Forge

Introduction

Forge, written by Laurie Halse Anderson, was published by Simon and Shuster publishing on October 19th, 2010 - almost two years after the publication of its predecessor, Chains - for juvenile and young adult readers. When I chose to read Chains at Ciara’s recommendation, I did not realize that it was the first of a three book series. So, when the first one ended on a cliffhanger, I was a little confused. I already had another book planned for the last week of February, but I wasn’t fond of the idea of leaving the series unfinished, so I put out a poll on Instagram to gauge the public opinion. When one hundred percent of people voted that I continue the Seeds of America trilogy with Forge and Ashes, I very quickly got my hands on the second book. If you haven’t read any of these, I highly recommend doing so before these reviews, as they really are fantastic. If you haven’t looked at my review of Chains yet, you may want to check that out too, as I will briefly compare the two. If you choose to forge ahead, know that the Plot section is spoiler free, but the Thoughts section will not be. I hope you enjoy it!

If you want to keep up with Laurie Halse Anderson or learn more about her, you can visit her website, https://madwomanintheforest.com/, and follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @halseanderson.

Plot

Like in Chains, Forge is told in a multiple part first person perspective. Unlike Chains, it is told not from Isabel’s point of view, but from Curzon’s. This story begins on January 19th, 1777, and it is primarily set in Valley Forge. We pick up right where we left off in the first book and then fast forward ahead in time to see where Curzon is. While once again on the run, he saves the life of a young soldier and ends up reenlisting in the rebel army. Parts one and two of this book see him navigating new relationships and trying to survive the winter with his troop. Part three puts him back where he started when we first met him in Chains, and he is desperate to get away.

Thoughts

I did say in my last review that I wanted to see more of Curzon in the upcoming installments, and boy did I get my wish. Reading this book from his perspective was a shock, but a very welcome one. Something that was not shocking was the continuation of using passages from real life texts to introduce each chapter. I continue to love the ones she includes, and it has further cemented the realistic fiction classification of the book in my mind.

Receiving the story from Curzon’s perspective means that we get more of an insight into his personality. The first thing I noticed was his bravery. Not only did he save Eben’s life, but he chose to reenlist in the army. After his imprisonment in the last book, his willingness to jump back into the fray a year later is admirable, especially when he could have just run away and never looked back. Curzon is also very smart, patient, and observant. He is able to establish who he can trust by watching, listening, and carefully interacting with the people around him, but of course it helps to have Eben by his side to help him out of difficult and potentially dangerous situations. He is also patient enough to wait for the best chance at getting away from Bellingham, realizing that running too soon would get him caught and put him in a worse situation than the one he was currently in. Finally, his loyalty remains unwavering. He had the chance to run with help from his friends, but he refused to leave until Isabel was able to go with him. Getting to know the history behind his hat and his name also added a layer of sentimentality to character that softened him up quite a bit. He never felt invincible, but we didn’t know enough about him to get a gauge on that aspect of his personality before.

Isabel’s character stayed very consistent, even when she wasn’t there with Curzon - I think it was actually more consistent because she wasn’t there. It was exactly like her to go off on her own to find Ruth when Curzon insisted on waiting, and she continued to put Ruth above and before all else. Curzon thought of her often enough that every time I started to stop wondering what she was doing, I was reminded of her. Her return was somehow unexpected to me, and to Curzon as well. I think her recapture happening in his perspective was more impactful than it may have been from her own, and it also gave Anderson the chance to allude to the gross abuses Isabel went through without stating them outright. This is still a children’s book.

However, that isn’t to say that this book doesn’t tackle some heavy themes. Eben is the last character I want to really delve into in this review. He is loyal, brave, and kind, but he is also naïve and a bit misguided. One of my favorite parts in this book was a conversation between Curzon and Eben about freedom. After encountering a few slaves, Eben expressed to Curzon that - in his opinion - it was one thing for America to fight for its freedom but another entirely for slaves to fight for theirs. In his mind, patriots and slaves were entirely separate from one another. He didn’t necessarily approve of the owning of slaves, but he thought they should be grateful to their masters for the clothes on their backs and the food on their tables. For as wrong and inhumane as this mindset is, it’s one that many of the white and privileged during this time had, and a comparatively kind one at that. This of course upset Curzon, and he broke off his budding friendship with Eben for a good chunk of the book. Eben did eventually do some reflecting and apologized, realizing that freedom is something that should be granted to all with no caveats.

We also revisit the theme of humanity, especially in regards to the disgusting iron collar put on Isabel to prevent her from running away. It was incredibly satisfying when they fixed it around Bellingham’s neck after tying him up in the barn. There were enemies everywhere in this book, even among those who were supposed to be allies. Burns and Bellingham, both patriots (as opposed to the loyalist Locktons in the first book) should have been on the side of freedom, but both treated Curzon with nothing but disrespect. And that isn’t even mentioning the predatory action towards Isabel that Bellingham presented. It was absolutely foul, but unfortunately not inaccurate.

Speaking of accuracy, Anderson keeps it up in this novel. It’s almost more explicit when told from Curzon’s perspective because we get an up close and personal look at what the war was like. In the first few chapters, we experience the death of a British soldier in detail right before Curzon runs into battle. But the gore is not the only realistic aspect of this story, especially as there are very few battles recounted. Part two of the book is set in Valley Forge in the middle of winter, meaning the soldiers are facing adverse conditions that test their will and ability to work together and survive. They have an incredibly disheartening level of violence and a lack of resources that continuously made me wonder how any of them survived through it all.

Ultimately, I have to rate this book an 8.7/10. It has the same strong points as the first one, and I do like what it adds to the series and how it contributes to the themes, but I didn’t feel that the additions made it better than Chains. However, I would not say that it was worse either, as I really did love reading from Curzon’s perspective and getting more insight into his character and the realities of war through this installment. If you get the chance to check out this series, it is a relatively easy read, and I highly recommend it.