Chains

Title: Chains
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Ages: 12 and up

My only regret reading this book was that it hasn't been made into a movie yet.  The characters, especially Isabel and Curzon, were so real that they practically walked off the pages.  I rarely get angry at characters in books, but Madame Lockton is absolutely despicable.  The books starts off sort of slow, but by the fifth or sixth chapter, you are very attached to Isabel and Ruth.  The situation of the Patriot soldiers in New York City was amazing, and I realized how hard Washington fought against the odds to free America from England's "chains".  Isabel, like a real person, struggles and makes some bad choices and decisions.  She makes the right choice at the end, and ultimately becomes a better person because of it.  One of the interesting aspects of the book was the fact that both the British and the Patriots supported slavery, and even though Curzon knew this he still joined the side that he thought was right.  I liked Laurie Halse Anderson's way of comparing two things that you think have nothing in common and making them alike.  Cast Two Shadows was a similar book, but I still thought Chains was a much better book and more interesting.  I can't wait to read the sequel Forge.

Content Advisory: Isabel has thoughts of violence towards her masters, however she never acts on them.  There's one use of the word "wench".