When you crack open this book, you're immediately sucked back into a living and breathing history lesson.
This book takes you on a journey following several characters as they live and survive through the Civil War - and as it's part one of a trilogy, I'm definitely hooked and excited to see what happens next.
James Harper wants so desperately to prove he's leadership material, but ego-driven superiors and some questionable decisions lead to more struggles and trials to prove himself capable. He isn't the "perfect" hero in that he does make mistakes, or he seems more "real" or "regular" - we can identify with him more. But at the same time, his sense of honor and determination shines through when it's needed most, and you can respect that. He also can back up what he says (as far as skills and gumption to proceed). He definitely got into more scrapes and situations that what I think I could put up with! ha!
Katie has to learn how to adjust being sold to a whorehouse and just what it will take to survive and become more than what it seems life fated her with. I enjoyed seeing her still cling to some innocence, and my heart ached with the hardships she faced.
There's several other characters you get to experience life through that make you think, or give you heartburn... Once you get settled in and have the setting grow around you and learn who all the characters are, you are hooked into seeing how everyone interacts and what will happen next.
I can't help but believe that if we as a society went back to a truth-filled story-telling way of passing down history, more people would be intrigued and want to discover more about our past, and maybe even learn some invaluable lessons. Thank goodness for authors who have a story to tell and weave in historical events, breathing life into dry textbook narrative.
