Reviews

The Spy with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke

oracleofoaks's review against another edition

5.0

(Review originally posted on Jellyfable blog)

“Get in, losers,” she called. “We’re blowing up Nazis.”

I can’t remember the last time I loved characters as much as I love Wolf and Ilse Klein. Ilse is a smart, bold, and occasionally reckless girl whose enthusiasm for knowledge is contagious. Wolf is a serious and soft boy who is constantly trying to keep up with and protect the people around him. From the very beginning, their fantastic sibling dynamic solidified their personalities and made me fall in love with them both. They bicker and banter in the exact way that siblings do. They don’t always understand each other, but they would die 100 times for each other. I worried that when Wolf and Ilse’s path’s split part way into the novel, their personalities wouldn’t shine as brightly on their own. Fortunately, both characters stood strong the whole way through and there were even more amazing characters for them to interact with.

I looked at the sea again. “Did it ever occur to you that I came here to be alone?”
​“It did,” said Ilse. “But just because you want to be alone doesn’t mean you should be.”

The girls that Ilse works with on the atom bomb project were wonderful. Each one was brilliant and had a distinct and bold personality and they quickly form close-knit and inseparable bonds. I cannot tell you how refreshing it was to see such a diverse group of strong and brilliant women who cared for and trusted each other. They always had each others backs even when they didn’t always understand each other. I loved each and every one of them. On Wolf’s side, he forms a strong friendship with Lily who quickly stole my entire heart. She was bold, brash, and beautiful. Every scene where she and Wolf interacted made me smile.

​And those were just the platonic relationships! The romances in this book are some of my favorite I’ve read in awhile. Wolf is demisexual and has strong but complex feelings for his friend Max from the very beginning of the book. They are reunited when he is sent overseas and their ensuing romance is one of the sweetest, most earnest relationships I have ever read about. I don’t know how to describe just how shippable these two are so you’ll have to just read it for yourself to understand.

"Come on. I’ll buy you a drink.”
What I mean was, Come on. We’ll pretend like I’m staying. We’ll pretend like you didn’t leave. We’ll pretend like we’ll both make it through this war.
And when he said yes, I knew he heard everything I hadn’t said but wished I could.​

Ilse also had an incredible romantic plot on her side of the story. She has a romance with one of the other girls on her team and it was a romance that was just perfectly in character for her. On a personal note, I was just so happy to finally read a f/f romance that didn’t rely on sexual attraction as the basis for the romance. There is nothing wrong with sexual relationships, but I find they tend to dominate f/f stories. This was something I’ve been personally looking for and I was so happy to find it here.

Everything about this book was just so real. The characters, the emotions, the dialogue. These two teens are dragged into a war and they are constantly grappling with whether they actually want to be there. Do they want to help kill people if it also means saving lives? Can they find a way to do good in the midst of all of the violence? I loved the deep reflection that came out of these characters that I had grown to love.

Part of me was still hoping we wouldn’t have to be the ones to deliver the bomb. Wouldn’t have to be the ones to kill anyone. But war felt so binary now that I was here, not that I had had to make a choice between not participating and participating. If I didn’t help kill people, I was saving them. And if I was saving them, I wasn’t saving my brother. This was how it felt to be a contradiction. I wanted all of these thing, and I wanted us all to get through the war safely. And statistically, that wasn’t possible. I really wished I’d never learned statistics.

This book had be laughing and crying within pages of each other. The dialogue is witty and hilarious and the plot is exciting and heartbreaking. This is the kind of book that reminded me why I love reading. It reminded me why I try so many new books, wade through titles that just aren’t for me, and keep going until I can find a book like this. This is a book that I’m going to keep rereading forever. It is both a new favorite and a forever favorite. I can’t wait for everyone to read this book and love it just as much as I do.

All quotes in this review are from an advance copy of the book and may be altered in the finished copy

theseventhl's review against another edition

5.0

I loved this even more than the other Balloonmakers book in the duology (which I loved an awful lot). Queer Jewish magicians in WW2 and one of them is a science genius yes yes yes y e s ♥️♥️♥️

PS: For my fellow DoE nerds, half of the novel takes place at Oak Ridge, TN, and now that I've finished the book, I ain't even mad they didn't go to New Mexico. It worked out!

readmoreyall's review against another edition

3.0

I figured out the twist about three pages before the reveal. I don’t love the additional storyline (set up for sequel I assume) but I did enjoy the core of the story.

sigfig's review against another edition

5.0

I love these books, they simultaneously teach about real history and often the glossed over parts of history while throwing in just a small fascinating twist.

abergland7's review against another edition

3.0

Not as good as the previous book but still a good read. Totally stand alone.

mallorypen's review

Didn’t renew from the library in time, and honestly wasn’t invested enough to get it back.

ilikecows321's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

4.75

hannahbisbis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Maybe I’m just not used to reading young adult lit, but there were so many cringe moments in this book between the needless commentary, overly descriptive sexual tension scenes, and the not-actually-funny one liners that try too hard to be edgy (“tell your mama you got punched by a queer Jew,” “time to punch some Nazis” — although I’m obviously anti-Nazism). It wasn’t very well written and parts of the story were left undeveloped or rushed. I was ready for the book to be over well before the 355 page mark. Certainly no Hunger Games, but maybe that’s an unfair bar to set.

alyram4's review against another edition

3.0

3/5 stars

Historical fiction for me is tricky, but reading this right after a book I loved (also historical fiction) I just didn't find myself interested. I got bored A LOT, so much that I felt lile stopping at points or skimming pages. There were times where I was actually really interested, but they werw few and far between. Beginning was unbearably slow where I nearly DNFd it 70 pages in. The ending was nice and tied it to a nice bow, leaving it open for interpretation. But yeah, this definitely wasn't for me. I couldn't care much about what happened to the characters. Even the magic aspect just felt lile ot could have been expanded on a bit more or even shown more. This is not magical realism at all, so reading this made me feel like there was so much missing. Anyways, this wasn't for me but I know many people enjoyed it. I'd pass on any others in this particular series for the time being.

kaylakaotik's review against another edition

4.0

I'm rather fond of this series.

The Spy with the Red Balloon missed the high bar that was set by The Girl with the Red Balloon by just a bit. For a decent chunk of the book, I felt the story dragged on and on without much happening. However, it did pick up in the second half and that mostly made up for it.

I certainly wouldn't be disappointed if another book was to pop up in The Balloonmakers series.