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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
Code Name Verity is one of my favorite books so of course I was excited to see a companion novel to it being released. I got my copy from England because I couldn’t wait until November when it is released here. This book is fantastic! It’s told from three different people’s POV - Jamie Beaufort-Stuart, a flight Lieutenant for the RAF; Ellen, a volunteer at the local airfield, and Louisa, a 15 year old who is hired to look after the pub owner’s elderly, German-born aunt, Jane, who becomes the translator of the coded messages. A German soldier risks his life to drop off an Enigma machine to British Intelligence, hiding it in said pub in northeast Scotland, which is where our four major players come into play. When Elisabeth Lind from the British Intelligence comes up to Scotland, things get even more messy and complicated. This book was slow to start but about a quarter in, it got really interesting and fast-paced. Two of my beloved characters from Code are within this book (Queenie & Jamie) and it made me fall in love with their stories even more. Absolutely amazing novel and I highly recommend it!!
Is this my favorite book of Elizabeth Wein's since CODE NAME VERITY? Might it even be *more* a favorite of mine than CNV, shocking as that sounds? It's just possible, because it's rich and vibrant and full of tension and intrigue, lavishly researched and exquisitely executed, with a new heroine that I loved with my whole heart from the first chapter (Louisa!!!), and amazing pitch-perfect narration from two other characters we already know from earlier books. There is SO MUCH going on in this book and all of it is amazing. I just finished it and part of me wants to go back and read it again.
Also, I ship two of the new characters (no spoilers here) and I need fan fiction. Or another book.
Also, I ship two of the new characters (no spoilers here) and I need fan fiction. Or another book.
Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for the copy of this ebook.
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There is so much going on in this book and I loved every bit of it, so I am going to try to deliver a well thought out review, but in all seriousness, I am probably just going to spend the time gushing about this book.
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To start, the book takes place in The United Kingdom during the Second World War. The plot was faced paced, and the three main characters were great. Louisa is a young Black girl who is orphaned at 15. She gets a job looking after an elderly lady who was born in Germany, which makes her considered an enemy alien by the British government. Louisa's dad was from Jamaica and her mother from England, so Louisa experiences quite a bit of racism throughout the novel. Then there is Ellen, who is a Traveller and honestly, I did not know too much about Travellers so it was nice to read about them! And then finally we have Jamie, our pilot in the air force and I loved the concern he showed towards his men and how much he wants a way to get an advantage over the Germans for the sake of his men!
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The writing was very well done and I enjoyed the mystery element to the book. Breaking codes and fighting the enemy was an aspect of the book that kept me fully engaged. I also loved the connection between characters and the camaraderie aspect of the relationship. The book is part of the Code Name Verity series and I have not read the other books and still found this one quite enjoyable! So if you are worried if you need to read the others in the series first, I will say not necessarily, but I think I might have loved the book even more if I had more context for some of the characters!
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There is so much going on in this book and I loved every bit of it, so I am going to try to deliver a well thought out review, but in all seriousness, I am probably just going to spend the time gushing about this book.
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To start, the book takes place in The United Kingdom during the Second World War. The plot was faced paced, and the three main characters were great. Louisa is a young Black girl who is orphaned at 15. She gets a job looking after an elderly lady who was born in Germany, which makes her considered an enemy alien by the British government. Louisa's dad was from Jamaica and her mother from England, so Louisa experiences quite a bit of racism throughout the novel. Then there is Ellen, who is a Traveller and honestly, I did not know too much about Travellers so it was nice to read about them! And then finally we have Jamie, our pilot in the air force and I loved the concern he showed towards his men and how much he wants a way to get an advantage over the Germans for the sake of his men!
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The writing was very well done and I enjoyed the mystery element to the book. Breaking codes and fighting the enemy was an aspect of the book that kept me fully engaged. I also loved the connection between characters and the camaraderie aspect of the relationship. The book is part of the Code Name Verity series and I have not read the other books and still found this one quite enjoyable! So if you are worried if you need to read the others in the series first, I will say not necessarily, but I think I might have loved the book even more if I had more context for some of the characters!
Another excellent historical fiction by Wein, she does such a good job of bringing her characters to life. I also loved all the research she does and how she bases characters and events off of real people and events.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fans of Wein's novels will recognize nods to other characters from other novels--which I love! I haven't read all her books, but I remember enough to recognize how they cross over. That always makes an author's books fun.
I love how Wein makes women front and center in her historical fiction novels, especially where that isn't always the case, like on military bases. I really liked the narrators in this book, and Wein does an excellent job in differentiating between the three of them. The way she writes dialect is fantastic and almost makes me wish I would have listened to this on audio.
While at times, some of the plane terminology and other aspects went over my head, I appreciated the amount of research Wein put into writing this book.
Another great addition to Wein's historical fiction works!
I love how Wein makes women front and center in her historical fiction novels, especially where that isn't always the case, like on military bases. I really liked the narrators in this book, and Wein does an excellent job in differentiating between the three of them. The way she writes dialect is fantastic and almost makes me wish I would have listened to this on audio.
While at times, some of the plane terminology and other aspects went over my head, I appreciated the amount of research Wein put into writing this book.
Another great addition to Wein's historical fiction works!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia, Antisemitism
4.5 stars
I hand Elizabeth Wein my heart on a platter every time I begin one of her stories, and she smashes it to a pulp each time with characters and stories full of love and feeling and the immeasurable sense of loss and destruction that WW2 brought with it.
In 1940, 15-year-old Louisa is reeling after the sudden loss of her mother and her father in separate bombing incidents. Now, Louisa sets off to Scotland where she has been hired to care for an elderly German woman. When she arrives, Louisa immediately becomes a member of a secret operation that involves a German soldier spy and an Enigma machine that can crack German code. Enter Jamie Beaufort-Stuart (Yes, OUR JAMIE from Code Name Verity) who uses the cracked code to keep himself and his squadron one step ahead of the German fighter planes eager to take them down.
I loved this book which isn't really a surprise as I love Elizabeth's writing, and how she incorporates amazing WW2 stories that have a lot of research and fact to back them up and connects them to younger characters doing their best to save their country. There is an earnestness and a youth to Louisa that I loved, and which was missing slightly in the other two books in this series (minus The Pearl Thief as that is a prequel set well before the war) as the characters we meet (Julie, Maddie and Rose) are all well-versed and involved in the war effort. In this book, we really feel Louisa's urge to help out in some way and the frustration that her age is stopping her (and her belief that her Jamaican birth and her skin colour may stop her from doing so).
There is a wonderful relationship here too between Louisa and Jane - the older woman she is hired to care for. There's a fragility to the relationship due to Jane's mental health, as well as her aging body - not to mention her fear that any moment she will be taken away just for being German despite living in England most of her life.
Ellen from The Pearl Thief is also a character in this book and we see her struggle with her own secret that she is a traveller and her fear that people will treat her differently when they know. Her secret bonds her to Louisa and Jane as they all feel like outsiders. I would love another book in this series that follows Ellen after the events of this book as she is a terrific character, and she deserves a whole novel just for her (with cameos from her brother, and hopefully Jamie as well).
The plot with the Enigma machine was really interesting, and I loved the intense moments when the German soldier was in the room but I have to say that my brain was not made for code or anything of that nature so while some readers may love the way Louisa and Jane were able to work with the Enigma machine, it probably went over my head a bit and I loved the characters themselves and the relationships in this book.
I should mention that Julie from Code Name Verity also makes a lovely cameo appearance in this book too!
This book was written after Code Name Verity but takes place BEFORE it. However, I would actually think reading in publishing order is still the way to go with this series. The Enigma Game fleshes out Jamie's backstory and brings to life snippets that he shared in Code Name Verity. But there's something lovely about reading The Enigma Game last and getting those thrills when your favourite characters show up or are mentioned.
I also loved the author's note in this book that explains the research Elizabeth Wein undertook for this book, as well some interesting historical facts about German defectors, code breaking machines and the Blenheim squadron. I thought it brilliant how she talked about coming up with this story that slotted in with the canon she had already written about Jamie in Code Name Verity and why she also thought it important to include West Indies characters' like Louisa in the war-story as it is a population who committed themselves to the war effort yet rarely get any kind of glory.
I can't recommend this enough for fans of Code Name Verity or people looking for amazing WW2 stories that center around younger characters with heart and spirit.
I hand Elizabeth Wein my heart on a platter every time I begin one of her stories, and she smashes it to a pulp each time with characters and stories full of love and feeling and the immeasurable sense of loss and destruction that WW2 brought with it.
In 1940, 15-year-old Louisa is reeling after the sudden loss of her mother and her father in separate bombing incidents. Now, Louisa sets off to Scotland where she has been hired to care for an elderly German woman. When she arrives, Louisa immediately becomes a member of a secret operation that involves a German soldier spy and an Enigma machine that can crack German code. Enter Jamie Beaufort-Stuart (Yes, OUR JAMIE from Code Name Verity) who uses the cracked code to keep himself and his squadron one step ahead of the German fighter planes eager to take them down.
I loved this book which isn't really a surprise as I love Elizabeth's writing, and how she incorporates amazing WW2 stories that have a lot of research and fact to back them up and connects them to younger characters doing their best to save their country. There is an earnestness and a youth to Louisa that I loved, and which was missing slightly in the other two books in this series (minus The Pearl Thief as that is a prequel set well before the war) as the characters we meet (Julie, Maddie and Rose) are all well-versed and involved in the war effort. In this book, we really feel Louisa's urge to help out in some way and the frustration that her age is stopping her (and her belief that her Jamaican birth and her skin colour may stop her from doing so).
There is a wonderful relationship here too between Louisa and Jane - the older woman she is hired to care for. There's a fragility to the relationship due to Jane's mental health, as well as her aging body - not to mention her fear that any moment she will be taken away just for being German despite living in England most of her life.
Ellen from The Pearl Thief is also a character in this book and we see her struggle with her own secret that she is a traveller and her fear that people will treat her differently when they know. Her secret bonds her to Louisa and Jane as they all feel like outsiders. I would love another book in this series that follows Ellen after the events of this book as she is a terrific character, and she deserves a whole novel just for her (with cameos from her brother, and hopefully Jamie as well).
The plot with the Enigma machine was really interesting, and I loved the intense moments when the German soldier was in the room but I have to say that my brain was not made for code or anything of that nature so while some readers may love the way Louisa and Jane were able to work with the Enigma machine, it probably went over my head a bit and I loved the characters themselves and the relationships in this book.
I should mention that Julie from Code Name Verity also makes a lovely cameo appearance in this book too!
This book was written after Code Name Verity but takes place BEFORE it. However, I would actually think reading in publishing order is still the way to go with this series. The Enigma Game fleshes out Jamie's backstory and brings to life snippets that he shared in Code Name Verity. But there's something lovely about reading The Enigma Game last and getting those thrills when your favourite characters show up or are mentioned.
I also loved the author's note in this book that explains the research Elizabeth Wein undertook for this book, as well some interesting historical facts about German defectors, code breaking machines and the Blenheim squadron. I thought it brilliant how she talked about coming up with this story that slotted in with the canon she had already written about Jamie in Code Name Verity and why she also thought it important to include West Indies characters' like Louisa in the war-story as it is a population who committed themselves to the war effort yet rarely get any kind of glory.
I can't recommend this enough for fans of Code Name Verity or people looking for amazing WW2 stories that center around younger characters with heart and spirit.
3.5 stars, rounding up, but it just didn't quite hold up to expectations for me. Not because it wasn't enjoyable or interesting -- it was both, and just as well-researched as you'd expect from Wein. Just, coming from the same literary universe as the incredible Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire, this one just didn't have the same stakes or depth to it. (And neither did The Pearl Thief really, in terms of the stakes, but since that one was pre-war it wasn't as expected and it still brought a lot more to Julie's character.) Even some of Jamie's descriptions of his flight missions got a bit dry for me, but that's just a matter of personal interest. All in, it was a quick and enjoyable enough read, and it was nice to revisit some old characters and meet a couple new ones, but this one felt a bit younger and definitely less purposeful than Wein's other books in the series. I still wholeheartedly recommend reading the others and this one is a fine addition to the canon.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Not very invested in the story as I would have liked to have been.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence
Moderate: Gore, Antisemitism
One of the POV characters is a Traveller (Irish Romani) and there is one direct slur mentioned. Also the story is set during WWII and several characters are flyers for the Royal Air Force. There are several scenes depicting aerial confrontations between said flyers and Nazi planes/submarines.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated