24 reviews for:

The Pact

Roberta Kagan

3.61 AVERAGE


Ik zat meteen in het verhaal en ging er helemaal in op. Sommige karakters deden mijn bloed koken, maar het was passend bij de tijd waarin het verhaal zich afspeelt.
challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

nremmert_reads's review

4.0
challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

I enjoy historical fiction set in this time period, it kept me interested and the story flowed pretty quickly. The writing was ok and the characters were somewhat developed. I found the dialogue uncomfortable at times and the writing style was choppy. Overall I found it an entertaining read but it didn't stick with me long.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Book Whisperer for the ARC and my honest review.

I really enjoyed the story as a whole and the bond shared between these characters. I found the backgrounds of the girls interesting and was intrigued to see where the story would go. At times it felt a bit like a YA drama with a historical theme. The ending did seem rushed which is what I think kept me from giving it a solid 4 star, but I believe this is supposed to be a series so I’m intrigued enough to read the next when it comes out. Overall, I’m glad to have read it! I loved the authors writing.


Thank you to @netgalley & @bookwhispererink for the e-arc in exchange for review, all opinions are my own.

3.5 ⭐️

While I enjoyed the coming age take on the Rise of the Third Reich, the pacing of the narration distracted me from the rest of the book.

Decent story, if very predictable. My only real issue with it is the dialogue. Absolutely none of it sounds natural. I think this book needs at least one more pass over by an editor. If not that then at least the author needs to read some of this out loud. I think that would would be very enlightening for her.

Ends with zero resolution to anyone’s story. Instead there’s just three cliffhangers and sequel bait.

The title The Pact could not be more apt...the words conjure up many images, many possibilities. Is the pact kept? Is it not? This harrowing book is about sisterhood, class disparity, courage, love, hope, shame, hatred, jealousy and forgiveness. Twists, turns and surprises wait around the sunniest and murkiest corners. My emotions were all over the place as I read, anxious to turn each page, eager to discover more.

In 1929 in Austria Jews are persecuted. Young girls Anna, Bernie and Elica become friends under unusual circumstances and make a blood pact to become Sisters in Blood to help each other out always. Their backgrounds are very different...Anna is a Jew from a wealthy family and Bernie and Elica are both poor Gentiles. As time goes on, the new führer is spreading his hateful "filthy Jew" ideology and shockingly, even friends and neighbours turn each other in, sometimes out of spite or retribution, other times from fear or in need of protection. A fourth girl, Dagna, joins the group but for the wrong reasons. As you imagine in a story containing a mix of Jews and Gentiles during such turbulent times, there are bound to be mental and physical skirmishes.

The class divide is evinced at the girls' birthday parties and by the reactions of their parents to girls beneath or above their class. Political standings can make or break relationships. As the girls grow older they develop their own ideas and go separate ways, though meet when possible. Easier said than done. Wealthy Jews have everything taken away and are reduced to nothing as they, too, are "subhuman". The girls fall in and out of love and must make difficult moral and ethical choices. Meanwhile, the world changes all around them as their worlds within change.

Author Roberta Kagan writes with a powerful and insightful drive as she fills her books with minutest details and matters of the heart, not to mention the intense sorrow and pain of war. She also describes her inspiration for her new series.

Historical Fiction readers who do not know author Roberta Kagan, now is the time! Talk about an excellent place to start in the genre. And for those who do, you are sure to enjoy this book very much.

Girls form a friendship during childhood in Vienna. Over time the plot advances to WWII.

I listened to this story and liked the narrator, but the voices of some characters were super annoying, especially Dagna. While the story was interesting, I didn’t find the dialog and actions of the characters believable or consistent, which was distracting and took away from the story. I was also annoyed that it ended on a cliffhanger. I’m not sure if I’ll read the next in the series.