Wendy Martin

This is a phenomenal book, you are so invested in the characters and their realities that you will love and hate them. The best part of the book is the conflict between Napoleon and Alexander's forces, the description of conflict, the bravado, the suffering, the violence, the innocence of youth, the melancholy of maturity, the ease with which people are killed and life is eclipsed within a second. Tolstoy also delves into the bias of historians and researchers in discussing war, conflict, heroism and nationalism. This was very enlightening but toward the end it drags a bit and does seem to be written by another author. The burning of Moscow in 1814 is described in detail and the various characters of soldiers, peasants, nobility, marauders, merchants, opportunists are given true experience and emotion. This is a masterpiece.