I'd forgotten that I enjoyed reading historical fiction. I haven't read such a novel for many years, so The World Turned Upside Down was a pleasant revelation for me.

Now, I suspect I'm not one of Ron Carter's intended audience. After all, this book is the sixth in his 'Prelude to Glory' series, and I haven't read any of the five previous novels. As well, as a Canadian, I have a slightly different take on the American Revolution than would a reader south of the 49th.

These caveats aside, I remembered that I do enjoy reading about historical events fleshed out with personalities and comprehensive descriptions of the settings of those events. I find, as I'm sure do many others, that the events stick with me much better than by simply reading about the names, dates, and places in a boring history textbook.

Carter's copious notes tell us that he's certainly done his homework. I have no reason to doubt the veracity of any of the events that he's described in the windup of the Revolution, from mid-1778 to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in October 1781. The song famously played by the British band at the surrender provides the author with the perfect title. His detailed descriptions of the battles and their geography really do bring the Revolution to life, especially when interspersed with very realistic portrayals of historical figures including Washington, Arnold, Lafayette, Cornwallis, and so many others. Especially touching is the manner in which Carter demonstrates the faith in God that drove Washington and so many others to endure the revolutionary struggle and succeed against all expectations.

The editing is wonderful; the worst of the very few clunkers I found was a reference to someone's "powered wig", which led to some very un-18th-century mental images. But it's a masterful job for such a work.

Now, don't mistake all this praise and think that I'm calling this a perfect book. If you're a fan of historical fiction, if you love the story of the American Revolution and those who lived in that epic time, and if you're not that picky, you may very well call it perfect.

Reviewing a novel, however, seems to me a job that demands pickiness, so I will now describe why the book isn't perfect.

First, let me confess that I'm not personally a big fan of adjectives. I like a quick description of the background, and then let's dive into the story. So Carter's florid and dense settings, which remind me so much of 19th-century authors like Thomas Hardy, is probably the cat's meow for many readers, so this is merely a matter of taste.

However, I do wish he was more consistent. The first half or so of the book is replete with chapters that begin with paragraph after paragraph of descriptive prose. But the farther along we get, the quicker the chapters move into the action. While I appreciated the change myself, I still prefer it when a writer picks one way of doing things and then generally sticks with it.

The biggest flaw I found in the work, ironically, stems from Carter's determination to ensure that the reader knows that the author has done his homework. The chronology at the beginning is fine; the extensive bibliography at the end is wonderful.

But every single chapter contains a small 'Notes' section at the end. Now, most of the notes were very useful and educational. Some of the notes, however, seemed to exist for the mere sake of existing. Chapters describing events that existed only in the history of Carter's fictional characters do not need notes saying "Sergeant Alvin Turlock, Billy Weems, and Matthew Dunson are fictional characters, as are other members of the Dunson and Weems families as herein portrayed." (p.229) Surely there is no need for such a trivial explanation.

Worse, though, is the way in which the notes seem to interfere with the story. As I mentioned earlier, the joy of historical fiction is that you 'get into' the lives of the characters, that the history comes alive, and that it is not a boring history textbook. But with this book, you've just finished a chapter which has caught you up into the story, only to be brought down to earth with a bump by a set of 'notes' that merely recap the action in the chapter, confirming that yes, everything did indeed happen that way.

If the notes had all been collected at the end, with the bibliography, it might have been different. Perhaps Carter would have seen the wisdom of leaving out the superfluous notes regarding the fictional characters. And perhaps he would have restricted the notes to merely refer to the sources for the factual details of his renditions. Unfortunately, most of the notes have a "Look at me!" quality, where the author seems determined to show us exactly what he got right.

The avid reader of historical fiction will take it for granted that the author has done his or her homework. The same reader will also take it for granted that licence is necessary in creating fictional characters, condensing events, inventing dialogue, and so on. Once those givens are established, the reader is then free to enjoy the story. But Carter's end-of-chapter notes put a serious wrench into the flow of the story. I know it's a little late in the series, but if I were to give one piece of advice to the author for future works, it would be to tuck all of the notes into an appendix, and let the reader enjoy the novel as a novel.

To return to my opening praises, if you enjoy historical fiction, if you're interested in the American Revolution, if you like adjectives, and if you can convince your eyes to jump over those annoying notes, this book is well worth the price. But if the kinds of picky things I've noted throw you off your reading, you may choose to spend your reading time elsewhere.

Robert