The first thing I'm going to say is that I still hate the way this series is set up and the gap between books. Eventually I'll probably cave and go to the website to see what I'm missing, but that day isn't today. I still think you shouldn't have to visit a website in order to receive the complete story in a book series. That said this installment of The Infinity Ring series is another winner in my book.

Unlike Ryan, McMann returned to a more familiar period of history in her story as Sera, Dak and Riq visit 1850 and see the beginnings of the Underground Railroad. Most readers who remember their history classes are going to recognize multiple historical characters and the scenario depicted here. What really makes this book special isn't that it repeats things that a lot of people know, it's the way it makes you feel them. Most people can look backward at the time of slavery and think that's atrocious and not be able to understand how any human being can consider another human being to be property. If someone can't look back and do that in my personal opinion they probably need a lot more help than reading a book can give them. What most of us can't do is really understand how horrible it felt to be a slave, to be treated as if you were cattle. Some of us, myself included, doesn't understand what's it's like to look back at their ancestry and know that they were property and how that makes a person feel. Call me an ostrich but I've always been one of those people that never wanted to look at their family tree close enough to know if they owned or were slaves because I've never wanted to face the idea of coming from that of either knowing I had ancestors that never knew what freedom felt like or more likely knowing I had ancestors that stole that knowledge from someone else. The idea of actually knowing for sure that I probably came from someone who did something like that and didn't see anything wrong with it makes me feel kind of dirty inside, like there's a portion of my blood that's tainted. Instead I choose not to know for sure and hoping those I came from weren't a part of that.

The thing is a large portion of the world's population has no choice but to face the reality that one of their ancestors was treated as though they weren't even human. People who aren't in that group of having no choice but to know can't really understand what it's like for their contemporaries who do know. Through Riq's experiences in the book we not only get a small taste of what it feel like to be in that group of the population, to have stories passed down to you about the atrocities your ancestors faced, but they also get a heartbreaking portrayal of what it might feel like to be one of those ancestors. Sera, Dak and Riq find themselves walking almost immediately into a trap when they first arrive at their destination. Because of that trap, Riq is kidnapped by slave traders and barely escapes being sold into slavery. There are multiple scenes in the book where he almost doesn't escape. McMann does this amazing job of putting the reader into Riq's head and making you really ache for him. While Ryan brought Sera to live and made Riq seem so much more human, McMann picked up that growth and Riq and made him not only human but this admirable, flawed, somewhat broken character. She helps you to understand Riq's past actions and the ones he makes in the story. She really brings to live the plight of someone whose ancestors were slaves and the plight of the slaves themselves back in 1850. She manages to do this without crossing into territory too dark for a young reader while still making an adult reader want to cry for this character and not only what he's been through but what he might have to go through because of his actions to correct history. She presents a very real fear for Riq's future which hopefully future series writers will address. I just really can't find words to express the connection she makes you feel to Riq in this book.

The period in history chosen is amazing because she's chosen a time period where a few people start to see right from wrong and who eventually go on to make the rest of the world see. The civil war time period and that preceding it has always been one of my favorites in history because I like the bits of history that aren't just about disasters but when what I personally believe is the good guy eventually wins. So much of life doesn't work like books, just because you're the one in the right doesn't mean you're the one who will prosper, to me the moments in history where despite the loss it emulates books and the good guys win are my favorites. So I really enjoyed the way McMann brought the reader right into that conflict and not just the conflict but that giant ball of feelings you don't get to read about in the history books.

With each addition to the series that I read I have a new favorite and I certainly hope that continues as the series progress. This particular installment is highly recommended.