Kent Family Chronicles Part Two

After a brief hiatus I am back into the Kent Family Chronicles or Bicentennial series by John Jakes and I have been enjoying it immensely. This period of history never interested me much the way it was presented in my school textbooks, and I never started to develop any interest in the events or people involved in the Revolutionary period of American history, but this started to change once I became interested in Genealogy. Now reading these books I am gaining a new perspective and interest in the events and people involved, and it's beginning to tie some loose ends together in my head (English history up to the Restoration has always been of interest to me, and thanks to C.S. Forester, Patrick O'Brian and Bernard Cornwell I became interested in the Napoleonic Period as well). All in all this series has been a great romp so far with some intriguing twists and turns. I have enjoyed following the life of Phillipe Charboneau aka Philip Kent. John Jakes seems to have a willingness to let some of his main characters suffer through things that other mainstream writers wouldn't which heightens the level of interest and suspense for me. There are times I find myself sneaking a peak a couple of chapters ahead because I suspect a character I like is going to suffer through something horrible, and many times my fears have been justified, but the narrative still pulls me along. It definitely adds more realism to the tale.