Reviews tagging 'War'

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

41 reviews

uselesspirateraven's profile picture

uselesspirateraven's review

5.0
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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adventurous emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I am no longer afraid of getting old. Indeed I can’t believe I ever said anything so stupid. So childish. So offensive and arrogant. But mainly, so very, very stupid. I desperately want to grow old. [p. 114]
Reread after The Enigma Game, which features a younger and considerably more cheerful Julie. (My review from 2013.) This is still a very harrowing read, even though I know what happens. 
This time around I especially noticed the marvellous portrayal of Engels, the translator/guard, who Julie portrays as monstrous because to reveal her acts of kindness would get both of them in trouble. It's a masterclass in unreliable narration and in why you should consider the audience, as well as the author, of a text.
Maddie and Engel are talking about cigarettes:
‘Never gave any to Julie!’ Engel gave an astonished bark of laughter. ‘I damn well gave her half my salary in cigarettes, greedy little Scottish savage! She nearly bankrupted me. Smoked her way through all five years of your pilot’s career!’
‘She never said! She never even hinted! Not once!’
‘What do you think would have happened to her,’ Engel said coolly, ‘if she had written this down? What would have happened to me?’ [p.310]
Also spotted a friend's name in the Acknowledgements: hope to discuss it with her soon.


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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I really liked this book, and loved Maddie and Julie as characters. Definitely nearly cried at the end. Also this is absolutely the gayest not gay book I have ever read, nothing will convince me that Maddie and Julie aren't in love.

My only complaint is with the specific version of the book I read, and ebook which had a lot of extra material at the end of it. Which is great in theory, except it meant that I thought I had like 100 pages of the book left when actually I didn't. Meaning Esme's letter at the end was even more heartbreaking, because I thought there was more to come
(and I was holding out hope that maybe Julie was somehow still alive if there was 100 pages worth of story to go!)
but there wasn't 😭

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A fantastic historical YA story of courage and friendship. Two young women are trapped behind enemy lines in occupied France. It took me a while to really get into it, but not all is what it seems, and once I hit the second half, I was captivated. This is YA at its finest. 

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adventurous emotional inspiring tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional informative tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

A great book for reflecting on narrator bias, perspective, and audience. Things are desperate but the book doesn't feel depressive. And between all of the horror, there is still plenty of hope and humor. 

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goldendreams's review

5.0
dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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