Iron Thunder vs Soldier's Heart: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: United States Civil War, History, Children's fiction, Fiction
Iron Thunder
After his father is killed on the war, thirteen year old Tom takes on a job at the ironworks to support his family, and finds himself a target of ruthless spies when he begins to work on the ironclad ship dubbed 'The…
vs
Soldier's Heart
“He heard it all, Charley did; heard the drums and songs and slogans and knew what everybody and his rooster was crowing.”
Eager to enlist, fifteen-year-old Charley has a change of heart after experiencing both the physical horrors and mental anguish of Civil War combat.
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Soldier's Heart has the widest readership — 5536 ratings behind its score.
- Soldier's Heart runs the darker storyline; Iron Thunder stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Iron Thunder | Soldier's Heart | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 3.7 (5536) |
| Hardcover | 3.5 (4) | 4.0 (3) |
| Google Books | 5.0 (1) | 5.0 (2) |
| Apple Books | — | 4.0 (179) |
Reception
| Iron Thunder | Soldier's Heart | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 4 | 5536 |
| Editions | 6 | 11 |
| Film adaptations | — | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 1547 |
| Reading it now | — | 221 |
| Written reviews | — | 787 |
| Wikipedia attention | — | 214 |
| Pages | 208 | 106 |