[Clock.]

I have been reading the series for the last few days and am now reading the second volume. At the moment there are two volumes released and since I haven't finished the second I'm not quite sure if the series ends with that one.

The series is about the life of an African prince named Octavian. He is a purchased slave who lives in the Novanglian College of Lucidity and is treated as though he were an English nobleman (education, meals, etc). The series begins in Boston and begins a few years prior to the American Revolution and does continue into the revolution. Everything the boy does is recorded including what he does in his spare time, how he reacts to certain things, and more or less everything about him.

Spoiler

It is later discovered that he is the subject of an experiment in which the physical and mental capabilities of Africans are compared to those of Europeans.

I advise you not to read the wikipedia entry because it summarizes the contents of the entire volume.

It's quite simply a good read and is not too difficult to understand. The volumes are rather short and each volume should take no more than 10 hours to read. There are also some passages in the book that explore unusual things such as the relation between substance and form using an egg as an example. Sadly I can't find a copy of the book online and can't copy it right now =/