The Hornet’s Nest (Abridged): A Novel of the Revolutionary War Audiobook

" Nice history of the Revolutionary War from the southern perspective. The historical facts were great. The character development was a little strange. Still, enjoyable. "

" Interesting premise but a dry and stilted writing style made it difficult to get through. "

" Because of my respect for Carter and my interest in the history of the revolutionary era, I wanted to like this, but it's really stiff, especially the dialogue. It's as if he set out to write a social history of the American Revolution in the South, then edited it to change it into a fictional account. "

" A fairly decent historical novel. "

" sorry Mr President, I admire your work but not your fiction writing "

" President Carter was the first former president to have a novel published. It's a noteworthy achievement among many noteworthy achievements in his post-presidential career. Unfortunately, the novel is not all that good. President Carter has written many other books that were better than this one. It was well researched but it wasn't a particularly good story. "

" I first heard of this book when Carter himself mentioned it when he was being interviewed by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. It sounded interesting, because I kind of specialize in early American history, and c'mon this is a novel written by an ex President. But to my disappointment, this book sucked. There's way too many main characters that Carter focuses on. And if there has to be a main character, which would be Ethan Pratt, he's absent for good part of the book. The characters all seem to have the exact same personalities as well and are mostly two dimensional. But each character brings a new conflict, a new side to the Revolution. Like Kindred shows the struggles of Indians, Quash shows the struggles of slavery and Brown shows the struggles of being a loyalist. But with a couple of these characters, they seem to be only token characters in order to show us this side of the story. Because once Carter is done showing us this side of the conflict, we never hear of them again. This book focuses on the American Revolution in the southern colonies like North and South Carolina and Georgia. But again, the main character, Pratt, doesn't even get into the war until long after the Congress declares us a Nation. It probably would have been better if the character would have been involved in the war sooner rather than later. This really could have been written better. Like other reviewers says, it really does read like a text book and sounds like non fiction. Apparently, Carter's actual non-fiction books are good so I don't want to give up on President Carter just yet. But this book was not a good first impression. "

" President Carter did get bogged down in the details. I still give him credit for trying a new genre. "

" Good for its historical imagery and the sweet story but not exceptionally well written - not badly written, but not enough character development that one can form attachments and sympathize with them. "

" This is the first work of fiction by a President of the United States, and after having read it, I've gotta say that I think they should stick w. non-fiction. Every time he hit upon/created an interesting character, he passed them over after two pages - it really dragged. "

" Story of the South during the Civil War. Apparently based on some true facts. Very good. "

" Starts out a bit dry but it does grow on you. Great read for people interested in this time period from the point of view of the average guy. "

" This book works better as an engaging history rather than as a novel. The character development and pace do improve in the second half. Interestingly, the reader's sympathies tend to be drawn toward the Britisn. "

" Just not well done. I keep getting lost. I think it would been better if he had just made it a history of the Revolutionay War in the South and dropped the fictional historical characters. "

" Very long, but interesting... "

" Jimmy Carter just drew me in. "

" 3.5 stars ... pretty good read. "

" One of my favorite book on the American Revolutionary War. "

" Three fourths of the book was great; packed with history and intrigue. For some reason he felt that sex sells and could have done without that part of the story. "

" A very good rendition of life and philosophy of rural southern colonial America. "

" Unfortunately, President Carter is not an engaging fictional writer. The good news is that most of this book actually focuses on the historical history of revolutionary Georgia. As a history book, the writing is very good, as a novel it disappoints. "

" I tried really hard given my love for Jimmy, but fiction is just not his strongest suit. "

" This is a 5 star book, 4 for the story and 1 for the fact that Jimmy Carter himself, yes the ex-president actually wrote me a note back in response to a note I sent him. I wrote to tell him how much I enjoyed the book and how I wished he would write one about the Civil War. "

" It started out just great but was too wordy by the end of the book. "

" Flat emotionally, but rich historically. Those interested in early American history should give this book a chance. "

" This book starts out pretty well but then descends into a muddle of too many characters and dry military facts. "

" This book works better as an engaging history rather than as a novel. The character development and pace do improve in the second half. Interestingly, the reader's sympathies tend to be drawn toward the Britisn. "

" I liked the parts were he delved into the lives of the settlers, but there were so many characters it was hard to keep it all straight. Also, some parts were very long winded which made me loose focus. "

" 3.5 stars ... pretty good read. "

" Jimmy Carter just drew me in. "

" I liked reading about this time and place, Revolutionary War Georgia. So much of what we hear of this war is centered in the North, Boston and Philadelphia. The writing was just OK. I almost quit reading after the first chapter or two but either the writing improved or I just got used to it. "

" Good for its historical imagery and the sweet story but not exceptionally well written - not badly written, but not enough character development that one can form attachments and sympathize with them. "

" Flat emotionally, but rich historically. Those interested in early American history should give this book a chance. "

" sorry Mr President, I admire your work but not your fiction writing "

" I read this because of my deep admiration for Jimmy. To be honest, it took me awhile to get through this book. Had to switch from hardcover to audio to finish it. It was educational. "

" Decent, but the story gets lost in the historical battle descriptions. I also don't like that the main characters are just left in oblivion with no real resolution. Good descriptions, but hard to follow. "

" Escellent historical fiction, tells a story of the Revolutinary War we never hear. "

" This started out as a great readable historical fiction with interesting characters but then changed into a school history book of battles and the characters became difficult to track. "