Moderate Letdown of a Follow-up

The first installment in this series following the adventures of erstwhile Civil War patriot Johannes Wolf placed him and his misfit compatriots on the battlefields of Hanover and Gettysburg in the summer of 1863. Daniel Greene used punctilious documentation of attack & counterattack to lend an air of authenticity to his story. In this one, he decides to go 90% fictional (to the story's detriment)..sending 'F' company of the 13th Michigan Cavalry Regiment to real-life Libby Prison (Richmond) on a hypothetical raid (and attempt to assassinate Jefferson Davis on Lincoln's orders).
To be clear: most of the book is a fair-to-middling exploration of "Ends Justify Means" & "Us/Them" ethics.. and it's reasonably good at provoking thought. In addition, Greene still writes interesting conflicted +/- philosophical characters, realistic dialogue, immersive settings, and passably exciting combat scenes
..but this book noticeably shifts away from "Historical Fiction" to straight-up "Fiction (in a historical setting)". The inauthenticity isn't overt.. it's subconscious.. but distracting.

In it's favor, however, the narration in this recording is improved. As in Book One, Bradford Hastings provides excellent diction, timbre, cadence, and tone (supported by exemplary technical support from Blackstone Publishing) - but while his voice-acting is again loaded with stereotypes, it's notably better in this installment.

Altogether, I rate 'Northern Hunt' a somewhat disappointing 6 stars out of 10. You wouldn't be crazy to give it a try if you can get it as a 'Plus' option.. but unless you're in love with the characters (admittedly a real possibility), paying a Credit would be hard to justify.

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