Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Could Not Finish It

I entered the Mexican-American War with great expectations for the Shaara literary reputation and, after reading the account of the Siege of Vera Cruz, was unable to finish it. I even violated my own 100-page rule requiring me to give any book that chance before forming an opinion and making a go/no-go decision. If there is Shaara brilliance here I did not detect it. I had high hopes of filling in the prequel to the American Civil War but I became impatient with the stodgy, lifeless prose. Perhaps a duller account can be found. I don't know. It plays loose with the facts of the Siege of Vera Cruz and not once in all the prolonged bombardment of the walls of Vera Cruz did I feel the sand fleas biting at my face. I regret the $7.00 for the e-book. -----Jerry Persall