Point of View

Blood on the River is told entirely from the first person point of view of Samuel Collier, age eleven. His voice is that of a child encountering an adventure and sometimes frightening encounters with entirely new and dangerous situations. However, he also speaks from the wisdom of an orphan of the streets, possessing survival skills in any environment. He is alternately naive and willing to sink himself into new experiences without hesitation. The only exception in this point of view is the Afterword, which switches to third-person in an effort to tell what happens to the real life characters and colony outside the view of the main character.

Language and Meaning

The book's intended audience is children, and thus the language is fairly simple, and the author takes pains to explain complex issues in an easily accessible and understandable manner. The horrors and difficulties are...