Customer Reviews

The Shadow of His Wings (The Appomattox Saga, Book 6)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As other reviewers have said, SHADOW OF HIS WINGS has sympathetic characters engaged in real emotional struggles. I, too, immediately wanted to see Rooney make her way to the life her hard work and strength of character deserved. In the beginning, she lives in a shack in Vicksburg, where her ungracefully aging mother works upstairs over a saloon. After fighting off the advances of a well-dressed man who comes to the house seeking her absent mother but acts willing to take Rooney instead, Rooney and her younger brother know they must flee. A good-hearted bouncer from the saloon where their mother works helops them book passage to Richmond, where their mother gets another saloon job, while Rooney works in the kitchen and volunteers at Chimberazo Hospital. Her volunteer work introduces her to Lowell Rocklin, son of the main character from the series's opening book, A COAVNANT OF LOVE. Tension rises as Rooney and Lowell grow attracted, but secrets and Lowell's reaction to them hold them at a distance. The secondary romance in the book, for Lowell's little sister and the younger brother of Clay's long-time love interest, added to my enjoyment.
Two things kept me from liking this as much as I did books 2-5. First, in a scene showing how well Rooney has fitted herself into Chimberazo Hospital, there is an incident involving a soldier who resists letting her cut his out-of-control hair and beard. While not absolutely identical, this scene was mostly copied from an early scene of Belle Winslowe's nursing at the same hospital in THE DIXIE WIDOW, book 9 of Morris's House of Winslowe series, so it won't be fresh for long-time Morris readers. If only he could have found a new way of illustrating Rooney's way with her patients, instead of just superficially tweaking a scene he'd already written. The other thing that bothered me is something I, like another Amazon reviewer, had looked forward to since the first book. Why was it a problem if I'd wanted to see it sooner rather than later? Somehow I didn't feel i was quite finished with one group of characters when there was such a full shift to other charcters, with no return to the main ones, that I felt off-balance and as if threads were left dangling. Even granting that this is the middle of a series, and I could expect to see the dangling characters again, the fullness of resolution for main characters in the previous four books made me want to see more resolution for Rooney and Lowell in this book. Maybe I expected more than I should have. The next book, WALL OF FIRE, gives in subplots some of the resolution I craved in SHADOW OF HIS WINGS, but unfortunately WALL OF FIRE's main story fell very flat for me, so that I almost wish I'd stopped reading the series with this book. In other words, mixed feelings about SHADOW OF HIS WINGS but still not below average contentment.

This is a great story! All four major characters are strong and interesting. Rooney Smith is adorable. I wanted only the best for her as she struggled to find a better life for herself and her younger brother. Lowell Rocklin (Clay's third son)is intense--like all Rocklin men, and his story is equally fascinating as he is forced to find a new place in the world due to the loss of his leg. Rena Rocklin (Lowell's younger sister) continues to seek security after losing her mother (in the last book of the Saga) and finds help from a new friend, Josh Yancy (Melora's younger brother). Josh has his own battle to fight--low self-esteem and chronic stuttering, but Rena helps him as he helps her and we see the start of a delightful, new relationship. Historically, the book shows the role of balloons and the cavalry in the Civil War, along with the terrible suffering caused by gruesome wounds. I am always impressed by Gilbert Morris' knowledge of history and the way he presents it to his readers. I truly enjoyed this book.

This sixth book of the Appomattox Saga continues the story of the Rocklin family. This book has a great plot and even better characters. You fall in love with the Rocklin family over and over as you read each book of the series. This one is no different. This book contains an event that every reader has been waiting for since the first book, and you will want to read it again and again to make sure it really happened. Have fun reading number six. I know I did. :)