By Harold Coyle. Hardcover novel, 462 pages, 1 map, historical notes, 1996.

Until the End, by Harold Coyle, is the sequel to Look Away, the author's first novel of the American Civil War. This book completes the saga begun in the first, and finishes soon after the surrender at Appomattox.

As noted in my earlier review of Look Away, the author, until recently a serving officer in the United States army, brings a military person's perspective to his writing. In addition, his experience as a reenactor further qualifies him to write on the subject. Throughout the novel, a feeling of "this is how it would have happened" pervades.

The novel covers the Mine Run campaign of 1863, the Wilderness campaign, and finally that of Appomattox. The author's account of these campaigns is excellent and thought-provoking.

As a gamer of the American Civil War, I felt I gained a useful insight into the mechanics of battles of the American Civil War, at all levels.

If I had any criticism of the novel, it would be that the story was a bit "ordinary." I'm not quite sure how to expand on this, but I felt the story lacked a driving force behind it. In my earlier review of Look Away, I commented on the episodic and somewhat disjointed narrative of the novel. This is less apparent this time around. Certainly other novels such as Ulysses and any of Bernard Cornwell's American Civil War novels benefit from a much better story-telling style.

All of this is very unfortunate as I really enjoy reading Harold Coyle's novels. Perhaps the longer time span and not-so-familiar setting has not helped him in his second writing. Still, this is a novel that I would recommend.

Review: Merrimack Miniatures

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