A deeply psychological novel of a young man who decides to fight in the Civil War, it follows his thoughts as he is filled, in turns, with patriotism, doubt, fear, shame, cowardice, and heroism.

I wasn't quite ready for such a thought-filled story, expecting more of a narrative; it was not only quite engaging but also at times humorous and quite insightful.

An interesting trick Crane pulled was not using the main character's name throughout most of the book (since the first couple of chapters? something that's hard to go back and check with an audio book), but instead identified him as "the youth" or some such. Helped create more of an Everyman the reader (or listener) could identify with, no matter which side you might have rooted for.

I'm using my Year of 100 Books as an excuse to read all the classics I didn't read in high school, but it has opened me up to a lot of authors I would never have tried. 

Crane is definitely someone I will look up.

A coming-of-age story of a boy who enrolls in a secret college of magic, and goes through the typical antics, stumbling out of childhood, and searching for purpose that most boys in their early 20s do; but since magic is involved, you know nothing good comes of it, and it goes a lot worse than it does for most of the rest of us.

Grossman has a very nimble way of describing thoughts and situations, and walks the line between fantasy and mainstream literary fiction. As George R R Martin says, this book is "to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea."

It has been so long since I've read these books (30 years) and heard the radio series (20 years) that I get confused what happens when, and which plot points led to where I am now. (It didn't help with this reading I was combating strep throat and was a bit loopy.) If I remember correctly, it's with the next book that the plot lines make a serious divergence. 

In any case, Adams is still proving himself to be a better radio writer than novelist: there is a lot explained thru dialogue and not much thru action nor description. I think that changes with the next book too.

The first third of the book is taken up fully with James Bond in a high-stakes bridge game. The rest is your typical megalomaniac crypto-Nazi hell bent on destroying London with nuclear arms, stopped by Bond with a good dose of convenient luck.

Because so much of the book is spent on the card game, there's not much room in the rest of the narrative for the typical Bond intrigue and cat-and-mouse.