Reviews tagging 'War'

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

24 reviews

emilyrbenedict's review

informative inspiring tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Historical fictions aren’t usually my go to reads so take this review with a grain of salt if you do enjoy this genre because I’m not very knowledgeable. I think based on the description of this book I was expecting a little bit different of a story. In my opinion it took a very long time for the story to really have a lot of action / get into a groove. It was about 45% of the way done before I really started to enjoy the book. Each chapter you switch POVs between the 2 main characters and it was very easy to distinguish their separate stories. I really appreciate the author note at the end and the amount of effort the author put into making this novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, War, Death, Genocide, and Gun violence

Minor: Suicide

erinvasut's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, War, Deportation, Grief, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Child death, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, Genocide, Confinement, and Murder

haren_k's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful sad fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, War, Death, Child death, and Torture

samirareads24's review

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

The parallel stories are wonderful. Even though the endings are not necessarily happy, any story based during the Nazi occupation in Europe is not a happy one. Gladly there were some triumphs but not without pain. This is a great read for anyone who loves historical fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Xenophobia, Suicide, Violence, and War

gemmapz's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

The book title is a bit of a misnomer, but other than that magnificently done! The storytelling is rich the main characters are compelling, and gives a sense of what it was like to be in France and Portugal during the middle to later parts of World War II. The story is not for the faint of heart, but is for everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Violence, Police brutality, Xenophobia, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Excrement, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Self harm, Genocide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Suicide, Antisemitism, Child abuse, War, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Religious bigotry, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, and Deportation

kansas_girl's review

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

This book will leave you enervated, slack in the face of its emotional impact.  It is the story of small victories in the face of an enormous and powerful evil. Martin ties together the lives of two women: one a librarian charged with collecting enemy publications in Lisbon and one a member of the Resistance in occupied France who runs a clandestine printing press. Connected and inspired by the power of words, they scrabble to save the lives of the unknown, the powerless, and the persecuted.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, War, Death, Deportation, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Xenophobia, and Genocide

shaylac's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I've picked up this book since I had a trip planned to Lisbon and I don't think I've ever read a book set in Lisbon, let alone Portugal.

The book follows 2 main characters and how they navigate through WWII in both Portugal and France, with the main goal of both characters of helping with the war efforts. It was interesting to see the 2 perspectives of the main characters and how they had to deal with internal and external dilemmas they faced. I've never learned much about Portugal's involvement in the war and I found it fascinating that during a time of rationing and sacrifice, that Portugal was "neutral" and didn't seem like the war affected them at all.

Overall, I thought the character development was good but the plot could have been a little more robust. There were times in the book where there was a weird time gap and it seemed like the audience could have learned a lot more about how the war was affecting the character more or how the character could have explored friendships/relationships.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Antisemitism, Death, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Blood, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Minor: Physical abuse and Violence

teacupsandfirereads's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, War, and Genocide

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Child death

Minor: Torture

edhyndman's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Murder

bookworm_ohsea's review

challenging emotional informative tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, and Violence