-martial at West Point, yet he’s managed—through heroism, say some, or through foolhardy recklessness, say others—to make a name for himself in President Abraham Lincoln’s Union Army. When readers drop into the timeline in mid-June 1863, the brash Custer is about to seize a moment that will make him famous, forcing his way into a cavalry charge led by Gen. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick. In a phrase that will come to define Custer’s place in the lexicon, he shouts, “Promotions or a coffin!” and flies headlong into battle. The gamble pays off; Custer survives, and he’s given the promotion he craves in order to prove his worth to a wealthy judge back home in Michigan, who’s also the father of Custer’s great love, Elizabeth Bacon. Such rolls of the dice become standard for Custer, whose fortunes on the battlefield begin to take on a mythic aura referred to as “Custer’s Luck.” Although Custer (and his flowing blond curls) remains the star of the show, readers also get to spend entire chapters with, among others, Brigadier Generals David Gregg, Kilpatrick, and Elon Farnsworth—all important figures, no doubt, but none of them will captures readers’ imaginations like Custer does.
The plot proceeds in lockstep with the real-life historical events, as one would expect, but the author manages to keep things suspenseful for Civil War buffs and novices alike. The prose sings most beautifully when in motion, and the scenes surrounding Custer’s charges into battle are truly exhilarating: “An enemy bugler trumpeted, and Rebel wolf cries howled….A gray, crested wave spiked with glittering sabers started jogging down the crest.” The author also portrays moments of compassion between gentlemanly combatants—often neighbors, friends, or old schoolmates—in which readers will most keenly feel the realities of Civil War conflicts. Pierce sticks to the history of the central battle, which is indisputably monumental. At more than 600 pages, the novel does feel overlong (even for historical fiction, which tends toward considerable length), and readers will find that wading through some of the tome’s more academic minutiae will require commitment. Readers looking for a breezy, biopic-style narrative of Custer’s life may get bogged down in such material, but the book has plenty of compelling information for those who might wish to dive deeper. Fans of the author’s previous work will be happy to return and spend more time with familiar characters, and newcomers are sure to be drawn in by the central character’s strange magnetism.
An often engrossing, well-researched tale of one of American history’s most infamous generals during the most famous battle of the Civil War.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9781631070532
Page Count: 652
Publisher: Heart Ally Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.
A year in the life of the No. 2 boarding school in America—up from No. 19 last year!
Rumors of Hilderbrand’s retirement were greatly exaggerated, it turns out, since not only has she not gone out to pasture, she’s started over in high school, with her daughter Shelby Cunningham as co-author. As their delicious new book opens, it’s Move-In Day at Tiffin Academy, and Head of School Audre Robinson is warmly welcoming the returning and new students to the New England campus, the latter group including a rare midstream addition to the junior class. Brainiac Charley Hicks is transferring from public school in Maryland to a spot that opened up when one of the school’s most beloved students died by suicide the preceding year. She will be joining a large, diverse cast of adult and teenage characters—queen bees, jealous second-stringers, boozehounds young and old, secret lesbians, people chasing the wrong people chasing other wrong people—all of them royally screwed when an app called Zip Zap appears and starts blasting everyone’s secrets all over campus. How the heck…? Meanwhile, it seems so unlikely that Tiffin has jumped up to the No. 2 spot in the boarding-school rankings that a high-profile magazine launches an investigation, and even the head is worried that there may have been payola involved. The school has a reputation for being more social than academic, and this quality gets an exciting new exclamation point when the resident millionaire bad boy opens a high-style secret speakeasy for select juniors in a forgotten basement. It’s called Priorities. Exactly. One problem: Cinnamon Peters’ mysterious suicide hangs over the book in an odd way, especially since the note she left for her closest male friend is not to be opened for another year—and isn’t. This is surely a setup for a sequel, but it’s a bit frustrating here, and bobs sort of shallowly along amid the general high spirits.
A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9780316567855
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Vintage Follett. His fans will be pleased.
A dramatic, complex imagining of the origins of Stonehenge.
In about 2500 B.C.E. on the Great Plain, Seft and his family collect flints in a mine. He dislikes the work, and the motherless lad hates the abuse he gets from his father and brothers. He leaves them and arrives at a wooden monument where sacred events such as the Midsummer Rite take place. There are also circles of stones that help predict equinoxes, solstices, even eclipses. This is a world where the customary greeting is “May the Sun God smile on you,” and everyone is a year older on Midsummer Day. Except for a priestess or two, no one can count beyond fingers and toes—to indicate 30, they show both hands, point to both feet, then show both hands again. Casual sex is common, and sex between women is less common but not taboo. Joia, a young woman who becomes a priestess, wonders about her sexuality. After a fire destroys the Monument, she leads a bold effort to rebuild it in stone. To please the gods, they must haul 10 giant stones from distant Stony Valley. Of course neither machinery nor roads exist, so the difficulties are extraordinary. Although the project has its detractors, hundreds of able-bodied people are willing to help. Craftspeople known as cleverhands construct a sled and a road, and they make the rope to wrap around the stones. Many, many others pull. And pull. Meanwhile, the three principal groups—farmers, woodlanders, and herders—all have their separate interests. There is talk of war, which Joia has never seen in her lifetime. Soon it seems inevitable that the powerful farmers will not only start one but win it, unless heroes like Seft and Joia can come up with a creative plan. But there is also the matter of love for Joia in this well-plotted and well-told yarn. The story has a lot of characters from multiple tribes, and they can be hard to keep track of. A page in the front of the book listing who’s who would be helpful.
Vintage Follett. His fans will be pleased.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781538772775
Page Count: 704
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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