Jeffrey M. Wagner

Reads like an after action report

Revisado: 11-08-22

If you want a feel for life in Vietnam of a special forces soldier you won't be disappointed. if you want a story with a beginning and an end then you will be. Its an interesting read but it isn't a story. There is no development arc. No plot. Just a series of reports. Entertaining and fun at times, but lacking in plot.

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Narrator needs to take an English class.

Revisado: 04-07-16

Would you try another book from William Todd Schultz and/or Travis Young?

The writing was fine. And fairly thorough. Biographies are often hard to bring to life in the third person. But this one moves along fairly well.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator mispronounces words so often it becomes annoying. This is the first book in over 10 years that had this many mistakes in it.

Any additional comments?

Elliott Smith was an amazing songwriter and guitar player. I am revisiting all of his work now as i go thru the experience of quitting pain medication after 20 years of being on it.
For some reason his music has become the soundtrack of this experience for me. Made it much more tolerable.

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Good but not great

Revisado: 08-28-08

There was several things I liked about this book. I love historical fiction and I like long books if they are good ones. I think there was alot of potential here for a great writer to exploit. Many places that a good long suspensful tale could be woven. But what I didn't like about it was how linear the story telling was. Repeatedly throughout the book the same formula was used over and over again.
Good guy gains something he wants. Bad guy takes it away. Bad guy takes revenge on good guy. Good guy defeats bad guy. There is no interwoven plot lines. No suspensful building on the story.
Every time something good or bad happened it would immediatly be resolved in the next few paragrapghs. One after the other in a very linear format.
I think if the writer was a better storyteller and his editor had done a better job it would have been a much better book. But the way it was told did not impress me.
I have to suggest that the reviewers that called this great literature need to read some real literature to understand what the word means.

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Dull and Duller

Revisado: 04-14-08

I am a big fan of historical fiction and even like reading true fiction if well written and read. I thought this book would be a natural choice for me so I picked it up. I was unable to get all the way thru the first part no matter how hard I tried. It was dull, drab and drawn out. Maybe if I had to write a report for school it may be worthwhile to listen to it. But as pure enjoyment it is a chore.

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Don't bother

Revisado: 09-12-07

This is only one of two audio books I have begun and not finished. Out of over a hundred. The story just didn't do a thing for me. It is neither a historical novel or a fantasy. I see in other reviews that some people really liked it. But I just didn't get it. It was long, drawn out and even after half way thru the book I really did not care how it ended so I stopped listening to it.

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Good Historical Fiction

Revisado: 08-03-06

I really liked this book. Yes it spends alot of time with details and side stories but isn't that the point of historical fiction? To mix the story of the past with the story of the author?
I thought it was well written and did a great job of creating the feeling of being in eastern Europe. It sitrred a renewed interest for me in Vlad the Impaler and has led me to seek out other sources of info on this "colorful" historical figure.

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