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daniellew03cd3's review against another edition
4.0
Review of the complete duology! -
A great duology. Meticulously researched and seems to be true to life but of course I am not a historian and am white so I can only trust in what others say. The whole story is gut-wrenching but believable. The books use a lot of “high language” which makes sense in context and displays the teachings and understandings of Enlightenment scholars and examines the hypocrisy of the American Revolutionaries refusing to free slaves or treat anyone but other white people with dignity and respect. Of course the British weren’t much better and the promises made to runaway slaves were empty. These are not happy books and will not leave the raised questions with clear, clean-cut answers, they will not make you feel better about any of the real historical conflicts - and will probably bring up things you weren’t taught in grade school that’ll make patriotism harder to swallow - and there will be no third book to wrap things up nicely and give the story a happy ending because as Anderson stated in the notes after Kingdom on the Waves he was sticking with the real life outcomes. So if you’re up for reading some philosophy and experiencing a lot of mixed feelings you might want to check these out.
A great duology. Meticulously researched and seems to be true to life but of course I am not a historian and am white so I can only trust in what others say. The whole story is gut-wrenching but believable. The books use a lot of “high language” which makes sense in context and displays the teachings and understandings of Enlightenment scholars and examines the hypocrisy of the American Revolutionaries refusing to free slaves or treat anyone but other white people with dignity and respect. Of course the British weren’t much better and the promises made to runaway slaves were empty. These are not happy books and will not leave the raised questions with clear, clean-cut answers, they will not make you feel better about any of the real historical conflicts - and will probably bring up things you weren’t taught in grade school that’ll make patriotism harder to swallow - and there will be no third book to wrap things up nicely and give the story a happy ending because as Anderson stated in the notes after Kingdom on the Waves he was sticking with the real life outcomes. So if you’re up for reading some philosophy and experiencing a lot of mixed feelings you might want to check these out.
jain's review against another edition
5.0
A very worthy sequel to the extraordinary first volume. The tone of this book is rather different; where the first book had at its heart a mystery--Octavian's identity--that was only slowly revealed, here the only mysteries are those common to any war: who will live and who die. However, as a unique window into both the American Revolution and the nature of humanity, it succeeds as brilliantly as its prequel.
rebecacelest's review against another edition
I loved the first book so so so much but I wasn't really feeling it with this one. Might try it again soon, when I get into another historical fic phase, so I'll refrain from rating it for now.
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