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skylarkblue1's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Representations: https://trello.com/c/7biCmMI9/94-orphan-monster-spy-1-orphan-monster-spy-by-matt-killeen
I think I did overall like this book. Aside from being suddenly thrust into very graphic topics and descriptions to a level I did not expect from a YA novel (the pedophilia and gore mainly). If you're an adult trying to work out if it's suitable for a teen, absolutely read it first.
This book very much goes quite deep into a lot of the horrors of World War 2 that are often not mentioned or overlooked. It goes explicitly into how Jewish people were treated just in towns and within what was their communities alongside talking about the genocide itself. It talks about actual events that happened and all sorts, the level of detail is quite astounding. Most of what's mentioned isn't even on the UK curriculum for WW2 so I think it's quite good this brings up those conversations. Especially as this book also details how disabled people were part of the genocides in quite horrible, but sadly pretty accurate, ways. A suprising amount of people don't realise disabled people where part of the genocides, it's where the diagnosis of "Aspergers" came around, Hans Asperger gave kids that diagnosis if they were not autistic enough to be sent to get killed. This is why so many in the Autistic community are now moving away from the term as everyone with aspergers is part of the autism spectrum anyway. Unfortunatly this fact isn't mentioned in the book as it focuses on Down Syndrome instead, but maybe in book 2.
Another part I liked about this book was that it kinda pulled back the cover of "this big and powerful regime" and showed that it was kinda falling apart behind the scenes. The historical note at the back (highly recommend reading that after the book, it gives so much context) rightly points out that while it's a bit exaggerated in the book, in real life things where not perfect and wealthy as they wanted you to think.
I was quite shocked by the level of gore in this book though. Very detailed descriptions of injuries, the car accident has a *lot* of detail (though you don't read the accident itself, the injuries from it are detailed), and it's all from the very start as well. The pedo stuff as well was just a major suprise to suddenly have. I think it was handled decently well, but boy was I not expecting it and for that long either.
The characters where quite interesting, of course it was quite fictional in terms of their choices, if they where actually spies then they'd be long dead ngl lol. But I was able to suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the plot, it's a very interesting idea honestly. I liked Sarah, the self-loathing low-confidence girl who slowly breaks more and more with the events of the book - it sort of reminded me of hunger games in a way and how katniss (sort of) deals with her trauma and such. The captain was a tad forgettable, but he's not in the book too much so it wasn't too bad. I really hope book 2 has some kind of conclusion for one of the boarding school girls, I won't say too much but I was quite disappointed with how this book handled her at the end.
I think I did overall like this book. Aside from being suddenly thrust into very graphic topics and descriptions to a level I did not expect from a YA novel (the pedophilia and gore mainly). If you're an adult trying to work out if it's suitable for a teen, absolutely read it first.
This book very much goes quite deep into a lot of the horrors of World War 2 that are often not mentioned or overlooked. It goes explicitly into how Jewish people were treated just in towns and within what was their communities alongside talking about the genocide itself. It talks about actual events that happened and all sorts, the level of detail is quite astounding. Most of what's mentioned isn't even on the UK curriculum for WW2 so I think it's quite good this brings up those conversations. Especially as this book also details how disabled people were part of the genocides in quite horrible, but sadly pretty accurate, ways. A suprising amount of people don't realise disabled people where part of the genocides, it's where the diagnosis of "Aspergers" came around, Hans Asperger gave kids that diagnosis if they were not autistic enough to be sent to get killed. This is why so many in the Autistic community are now moving away from the term as everyone with aspergers is part of the autism spectrum anyway. Unfortunatly this fact isn't mentioned in the book as it focuses on Down Syndrome instead, but maybe in book 2.
Another part I liked about this book was that it kinda pulled back the cover of "this big and powerful regime" and showed that it was kinda falling apart behind the scenes. The historical note at the back (highly recommend reading that after the book, it gives so much context) rightly points out that while it's a bit exaggerated in the book, in real life things where not perfect and wealthy as they wanted you to think.
I was quite shocked by the level of gore in this book though. Very detailed descriptions of injuries, the car accident has a *lot* of detail (though you don't read the accident itself, the injuries from it are detailed), and it's all from the very start as well. The pedo stuff as well was just a major suprise to suddenly have. I think it was handled decently well, but boy was I not expecting it and for that long either.
The characters where quite interesting, of course it was quite fictional in terms of their choices, if they where actually spies then they'd be long dead ngl lol. But I was able to suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the plot, it's a very interesting idea honestly. I liked Sarah, the self-loathing low-confidence girl who slowly breaks more and more with the events of the book - it sort of reminded me of hunger games in a way and how katniss (sort of) deals with her trauma and such. The captain was a tad forgettable, but he's not in the book too much so it wasn't too bad. I really hope book 2 has some kind of conclusion for one of the boarding school girls, I won't say too much but I was quite disappointed with how this book handled her at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, War, Mental illness, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Antisemitism, Genocide, Alcoholism, Car accident, Pedophilia, Gore, and Child abuse
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Forced institutionalization
Young Carer, Ableist Slurs, Druggingjanaybrazier's review against another edition
3.0
This book was chosen as the August pick for my YA book group but unfortunately I didn't love it. It was a really interesting concept and it was great to read for me right now as I'm working with children who are learning about World War II. It just took me a while to get into it and I only really found myself hooked during the last 50-60 pages. However, I liked the writing style and would be interested to see where this storyline goes next.
aoosterwyk's review against another edition
5.0
SO GOOD!!!!!!!
Fast paced, action packed, great storyline and super characters!
Sarah’s story is a powerful addition to the canon of Nazi resistance.
Fast paced, action packed, great storyline and super characters!
Sarah’s story is a powerful addition to the canon of Nazi resistance.
dmdeacon's review against another edition
challenging
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Sexual assault, and Child abuse
shadowfalcon's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mellabella's review against another edition
3.0
This book started out with the death of Sarah's mother and took off from there. 15 year old blonde, blue eyed Sarah meets a man later (who inadvertently causes her moms death) who will change the course of her life. She goes from an orphan to a spy. A teenage Jewish girl joining the resistance and, trying to bring down the Nazi's.
Sarah goes undercover at a school for upper ranking Nazi's. Her goal is to befriend a girl named Elsa whose father is a scientist. Her introduction to the school (and the girls) is tenuous and, a little brutal.
For some reason (while I enjoyed this book) I was never on edge that Sarah would be found out while she was in school. Even with everything that could have gone wrong.
While she was at Elsa's home, is when I started to think something might happen. And happen it did. But not in a way that I thought.
As we go through Sarah's memories... Little by little we see how resilient she had to be. Not just as a Jewish person in Germany. But as the daughter of a sometimes vicious alcoholic mother that she had to mother. And an absent German father. Someone who was bullied long before she got to the school.
The atrocious secret at the end... Actually shocked me.
I would love to see this made into a movie. But, it would probably just be messed up. So, 3.5 stars.
Sarah goes undercover at a school for upper ranking Nazi's. Her goal is to befriend a girl named Elsa whose father is a scientist. Her introduction to the school (and the girls) is tenuous and, a little brutal.
For some reason (while I enjoyed this book) I was never on edge that Sarah would be found out while she was in school. Even with everything that could have gone wrong.
While she was at Elsa's home, is when I started to think something might happen. And happen it did. But not in a way that I thought.
As we go through Sarah's memories... Little by little we see how resilient she had to be. Not just as a Jewish person in Germany. But as the daughter of a sometimes vicious alcoholic mother that she had to mother. And an absent German father. Someone who was bullied long before she got to the school.
The atrocious secret at the end... Actually shocked me.
I would love to see this made into a movie. But, it would probably just be messed up. So, 3.5 stars.
aimeesbookishlife's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting take on YA WWII stories, well-paced and with some decent characters. Not quite knocking it out the park but overall a decent read.
missmary98's review against another edition
4.0
That was very intense and complicated and hard to read (not in a difficulty way, but in an emotional way).
kawarwick's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting story of young female Jew spying as a German boarding school student but I couldn’t get invested in the story.