Reviews

Allies by Alan Gratz

evelientrog's review against another edition

adventurous sad tense

2.5

telennify's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

heidisreads's review against another edition

I did not finish the audiobook, but I plan to finish it in the future.

rsuch11's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense medium-paced

3.0

geo_curler's review against another edition

5.0

Allies was yet another amazing Alan Gratz book that I couldn’t put down. The interactions between the characters were on point and in true Alan Gratz form. The twists and turns in the plot were just as good and Gratz fans will not be disappointed with this story. My only disappointment was that I felt Gratz didn’t follow the characters story to the fullest. He gave so much characterization in the novel, I wish there was more too it. I still can’t fault the book for what it DID have, however, and readers who love the classic twists and turns of Alan Gratz will not be disappointed.

sam_cofer's review against another edition

challenging informative sad tense

3.5

taxiotis's review against another edition

2.0

While I enjoyed reading this book it kind of left me with a meh feeling. I read a lot of WW2 historical fiction, both middle grad and adult. I just didn’t feel the connection here with the characters. Perhaps it’s because there are so many characters. Perhaps it was because I read it on a kindle so it was harder to flip back to get clarification on who was who. Im not sure. After reading Gratz’s Refugee and Ban this Book, I expected more. I still plan on reading the rest of his books. If you decide to read this, keep a sheet of paper of who’s who and doing what. I might make it easier to follow. Especially for teachers reading it with students.

yesica's review against another edition

dark funny informative tense medium-paced

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

3.75

What I liked:
The Story takes off pretty slow at first which I believe was very much intentional on the authors part; almost like he is preparing you for D-Day.
Once D-Day is here rest of the book takes off rather quickly throwing you from one side of the battle field to the other.

What I didn’t  like:
Like all of Alans books not all the different POV’s he provides are the best.
Some were definitely better then others.
However this book also has the problem that it holds too many Points Of Views (6).

At one point you could be jumping from a plane on to an active battle field and the next chapter we are with a little girl helping stop a train

Overall:
Alan Gratz does a great job at grabbing the reader’s attention and making them feel like they are in the middle of the action. This is certainly among my top five of his books.

Quote: 

The worst part was that Germany hadn't suddenly "become" racist and evil. That rot had been there, under the surface, the whole time. Hitler's hate-filled speeches had allowed the seeds of German bigotry to grow like weeds until they choked out anything else that might have flowered there. Dee and his family had just been living in their own little bubble and hadn't noticed it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, and Gun violence

Minor: Body horror

pretzelthedino's review against another edition

3.0

the stories were a bit distanced from each other

jaklyn_heath_reads's review against another edition

3.5

I really like it but almost loved the author’s note better. 
Definitely one I will keep in mind if I’m looking for a novel about WWII to read my class.