I was doubtful when I got this book from NetGalley whether I’d like it, although I like history, historical fiction comes across as pretty dull to me, especially when the main characters are part of the ‘upper class’. The writing styles of this genre tend to come across as wordy and boring, more talking about financial matters of the estate, marriageableness, family statuses, etc., and this book was no exception really. On the plus side, it wasn’t as dull as Austen, and I was able to understand most of what was going on. I hoped from the description that the book would have a little bit of action, so for a long while, I was determined not to give up on it, but, well, sixty percent in, and I think a short distance away from the promised action unfolding, and I’m making this one down as Did Not Finish.

I’ll start with characterization. There are several characters in this book, but primarily two, Viviane and Jules. More or less, the characterization early on was done well, I understood from Viv’s perspective why she didn’t like Jules and wanted free of him, and I understood from Jules’s perspective why he had an obligation to ensure Viv didn’t do anything stupid. It’s a rare gift I think to have two characters who don’t like each other but still make the reader (that’s me) like them both, so that part of it was well done.

The trouble is that’s the most praiseworthy thing about the book for me. From then on, several pages would pass by, and I’d look back and wonder what important things had occurred. In short, the book became boring. It had a decent first maybe ten percent, and I had hopes that even if not great, at least it’d be digestible. But ten to maybe, I don’t know, forty percent into it, was largely uneventful. Maybe things were happening, but it wasn’t enticing; the characters weren’t growing on me, and I started to feel myself growing apart from the story, waiting for some action. When the characters finally begin their journey to America, the book became reminiscent of Patrick O’Brian --- paragraph after paragraph about this sail, that sail, this part of the deck, that part of the deck, this sail, that sail... since neither Jules nor Viv are navigators, these details came across as cumbersome. Viv shouldn’t know one sail from another, it’s not important to her, and it’s not important to me, so although well-researched and well-written in its own right, these details also seem out of place, and I ended up skipping ahead.

When we finally get to America, which I’d been waiting for all along, the focus of the book became more aimless. Up until now, everything has been through the eyes of Viv or Jules, but when they got to America, the book appeared a lot more like a point of view shift, with a more detached, omnipresent narrator. In a way, I think the author lost control of her characters, and lost her way. Instead of Viv becoming a strong, independent character, she became… I don’t know… disjointed.

This leads into what I think was a fatal flaw of the book, and that is that characters are introduced with virtually no descriptions. This, more than anything, made me feel detached from the book. Time after time, characters are introduced and go entirely without description or detail, they just APPEAR, and carry on conversations as if I’m supposed to have known them all along. So when we get to America, Viv is talking about these families she’s meeting and staying with, their names are mentioned, and I have no clue whatsoever who these people are; they don’t add anything to the story, rather, the author approaches these characters with such indifference that I’m indifferent to them, and the necessary result is that the whole story becomes indifferent. And that’s why I say the author lost control of the characters. They’re just… people… I don’t know who they are, I don’t know why they’re there, I don’t know why they’re important to the main characters…. And so I become excluded from the story. And even knowing that the promised action is about to unfold, something about exposing Benedict Arnold I gather, the author has already lost me. I read sixty percent into the story, but really, it was downhill after about ten percent.

So I’d say the flaw of the book was getting bogged down in some unnecessary scenes, pretty much all the bit about moving to Paris, I’m like…. C’mon… where’s this going??? Characters were introduced who didn’t seem to have much involvement in the story, large sections went by without much seeming to happen, and there were other storylines that didn’t seem to pay off, like about Viv’s boyfriend maybe liking another girl and Jules liking some woman… I don’t know. These scenes added to the word count without adding to the characters or the plot, but rather, were impediments to it. The voyage west got bogged down in nautical terms that didn’t add anything to the characters, and didn’t further the plot, slowed it and diverted attention from the main characters. And then in America, and Paris as well, characters being introduced without nary any description or detail, they sort of show up without introduction or invite… And then the first battle, Brandywine I think, read a bit more like a Wikipedia page, and none of the characters were actively involved; this is where I say the narrator changed.

Oh… rating… Hmm…. Well off hand, I would say a two star; I was going to be kind and give it a three star review, but on goodreads I see that the author gave her own book a 5 star review, and to me that’s a big no-no. Don’t rate your own books! Amateur move. This certainly loses at least the third star, and maybe the second... Did not like or was okay…. Ehhh… I don’t know. I’d give it one and a half stars. But I do round up or round down? …. I guess I’ll round up to two stars. The first ten percent was okay. I wish things proceeded a bit faster, less of those scenes that didn’t add anything to the characters or plot and more description, character and plot development, and when we get to America, more active protagonists, rather than the detached narrator…. Yeah… Unhappy two stars. I appreciate the effort that goes into writing a novel, but rating your own book to me is a deal-breaker. Don’t do that.

Sorry for the long review. I wanted to be sure I got all my thoughts on the book out.

Rebel was a delightful read from start to finish. Though prone to whinging at the start, Viviane grows into a compelling and likeable heroine. Meanwhile, Jules is an excellent, brooding Byronic figure. The setting of the tale against the backdrop of the American Revolution worked well. Having read much on the Revolution in recent years, I thrilled to see familiar names, places and events portrayed, including a brief appearance of my much-beloved John André. The story maintained a good pace throughout. My only slight niggle was the subplot with the rake, which felt a bit like an add-on and wasn't fleshed out enough for my liking. But that is a very minor complaint in an otherwise wonderful tale. 4.5 stars.