Forge is the sequel to Chains one of 2011’s Rebecca Caudill Award Nominees which I reviewed last spring. Although Chains’ main character, Isabel, is still present in this novel, this book is the story about Curzon Smith. Curzon is the boy Isabel fought to save and eventually escaped with. I would call Chains a book for girls and I will call Forge a book for boys. Can the two meet for a third book that will please both sexes?
In the beginning, Curzon and Isabel have split ways. Isabel is adamant that she must go, find and save her younger sister Ruth. Curzon believes this to be an impossible task that will result in their captivity. Curzon works to prevent Isabel from going south, but Isabel beats him to the punch and leaves for the south before he can put his plan into action.
Alone, Curzon is uncertain of where to go and how to survive with his freedom, and he is still trapped between the Patriot and British lines. Hiding, Curzon witnesses two young boys, one a rebel and the other a lobsterback, facing off to see who can kill the other first. Curzon, having fought on the patriot side himself, changes the odds in the rebel boy’s favor by throwing a stone at the Brit. In a story where kindness continues to be rewarded with kindness, Curzon finds himself an enlisted soldier once again.
Winter is approaching and General George Washington has called the troops to Valley Forge to, well, winter. Curzon and his new friend, Eben, the Patriot whose life he saved, are among the foot soldiers. If you know your American history, you know the hardship that was suffered at Valley Forge.
There is very little food, if any, available for the common, enlisted men. Most meals consist of firebread and water and sometimes, only water. Those soldiers who were issued uniforms are down to their last one and it is already threadbare and holey. As many as one in four soldiers are without shoes. As they walk they leave a trail of blood from their feet behind them. The soldiers sleep in tents at night and build their log huts by day. The soldiers have very few tools to work with, but are required to chop their own trees, debranch and debark them, transport them and notch and stack them. The finished hut needs to be sealed with mud and include a chimney.
All of the enlisted men suffer, but the men and boys of African descent suffer more. Curzon is without free papers from his former owner. He cannot prove that he is NOT a runaway slave. He is picked upon and bullied and never comfortable in his safety. He relies, though uncomfortably, on the protection of his closest brother soldiers.
The book would have been monotonous if it hadn’t been for Curzon’s former master showing up at the camp. And you’ll never guess who he has acquired …
My complaints are a scene involving the master being shaved by one of his slaves who is dangerously close to killing him – I’ve seen this same scene before … in Roots? And the other complaint is all the talk of farts and pissing. I cannot believe I wrote that. But then, they are boys.
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