Rebel

The Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles: Book One

By: Bernard Cornwell

Narrated by: Andrew Cullum

A riveting and compelling account of Nate's initial Civil War experience—its battles, romances and divided loyalties

When Richmond landowner Washington Faulconer snatches young Nate Starbuck from the grip of a Yankee-hating mob, Nate is both grateful and awed by his idealistic rescuer. Turning his back forever on the life he left in Boston, Nate agrees to join the newly formed Faulconer's Legion, even though it means fighting against his native North.

But Nate's dilemma is only one of many within the Legion. Faulconer's own son cannot bring himself to fight, while his daughter's cheating fiancee plots for control of the Faulconer family fortune. As they come together to march into battle, the men are prepared to start a war…but they aren't ready for how they—and the nation—will be forever changed by the oaths they have sworn for their beloved South

©2009 Bernard Cornwell (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Entertaining

Engaging and informative. Great narration. Depictions of the Civil War were interesting. Will check our sequels.

The story immediately pulled me in.

Wonderful character development. Couldn't put down. I am ready to start book two in this series.

slow burn

it takes awhile to get into the book I found myself drifting and having to rewind in the beginning but it gets really good so worth it

Slow to start but worth the wait.

It took me a while to get into it, but from reading other series by this author I knew I'd enjoy it once all the characters were developed and the storyline started to unfold. I didn't care for the didn't character voices by the performer so I think that distracted me. Look forward to the rest of the series now, though.

The writing is very good and the story is well developed.

I question the judgement to use a British narrator, particularly in this case, as his American accents are awful and cartoonish.

Great story!

At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about someone with an English accent narrating a book about the American Civil War. But the narrator really did a great job bringing all of these interesting, imperfect characters to life.
It’s a great story about how life doesn’t always go the way you want it to, but you carry on anyway.
And that sometimes you learn the most about who you really are during those trials. The characters developed so much over the course of this book, that I am eager to see how much farther they come in the next book.
Outstanding story by an outstanding author.

Was Cornwall an Army Supply Officer?

Cornwall in this book, and the next book, perfectly captures the nuances and I-hate-my-life-ness of being a supply officer in the Army. Whatever you do is never good enough, it’s always your fault, and why didn’t you create a miracle to get me what I need?

Also, the choice of an English reader was very grating at first. This is the American South in 1861, why does the narrator have to be English? He seems to struggle between switching from an English accent to some sort of attempted Southern accent… and what you get instead is a voice that sounds like a 1930s radio announcer. He tries, and through his efforts he saves the performance, but if they had picked a lazy English reader, I don’t know if I would have made it through the first quarter of the book.

Classic Cornwall

His protagonist, always a deeply flawed character, always unfairly accused, somehow manages to escape and thrive. This is just the kind of story I love

Discovering More Cornwell

As good a historical fiction of the Civil War that I’ve read. A great parallel to John Jakes North and South series. Cullum does an excellent job. I will look for other narrations by him. On to the next book in the series.

Great story

Bernard Cornwell never disappoints. This is the third of his series I have started and each one has been brilliant.