League of American Traitors

Title: League of American Traitors

Author: Matthew Landis

Publisher: Sky Pony Press, August 2017

Pages: 256

Genre:  young adult (14 and up)

Obtained: from publisher in exchange for an honest review








Summary: Seventeen year old Jasper Mansfield, the only living descendent of Benedict Arnold, loses his father.  Shortly after the funeral, he learns, that whether he wants to be or not, he is part of a group of descendents of American Revolutionary traitors that continue to duel to the death with a group of descendents of American Revolutionary heroes.  The duels begin at age eighteen and he must accept one challenge to duel or the opposing group will hunt him down.  His father had been trying to find a way out of this.  Can Jasper complete his father's work before he is challenged to a duel?

Thoughts: This is a great book for high school students, especially boys!  Sometimes it can be hard to find books for this age group.  It was fast paced, action packed, and one wild story.  There were traitors, duels, mysteries, chases, gunfights, and secret societies.  It was one of those books that I looked forward to reading because I really wanted to know what was going to happen.  It was not predictable.

Although the main character was well developed, I would have liked it if the author put a bit more into the minor characters. They had quirks and personalities, but their history was missing, so the reader did not seem to get to know the whole characters.  I can see how this would have slowed the pace, though.  Also, since the book was really plot driven, I could easily picture the action, but sometimes when the action slowed it wasn't as easy to picture the settings.

I expected more of a historical fiction book from reading the summary and knowing that the author was a history teacher.  I would not consider this historical fiction.  It was more of an action story with some history in it.  I actually would have loved more history about the American traitors and heroes, but I can, again, see how that would have slowed the pace.

I really liked the themes and some of the thought provoking ideas in this book.  I think they are great, especially for teens.  For example, one of the questions the main character had was if it was better to kill someone or be killed.  My favorite theme was that people are not all good or all bad.  I liked the question of why we remember traitors just for the bad things they did. What about the good things?

I recommend this book for any age, but especially for teens.  This was Matthew Landis' debut novel and he has more coming.  I am looking forward to see what else he creates!



                                                                          

Shrub is a soft drink or cocktail.  It is made by mixing fruit juice,vinegar, and either sugar or honey and letting it sit at least over night. It is then mixed with spirits, water, or soda water.  American colonists drank shrub as a refreshing beverage in the fields, at taverns, and even used it medicinally for such things as reducing fever and preventing scurvy.

This beverage made a comeback around 2012.  I came across a recipe for blackberry shrub in the August 2017, Family Circle magazine.  Having blackberries in my yard, it was the perfect one to try, although I didn't completely follow the directions.  I mashed blackberries (about 1 cup) and sugar (about 1/3 of a cup) together and added white vinegar (about 1/3 of a cup).  I let this sit overnight, then pressed it through a sieve.  I mixed about 2 ounces of this concoction with 5 ounces of seltzer and added ice.  The drink was a striking red color that smelled of vinegar.  It tasted like blackberry soda mixed with vinegar.  It had a sweetness and sourness at the same time, sort of like lemonade with berry flavor instead of citrus, but the vinegar just didn't seem right.  At first, I couldn't decide if I liked it or not.  It was a hot day, and when I was done with the cup I had made, I realized how refreshed I felt and had some more.  So, I guess I liked it!

There was a note at the bottom of the recipe in Family Circle that if you let the shrub sit in the refrigerator it becomes more mellow.  This was definitely true, and I liked it even better the second day.  I still have not gotten used to the initial vinegar scent that tells me not to drink it.

There are recipes for shrub all over the Internet.  Looking at them, most recommend using apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar.  If I make shrub again, I will try that.  Shrub is something that people can really experiment with trying different combinations and ingredient amounts to suit their tastes.  It is definitely something to try, especially if you like vinegar.  It is not for everyone!