The Last Full Measure Review

As Confederate and Union soldiers take over their town, the local residents can do little more than hunker down in their homes while cannon and gunfire explode around them. But the battles are not only fought between soldiers. At home, fourteen-year-old Tacy and her disabled brother lock horns as David struggles with his desire to go to war. He has strong principles, and it tortures him to allow others to fight while he does nothing.

In the aftermath of this great and terrible battle, in which so many soldiers sacrifice their lives for their beliefs, David gives his last full measure…and leaves Tacy struggling to make sense out of it all
Taken from GoodReads

The Last Full Measure follows the story of Tacy, the youngest child and only daughter of a Union doctor during the Battle of Gettysburg. Though young, Tacy wants to do something important, stand firm to her beliefs, and make something of her life, but the times don't provide just cause for any of this. Through love, loss, and grief, Tacy must come to terms with the reality of life and discover her own true nature in the process.

I've always been a fan of Ann Rinaldi. I remember reading some of my favourite books of hers when I was younger, such as The Last Silk Dress and In My Father's House. True to form, The Last Full Measure follows its young female protagonist through the struggles of war while wrestling her own consciousness's growing pains. That said, I feel like I never really got to know Tacy until the end of the story. With Ann Rinaldi's other books, I felt the characters were much more relatable.

Just as I wanted to like Tacy, I wanted to like David, her crippled older brother. However, he was cruel and crass, and downright bossy. Half the time I found it difficult to be even remotely sympathetic towards his position because I don't think it was clearly shown by him why he was the way he was. I guess my main problem with The Last Full Measure was that it was both too fast and too slow, if you know what I mean. I feel the beginning lagged a bit when giving us the background of the story, but I feel the action itself went by too fast and downplayed the true sadness of the story.

As a positive, The Last Full Measure features the same clean writing which separates Ann Rinaldi from many other historical fiction writers. It's a fairly quick read, with clean dialogue, so I doubt anyone should have trouble with that. All in all, I give The Last Full Measure 3 out of 5 stars, and I recommend it to those who love historical fiction.

I received The Last Full Measure free of charge as an e-book in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

Release Date: November 15, 2010