science fiction

The Guns of the South: a Novel of the Civil War - Harry Turtledove Book Review

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"The Guns of the South: a Novel of the Civil War"
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Review Summaries
"South African soldiers time travel back to the American Civil War to aid General Lee with AK-47's. Lee wanting to save his beloved Virginia excepts only to learn the true motive is the saving of the Aparthied in South Africa. This sickens Lee, for Lee does not fight for slavery, Lee fights for state rights and the preservation of Virginia ."
coorsman, Resident Harry Turtledove Scholar

"In Janurary 1864, Confederate General Robert E. Lee faces defeat. The Union is pursuing the Army of Northern Viginia, ragged and ill equipped. Gettysburg has just broken the back of the Confederacy and decimated its manpower. Andries Rhodie a strange man with a stranage accent walks into Lee's life, with the offer that could save the Confederacy from defeat. Rhodie shows an amazing rifle, rate of fire thought impossible, its lethal efficency unheard of. It is called the AK-47. The time travellers of America will break up a neo-nazi organistaion from South Africa that has altered the course of history."
Liam Maddrell, Resident Harry Turtledove Scholar

"Toward the end of the Civil War, General Robert E. Lee knows he needs a miracle if the Confederacy is to survive. A miracle appears, in the person of an oddly dressed stranger with a new, devastating infantry weapon which the stranger calls an 'AK-47'. Armed with full-auto firepower against blackpowder rifled muskets, the Confederates take Washington and enforce their secession from the Union. However, General Lee suspects that the gift of the AK-47 may come with a sinister price for the new nation he loves so dearly..."
Brian R. Hughes, Resident Harry Turtledove Scholar

"Robert E. Lee's army of Northern Virginia is given a considerable amount of AK-47's to use agaist the North. Once the war is one the strange men who gave Lee the weapons try to dictate Confederate policy."
Cody Carlson, Resident Harry Turtledove Scholar


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Overall Review
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%




Tone of book - very upbeat
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - alternate history
Time Travel: - largely backwards/past
Spying & Investigations Yes
What is main char. doing? - unraveling a conspiracy
War or Invasion Yes
Major kinds of combat: - guns
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Time Travel story? Yes

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - infantry soldier
Age: - 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - infantry soldier
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Setting
Terrain - Mountains - Forests
Earth setting: - 19th century
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths - explicit references to deaths
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - descript of kissing - descript of touching personal anatomy - actual description of sex - description of breasts
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
Most similar books by Gordonator ranking
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Settling Accounts: The Grapple by Harry Turtledove
The Great War: American Front by Harry Turtledove
Charlemagne's Time Machine by Oliver Henkel
1633 by Eric Flint





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