Rebel: The Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles: Book One

Mr. Cornell makes history come alive, enough historical fact to honor our past, and tremendous plot/character depth to enjoy fully

Like many others, I came to this book after reading the Sharpe and Viking series. I enjoyed those immensely. This one certainly drew me in right away. It kept me reading and interested.And yet. Starbuck the character was never entirely believable. Family conflict yes, girl-crazy fine, but it was impossible to believe he never looked at the broader picture. Or if he didn't, one could not see him as intelligent.The bigger problem is that I began to suspect Cromwell was a Southern apologist. Look at the portrayal of northerners in this book. Starbuck's father, the famous abolitionist, is humorless, loveless, and consumed with hatred for the South -- a perfect example of confederate propaganda. Other northerners are equally cold or venal. I can't think of a single positive example. Perhaps in later books?I knew this series was incomplete, so I decided to see where it ended before buying any others. As expected, it stops after Antietam -- the last moment that anyone could really think the South would win. I guess Cromwell did not want to see his side lose. I am glad the North won, and can't see supporting this series financially.

Cornwell made his reputation with the superb Sharpe series, but his writing in this wonderful book surpasses Sharpe. He does an even better job describing the American Civil War than he did for the Napoleonic Wars in Spain. He has a deep instinctual feeling for the era, it's people, and the thorny issues that ripped apart America during this tempestuous time. " Rebel" shows the war from a Confederate perspective, yet Cornwell is far from an apologist for them and he displays great sympathy for both sides. Nathaniel Starbuck, the protagonist, is a deeper, more complex, and more conflicted character than Sharpe and unlike Sharpe, is an educated man. It's fascinating to watch a Yale Divinity School drop out evolve into a warrior. The characters are many, but all well drawn and engaging. The description of the Battle of Bull Run is lengthy, brutal, and highly realistic. Cornwell pulls no punches about the horrors of battle and he writes about it with a confidence and attention to detail that makes the "The Killer Angels" take on the war seem superficial and sugar coated. Cornwell is an Englishman; often an outsider sees things insiders miss. If Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote were alive today, I am certain Cornwell's book would be in their libraries.

Nathaniel Starbuck is the son of a Boston firebrand, preacher. He leaves seminaryschool and finds himself in Virginia and on the Southern side of the Americanconflict. Can he survive his first battle?Brilliant depiction of the battle at Bull Run. The made up characters act as realpeople, and the story flows well. Good insights to what both sides were thinkingand acting. Can't wait to read the rest of the series!

Well written like all of Cromwell’s work. I enjoyed the depiction of an iconic battle in American history. Stonewall’s arrival and defense was a bit understated I think.

Let me say that I have been spoiled by Cornwell's uniformly excellent Sharpe series. I also read Cornwell's Warlord books, Grail Quest and Warrior Chronicles and recommend them if you like to read while at the gym on an elliptical machine or treadmill. Cornwell is exciting and keeps you on the treadmill without counting the minutes til you can finish. As I cast about for another set of books, I recalled that Cornwell had the Starbuck books, so I gave REBEL a try. I felt that Starbuck's development from a bookish theology student to warrior was not well developed. A strong conscience seemed to evaporate, with a swiftness that, in retrospect, left me feeling a wish for more character development. Cornwell's strength is clearly in his description of battle scenes. One might conclude that "Rebel..." and the other books are written for a young male audience. Recently I switched to Wilbur Smith's various books, and now have read all of Smith's Courtney family books and some others. I find Wilbur Smith's Egyptian books, and the Courtney family series to be much preferred. As for the cost of the books, Smith offers a longer and more satisfying read than much of Cornwell's work for about the same price.

I thought I was a student of the Civil War, but I got such a different perspective of the Civil War. I never understood the motivation for non slaveholders to fight for the Confederates cause. I also did not fully appreciate how the South was able to be so successful in the early years of the War when they effectively had no established military system of supply or support for their soldiers. He does not gloss over, or apologize for the slavery, he portrays it for what it was, brutal and beyond civilized.This may be a novel but I think that Cornwell used the facts to give a fairly accurate portrayal of the South's actions in the War Between the States. So much of the book intertwines both the North's and South's motivations and actions.Ok, I do have one major complaint about the Starbuck Chronicles; Cornwell stopped after only four books. I could not, or my wife, put them down.

Fans of Bernard Cornwell will not be disappointed. The story takes a long time to build. Sometimes frustratingly so. But Cornwell takes great pains to demonstrate that Nathaniel Starbuck is NOT Richard Sharpe in a Grey uniform. But the climax at the battle of Manassas is what the readers came for and it does not disappoint. As usual, Cornwell's research is meticulous, from the place names, the movements of armies, the events of battle down to the detailed minutiae of how a civil war era rifle works. And more than that, he places you squarely on the field of battle with the sights, the sounds and the smells. He puts you inside the heads of the combatants so that you feel what they feel. A great read for the fan of military history.

Who would have thought you could put Bernard Cornwell and bad book in the same sentence? Not me, that's for sure. I mean, this is Bernard Cornwell, the man who wrote the peerless Sharpe series. Sharpe!Rebel tells the story of Nathaniel Starbuck, a northerner who signs up with the southerners and fights for them in the American Civil War. The climatic battle of this novel is the first Bull Run (I didn't know there were more than one til I read this book). There are some very familiar Cornwell themes here, an outcast who becomes the hero, he has enemies on his own side, no one wants him to be an officer, and surprise surprise, he ends up in charge of the skirmishers. Oh, and he gets to boff a beautiful woman as well.Sounds like a winning combination. So what went wrong?Well, there is zero pace and a massive over description. To the point where I gave up on the narrative and just skipped to the dialogue. I still got the story, without the, well I have to say it, utterly boring prose. It really could have been cut by half (much like game of thrones). The scene with Nate's father is also very oddly placed, and after a few lines I skipped that as well. It was very unsatisfying to have to skim vast tracts of this novel, but it was that or not read to the end, which would have been akin to admitting defeat.I'm glad I read Sharpe before picking this up, because if I hadn't, on the strength of this novel, I wouldn't have gone near another Cornwell book, and to have missed out on Sharpe would have been to miss one of the joys of life. Sadly though, I'll not be following Starbuck any further.Other books you might like to read An Angel's Alternative Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold SteelAn Angel's AlternativeCold Steel on the RocksWe Are Cold Steel

I enjoyed the story about Nate Starbuck, a man from Boston who enlisted in the Confederate Army. I read all four books and am hoping there will be more. I found the first book to be the least enjoyable but it set the scene for the other books. The series ended in late 1862 so there is room for more.

Like many others, I found this slightly slow to start with while you get to know the characters, and Starbuck himself starts off as an unlikely hero. However it is well worth sticking with. As soon as the battles commence the book becomes totally absorbing, and I went straight on to the next 3 in the series immediately. The series as a whole I would definitely rate as 5 star, and needs to be read in order so as to appreciate the development of all the characters. Cornwell is an excellent writer, and has awakened in me a new interest in the Civil War where I've gone on to delve more into the history of some of the battles and events.Once you get into the character, Starbuck is every bit as interesting a hero as Sharpe, and the quality of Cornwell's narrative is superb. I only wish he would go on and write the promised 5th Starbuck novel.

Bernard Cornwell is a great story teller but how he does it by mixing factual events with the storyline is what makes him stand out. If you are prepared to forgive his slight amendments to historical accuracy, they serve as excellent interpretations of key events in history.

I am a great fan of Bernard Cornwell and read as many of his books as I can get my hands on. His grasp of the historical/fictional mix is totally rivetting. I hope that the rest of the Starbuck series is an improvement on this one. There are parts that are over described and one tends to skip a page or two - the Bull Run battle scenes for instance. But although I feel that this book is not up to the standard of his "Uhtred" series, it is neverthless a pretty good read and my slight criticism should not detract from you purchasing this one.