Review: Victory

Title: Victory
Author: Susan Cooper
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult/MG
Pub Date: December 2007, Simon & Schuster Children's
Paperback, 224 pages
Book Source: Purchased from Amazon.com

Synopsis

LIVING CENTURIES APART, BUT JOINED IN AN EPIC BATTLE.

Sam Robbins is a farm boy, kidnapped to serve on HMS Victory, the ship on which Lord Nelson will die a hero's death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Molly Jennings is a twenty-first-century English girl transplanted to the United States by her stepfather's job, who's fighting her own battle against loss and loneliness.

Two lives that couldn't be more different, two hundred years apart, are linked by a tiny scrap of fraying cloth, tucked into an old book. It draws Molly into Sam's world, to a moment in time that changed history — a frightening shared moment that holds the key to secrets from the past and hope for the future.

My Thoughts

A light and easy read, Victory is a book I know I would have enjoyed had I read it at the age Cooper intended the book for.  The story is told in alternating points of view, going back and forth between Sam Robbins and Molly Jennings, which tends to keep things moving pretty quickly.

While there are obvious connections between these two characters, the more you read, the more you want to know just why their lives would be connected.  In the end, while I suspected what was coming, no matter how improbable it may have been, I really enjoyed how Cooper laid everything out and revealed all of the pieces of the puzzle.  It was also interesting to have a glimpse of the history of Lord Nelson, even though it came in a fictionalized setting.

I think readers young and old could appreciate this story not only for its plot and setting, but also for the cast of characters.  If you are looking for an adventure that won't bog you down but will keep you entertained, I definitely recommend Victory.

My Rating:

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