SOURCE: A review of Gods and Generals, in Publishers Weekly, Vol. 243, No. 20, May 13, 1996, p. 55.

[In the following review, the reviewer praises the novel's "sweep, depth of character, and historic verisimilitude," at the same time declaring that the wealth of detail sometimes overwhelms the narrative.]

Like father, like son? The publisher is aggressively linking Shaara's first novel [Gods and Generals] with The Killer Angels, the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning (1974) novel about the Battle of Gettysburg by his father, Michael Shaara (d. 1988). Indeed, the son's book is a prequel to the father's, following some of its central characters, generals all, from 1858 until 1863 and Gettysburg. The good news is that, while not matching his father's beautifully wrought prose, Shaara tells a tale impressive in its sweep, depth of character and historic verisimilitude. Generals Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Winfield Scott Hancock are back fighting for the North, and Robert E. Lee for the...