I don't like the borrowing of historical characters because it destroys something of the integrity of the person in the borrowing, turning a real person into a fictional one, no matter how good a book it makes. And no matter how much you know of a historical figure, you're still going to be projecting personalities on them, and once there, they're very hard to get rid of.
For example- within the last year I read an account of the Lewis & Clark journey, told from the view of a young man with the expedition. Whether or not the young man existed, I don't know; but the author had to make personas for Lewis, Clark, Charbonneau, Sacajawea, and a number of others, all taken from their journals. While the author didn't mean slander, and treated them respectfully, I still don't like to see it, as it's too much a blending of fact and fiction.
So, if you haven't guessed, I'm not a fan of "historical" fiction. Historical
settings are another matter entirely.
