Customer Reviews

The Warriors (Kent Family Chronicles)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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I found Book 6 of The Kent Family Chronicles-" The Warriors", to be the best so far.The Civil War is in its closing months and Jeremiah Kent, second son of Jephta, walks hundreds of miles to Georgia, following his promise to his dying commander,Captain Rose who is worried about the fates of his wife and daughter when the Union Army seizes his plantation.Serena Rose, the captains daughter, is an evil vindictive young woman who drives Jeremiah to such a state of madness that she virtually forces him to shoot her to save his life.Realising that this act has put him beyond the pale, he changes his name and joins forces with an Indian.The pair become buffalo hunters and eventually outlaws. Michael Boyle, former protege of Amanda Kent, joins the crew of a company building the Union Pacific railway, where he meets Hannah, the daughter of a whisky selling pedlar. They marry,move to her home state and proceed to build a successful business. Gideon, blinded in one eye, works in a railway yard but soon sees the injustices perpetrated on the workers who are frequently injured and is determined to begin a union. Loius Kent is heavily involved in fraudulent stockmarket manipulations and comes to his just desserts.

I would have to say this is not the best of the series but not the worse. The book is like to parts the first half of the book was really good with Jeremiah Kent following his promise to his dying commander,Captain Rose who is worried about the fates of his wife and daughter when the Union Army seizes his plantation he changes his name and joins forces with an Indian after an event at the plantation that changes his life forever. That part of the book was good after that the book gose doiwn hill Jeremiah becomes an outlaw. Then we see Michael Boyle where he meets Hannah, the daughter of a whisky selling pedlar. They marry,move to her home state and proceed to build a successful business. I find his story pointless and long. We alsos ee other family memebers of the Kents as they strugle to re-build the nation. I liked how they show a nation after the war you feel for the charactors. Overall it was a good book but still not the best.

All as advertised. zz xx cc vv bb gg fff dd ss aa qq ww ee rr tt uu ii yy hhh jjj

John Jakes keeps the pace slow in the sixth book of his Bicentennial series, covering the end of the Civil War and just three years beyond. This time, two of Jephtha Kent's sons take the spotlight -- eldest Gideon and youngest Jeremiah -- as they illustrate two different vantage points of the young Confederate soldier. Jeremiah is on a long, miserable errand for his commanding officer, now dead: He must desert the ranks and track across the Georgia countryside to the man's estate to deliver a letter to his wife and look after her and his daughter in these brutal times. Jeremiah completes the fool's errand and is forever scarred by it. Things get very ugly at the plantation, causing this young Kent to take a different view of his fellow man. It was good to see Jakes veer off formula with the character of the daughter, Serena. I thought I could see exactly where this sad tale was heading, but I was wrong.

Gideon, meanwhile, encounters his own suffering (because this series IS all about suffering!). He gets imprisoned at Fort Delaware. All in all, he fares better than his little bro, proving to be one of the level heads in this book.

Michael Boyle, Amanda Kent's onetime young Irish assistant, is another level head here. He enlists and becomes a soldier, himself, now in his 30s, then postwar takes a part in the burgeoning railroad's big cut across the West.

Amanda's son Louis is largely on the sidelines. And Michael's illicit encounter with Louis' wife Julia is heavily referenced but seems to remain unfinished business.

Jakes stays piercing and vivid in this sixth book, and so wonderfully easy to read. On to Book 7!

Book was in great condition and came very quickly after it was ordered. Thank you

Extremely interesting. Research and realism is fantastic. Good for those who love history as well as a good story.

keep going, they get even better....

John Jakes continues the series with another great one. Rich characters, great dialogue, and an interesting history lesson. He is consistently excellent.

you become part of the family....