Thirteen year old Isabel and her sister Ruth are slaves sold to a new mistress in revolution-era New York. Isabel struggles to keep her hope that eventually they will be free until her owner does something incredibly cruel and the British invade and Isabel's life is turned upside down.A good indication of how much I liked this book is that I stayed up late to finish it, and I'm someone who needs lots of sleep to function. Chains had a bit of a slow start but after one third of the way in was unputdownable. I just had to keep on turning each page to find out what would happen next.Chains was also a lot darker than I was expecting. The sections when Isabel was very melancholy were quite affecting and Anderson had a talent for saying a lot in very few words. It was definitely not a light piece of YA fluff but a deep, dark story that worked on many levels. Anderson didn't shy away from the darker side of slavery and of human nature.After finishing this one I'll definitely be hunting down Forge to find out what happens to Isabel next. I'll also be keeping my eye out for Speak by the same author.
