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paigehammer's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
meetyournextbook's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
dennasus's review
2.0
I never really got hooked on this story and in the end I just skim read to see how it will end. I thought it was disappointing. The writing as such was fine, but none of the five got really alive for me, I watched their action/interactions rather dispassionately from the sideline. Every obstacles they faced got neatly cleared away and I could go on and on about what more of the plot and characters bothered me. But then I'd go into spoiler territory and I usually try not to in my reviews.
knynas1's review
5.0
4.5 ⭐
Stunning historical fiction! This story follows five Americans who become spies in World War II. The plot and character development were outstanding. However, there are several characters and code names to keep track of, but thankfully the book has a character list at the beginning. I used it many times while reading. I highly recommend for those who love WWII fiction.
Stunning historical fiction! This story follows five Americans who become spies in World War II. The plot and character development were outstanding. However, there are several characters and code names to keep track of, but thankfully the book has a character list at the beginning. I used it many times while reading. I highly recommend for those who love WWII fiction.
marilynw's review
4.0
Dragonfly by Leila Meacham and narrated by Christine Lakin, Jefferson Mays, Karissa Vacker, Maxwell Hamilton, Will Collyer, Zach Villa, Nicholas Guy Smith and more.
The audio version of Dragonfly is such an enjoyable production. I think there are at least eleven narrators and the voices are so distinct and right for the parts that I felt like I was right there with the characters. This is a long story so there was no way I could listen to it without taking several days and several breaks but it was hard to find a stopping place each time I needed to go on to something else. I urge each reader (listener) to enjoy the audio version of this book.
At the beginning of WWII, five 22 year old men and women are recruited by the OSS to go undercover in France, for the Allies. These three men and two women have a variety of skills that will allow them to infiltrate important areas of the Nazi upper ranks, despite none of these young people having any espionage skills. They are put through a four month crash course to help them handle their individual spy assignments and then are airlifted into place to do their jobs. These spies are expected to have no contact with each other, depending on a drop box to communicate their findings, and any complications, to headquarters.
Each member of the Dragonfly team has their own reason for accepting danger assignments that will keep them from friends and family for the duration of the war or until they have been removed from the mission. They will be alone for the most part, with little guidance or support from others since it's crucial that they are able to immerse themselves into their false identities.. Each member of the team are soon in close contact with the Nazi elite. It's hard to believe how getting to know a few of these dangerous, evil men also allowed me to see a kinder side of some of them. That kinder side does not excuse the wrongs of what these men did/do but it's a testament to the story telling that I couldn't help "liking" some of the men, too.
There is a huge cast of characters but the large cast of narrators made the individual characters very clear to me. I was able to keep track of each of the young people and the people they came into contact with were distinctive enough for me to remember each person. We get to know some of the enemy so well, enter their homes and their thoughts, so that we get to see some of their motivations for doing what they do. We get to see that even though they might want the best for Germany, some of them are secretly fighting against Hitler in the only way they can do so without harming their country and others who are fighting against Hitler.
I felt anxious the entire time I was listening to this book. There is such a great danger of each of these people being caught at any time. They have to be "in character" at all times, in a country where no one trusts anyone else, where the slightest mistake could mean torture and death, not only for the individual, but their team members and others who are fighting against the oppression of the Nazis. And that's where I had a problem with the story. Several of the young spies take enormous risks for their own personal reasons. Risks that could (and do) easily expose them to danger. They actually break cover in some cases, exposing their real identities, when doing so puts the mission and so many others in peril. There are major slip ups along the way that are hard to understand when so many lives are at stake. One of the team members doing this seems unlikely to me and more than one seems even more implausible. Despite this big blunder in the story telling, I did enjoy the overall story greatly.
Published July 9, 2019
The audio version of Dragonfly is such an enjoyable production. I think there are at least eleven narrators and the voices are so distinct and right for the parts that I felt like I was right there with the characters. This is a long story so there was no way I could listen to it without taking several days and several breaks but it was hard to find a stopping place each time I needed to go on to something else. I urge each reader (listener) to enjoy the audio version of this book.
At the beginning of WWII, five 22 year old men and women are recruited by the OSS to go undercover in France, for the Allies. These three men and two women have a variety of skills that will allow them to infiltrate important areas of the Nazi upper ranks, despite none of these young people having any espionage skills. They are put through a four month crash course to help them handle their individual spy assignments and then are airlifted into place to do their jobs. These spies are expected to have no contact with each other, depending on a drop box to communicate their findings, and any complications, to headquarters.
Each member of the Dragonfly team has their own reason for accepting danger assignments that will keep them from friends and family for the duration of the war or until they have been removed from the mission. They will be alone for the most part, with little guidance or support from others since it's crucial that they are able to immerse themselves into their false identities.. Each member of the team are soon in close contact with the Nazi elite. It's hard to believe how getting to know a few of these dangerous, evil men also allowed me to see a kinder side of some of them. That kinder side does not excuse the wrongs of what these men did/do but it's a testament to the story telling that I couldn't help "liking" some of the men, too.
There is a huge cast of characters but the large cast of narrators made the individual characters very clear to me. I was able to keep track of each of the young people and the people they came into contact with were distinctive enough for me to remember each person. We get to know some of the enemy so well, enter their homes and their thoughts, so that we get to see some of their motivations for doing what they do. We get to see that even though they might want the best for Germany, some of them are secretly fighting against Hitler in the only way they can do so without harming their country and others who are fighting against Hitler.
I felt anxious the entire time I was listening to this book. There is such a great danger of each of these people being caught at any time. They have to be "in character" at all times, in a country where no one trusts anyone else, where the slightest mistake could mean torture and death, not only for the individual, but their team members and others who are fighting against the oppression of the Nazis. And that's where I had a problem with the story. Several of the young spies take enormous risks for their own personal reasons. Risks that could (and do) easily expose them to danger. They actually break cover in some cases, exposing their real identities, when doing so puts the mission and so many others in peril. There are major slip ups along the way that are hard to understand when so many lives are at stake. One of the team members doing this seems unlikely to me and more than one seems even more implausible. Despite this big blunder in the story telling, I did enjoy the overall story greatly.
Published July 9, 2019
krism's review against another edition
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this book. The setting is Paris during WWII. Five young Americans are inserted to gather intelligence and the story follows them during those years. In the early chapters, you get each person's back story. The story is highly entertaining and I always wanted to know what would happen next for each character. But, my compliments end there. I found so many of the events implausible. Too many coincidences. Too many nice Nazi's helping our protagonists. Too many stupid actions (speaking English on the street!). I also found the nice Nazi's storylines more interesting than the Americans. I love a good spy novel because there are unexpected twists and turns and things to figure out. This book isn't a spy novel; I'm not even sure it's trying to be. It's kind of historical fiction but misses on a lot of the historical facts. Romance? A bit. Still, entertaining and that's why I gave it three stars.
bridget_h's review
3.0
Truly a very enjoyable 3 stars... Really should be 3.5. I enjoyed a WWII story about this team of spies, and I also enjoyed that except for the beginning and end, it was mostly one time line. It was a refresher from other similar historical fiction