Book Review: Blood on the River

Author

Elisa Carbone

Genre

Historical fiction

Year Published

Copyright Elisa Carbone, 2006

Main Character

Samuel is the main character of Blood on the River. He is a young tween boy whose parents died, his mother had a beautiful locket that was sold to the shopkeeper. Samuel, alone and starving stole back the only thing he had left of her, he got caught and his sentence was to serve as Captain John Smiths page on the Susan Constant, to the new world.

Settings

England, and Jamestown, Virginia

Summary

Samuel sailed to the new world as the page to Captain John Smith. He helped search for gold, traded with the Native, and learned from them. But many gentleman-the wealthy men, killed Natives with their muskets, the Native population decreased rapidly as more and more men, and woman were being shipped to Jamestown, Virginia making it unbalanced between the Native and English population.

Important Quotes

“Sir, how will we make a settlement if this is Indian land? Will we have war?”

I chose this quote because it for-shadows that a war will rise against the English, and that it would be hard to make peace between the groups because the land is already used by the Natives. Samuel is nervous to life near the Natives, he is worried a war will happen and the English wouldn’t be able to explore the new world.

Richard calls out, speaking Algonquian as if he has memorized just what to say.”Captain Smith send. Need eat. Find English boy, Samuel.”

I chose this quote because it shows that the friendly Natives taught the English some of their language to communicate better when they traded, and talked.`This quote also shows that there is some trust between the Natives and a portion of the English.

Conclusion

The reasons I would recommend this book are endless but here are some of the most important, this book is great if you like reading about history or learning about Jamestown. It is a enjoyable,fast, book to read and is perfect if you finished a book and are looking to read a knowledgeable, adventurous, and age appropriate book in your free time. If you said yes to all of them, this is the book for you!

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