Book series review: Seeds of America (Chains, Forged, Ashes) by Laurie Halse Anderson

I am a fan of both historical fiction and Laurie Halse Anderson's work, including Fever 1773 , so when I discovered this series about the experiences of two slaves during the American Revolution, I looked forward to diving in.

Chains , from Isabel's perspective, was difficult to read at parts, which I am sure was the point.  Slavery is not an issue that needs to be glossed over in any way.  This book covered the helplessness at being at the mercy of the kindness of others, which was often scarce, and the fear of having family members sold away from them, physical and emotional abuse, and having no way of escape. Isabel's mother had died of smallpox (a disease from which she herself bore a large scar), her former owner had died, and Isabel and her sister Ruth were left with the owner's nephew.  Isabel and Ruth, who was epileptic and mostly mute, were sold to a cruel Loyalist couple in New York.  There Isabel meets Curzon, a slave of a Patriot who wishes to join the Patriot Army himself and advises Isabel on how to win her freedom by turning spy.

Forge follows Curzon's story after Isabel rescues him from a British prison and he joins the Patriot Army.  As an escaped slave who is passing himself off as someone who has won his freedom and he is not sure who he can trust:  Eban, the white soldier whose life he saved, but not Burns, the bigot who is promoted to sergeant.  He is with the army at Valley Forge during that bitter winter when the army was cold and starving.  He hoped to reunite with Isabel, who is heading to South Carolina to find Ruth.  When they are reunited, and recaptured, their conflicts with each other increase--whether it is worthwhile to try to rescue Ruth, whether the Patriots have their interests as people of color at heart any more than the Loyalists do.

In the final book, Ashes, has Curzon and Isabel together, finding Ruth, who has been well cared for and well loved by other slaves on a plantation in South Carolina, but subject to a cruel overseer; they escape with Aberdeen, another slave on the plantation, and make their way north, ending up in Williamsburg, Virginia at the time of the Battle of Yorktown.  Isabel comes to terms with her feelings about the Revolution and the type of country that she lived in--and wanted to live in--and she and Curzon were able to share victory together.