The bond between the hero & heroine was set up on tenuous footing, but the entire jist of the novel was the unpredictable and upending nature of war, where the strangest things are made possible. The character of Susannah is far more like a hybrid of Scarlett O'Hara with an emphasis to the inner steel of Melanie Hamilton. She's a strong and resourceful heroine, a lot like Emily in Ransom's other Sunfire.
As has been noted by others, the blind eye towards slavery was irksome and dishonest. However, it wasn't as historically obnoxious as Schurfranz's "Danielle", where the heroine's sugar cane plantation is worked by free men paid livable wages. Both books dodge the issue of America's dark history, and it was more disappointing that it happened in Ransom's book because she is the far better writer.
The transformation of typical belle Garnet was a nice character arc and something Ransom did extremely well, as she doesn't shrink from the issue of death.
For all that, I still enjoyed the book and the gradual decline and desperation of the South was illustrated quite well.
As has been noted by others, the blind eye towards slavery was irksome and dishonest. However, it wasn't as historically obnoxious as Schurfranz's "Danielle", where the heroine's sugar cane plantation is worked by free men paid livable wages. Both books dodge the issue of America's dark history, and it was more disappointing that it happened in Ransom's book because she is the far better writer.
The transformation of typical belle Garnet was a nice character arc and something Ransom did extremely well, as she doesn't shrink from the issue of death.
For all that, I still enjoyed the book and the gradual decline and desperation of the South was illustrated quite well.
