Review: Good plot, Characters need some work.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 20, 2012
I liked the story idea and the overall story was good. The time travel explanation could have been more complex.  The need for improvement lies in the writing of the characters and their actions.  It's not enough to say a character cried.  You need to elicit tears from the reader as well.  The reader is definitely on the outside in this book and is not drawn into the emotion much at all.  For example, the long descriptions of the two docs laughing over a shared joke were very awkward, described the characters laughing, and elicited no laugh from the reader.  The reader needs to be drawn into the story as if they are sitting beside the characters, feeling what they are feeling, and I definitely felt disconnected as a reader during this story.  However, the plot and storyline were very interesting, and the history lesson was very, very good.  Changing Stonewall Jackson's history, then changing it back, was nice too.  However the characters, and empathy for and with the characters, need work.