Road to the Breaking Book Review

Nothing survived “The Breaking” unchanged; lives and fortunes, love and hate, freedom and slavery.

About Road to the Breaking

It’s early 1860, and war hero Captain Nathaniel Chambers, commander U.S. Army Fort Davis in the west Texas wilderness, has received shocking news – his father is dead.  He must return home to Virginia and claim his inheritance before a maniacal neighbor can murder his widowed mother and seize the family plantation.

But he’s torn by a terrible dilemma – to stay in the army and turn his back on his fortune, his mother and his beloved childhood home, or become the thing he despises; a slave master!  Is there no other choice? 

An epic journey across a young nation seething with debauchery, brutality, corruption, and political intrigue, unwittingly on the brink of an unimaginable disaster; the American Civil War.  Nathan Chambers has left the violent army life behind in Texas, never imaging he’s on the very Road to The Breaking.

My Thoughts

In Road to the Breaking, we are introduced to Captain Nathaniel Chambers – a stubborn man with quite the past who also struggles with his own demons and keeping them at bay.

Nathaniel struggled with an anger inside of him most of his life – when he allowed his anger to get the best of him, he could not hold it back. But he wasn’t a mean person – this was always in retaliating to others bullying or hurting him or others around him. He never appeared to get along with his Father or have much of a relationship with him (keeping in mind that this was during a time period when those relationships were not strong, instead children were taught more to fear a parent). His Mother sensed this and sent him away to boarding school and from here he never returned home to a place that he felt he does not belong. His Father had a successful family farm but this success came on the backs of slaves, something Nathaniel despises.

Near the beginning of the story, Nathaniel receives a telegram from his Mother notifying him of the death of his Father. It is followed up by two more telegrams requesting him to return home with what appears to be secret messages contained within that something is not quite right at home. Is his Mother being taken advantage of being a widow on a farm all on her own? As Nathaniel sets on his journey to return home after choosing his family over the army, we are introduced to a bit of his history through a series of flashbacks to various stages.

This is a well written story following the story of a young man during a very troubling time. The story jumps through several time periods but it did not make it hard to follow as the story flowed well. It covers a time period in American history that was marked with slavery, plantations, war and the fight for freedom and what is right. A great read from start to finish.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon, B&N and Bookshop.

Rating: 4/5

About the Author

Chris A. Bennett grew up on the shores of Klamath Lake in southeastern Oregon. For a young boy it was a dream world of water, hills, forests, and abundant wildlife. His love for action and adventure morphed into a lifelong love for books when his Mom read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to the family on a long road trip.

Chris’s thirst for adventure never faded and he began to live out his love of history onto the pages of his first book, Road to the Breaking. Once he started writing he just couldn’t stop and the result is The Road to the Breaking series; an epic journey across a young nation seething with debauchery, brutality, corruption, and political intrigue, unwittingly on the brink of an unimaginable disaster: the American Civil War.

Chris currently lives near Seattle with his wife Patricia. His three adult children Nick, Rachel, and Josh also live in the Puget Sound area.​

You can connect with him on his website.

The Giveaway

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Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review, all opinions expressed are my own.