The Kingdom on the Waves: a reading response.

In The Kingdom on the Waves, Octavian is fighting for the British in the Revolutionary War after losing his mother and escaping the College of Lucidity, who had enslaved him after his mother died. Octavian is a well educated boy for his age and his race; he grew up learning philosophy along with Greek and Latin. He is not accustomed to war, but he knows that it is too late to go back. He learns a secret about his mother and that his mostly privileged life has been centered around a lie that his late mother created, saying she was African royalty to protect him from slavery. Now, his warship is being ravaged by smallpox, which he is immune to as a result of a pox party in the College of Lucidity.
I know this book is fiction, but it seems so real. It is an extremely well written piece of historical fiction. The characters don't always have a happy ending, and the emotions are so raw. When Octavian yells at his friend Bono for making fun of his mother (who he believed to be alive), Octavian describes his voice as "high and child like". I can imagine Octavian yelling at Bono, while other soldiers stare at him, perhaps in discomfort, and Bono looking shocked at this revelation.
Another emotional scene in this book is the burning of Norfolk. The British army was instructed to set fire to the town, and to shoot without hesitation. The first "shirtman", or rebel, they see, Octavian is one of the three men that fired. Octavian cannot believed that he killed this man, and another soldier tells him that the miracle of the volley strategy is that you will never know whose bullet killed the opposition.
When they march through the abandoned town of Norfolk, they see objects left behind in the rush to leave Norfolk, like a gown and crazy dogs. They meet a father with his wife and three daughters. The father immediately protects his family, pleading, speaking the English motto, just for his safety.
This book really shows the atrocity of war. It is actually really sad sometimes to read about what Octavian Nothing has to go through. At heart, and he agrees, he is not a man ready for war. He is a boy who was shocked at his mothers death, and who watched her autopsy. He is a boy who was unexpectedly thrusted into slavery. He is a boy who knows his studies and how to play the violin. He is a well spoken boy. But I don't think he knows just what he is yet.