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lisamparkin's review
3.0
This one's tough. I think the premise is strong and interesting - living metal that reacts to the emotions and spirits of those who use it. But I found a lot of the flying formations/happenings hard to imagine and the whole middle bit of the book is extremely slow.
More could have been done with the Skarov secret information agents too. Overall the book had strong characters but kind of a weak plot.
More could have been done with the Skarov secret information agents too. Overall the book had strong characters but kind of a weak plot.
iam's review
2.0
2.5 stars
We Rule the Night is a war-time story about an all-women night bomber unit and their complex and often hateful relationships, set in fantasy Soviet Union.
Content warnings include: war, violence, death, airplane crashes, sexism, sexual harassment and groping, corrupt government/information officers, ableism towards character with prosthetic legs, blackmail, propaganda; mentions of accident leading to amputation, incarcerated parent, absent parent.
The main emotion that dominated the entire reading experience for me was bleakness. From start to end the characters are utterly miserable and it never gets better at any point. The characters live in a propaganda driven country in the constant fear that if they say or do the slightest wrong thing they will be incarcerated because there are information officers around every corner.
Additionally, everyone is so full of hate. The protagonists both intensely dislike each other, one of them is intensely disliked by the rest of their unit and the other is constantly patronized due to her disability, and additionally their unit is collectively hated by everyone else.
The story with the all-women night bomber airplane unit is inspired by the Night Witches, an actual group of Soviet women who used badly constructed training planes to bomb the Germans during WWII. In the afterword, the author explains this and the extensive research she did on the Night Witches, Soviet Union and WWII. She says this was her inspiration, but... it mostly just felt like this was normal historical story on which a few fantasy elements and new names were slapped without any further effort.
And that did not work for me in this case.
Most importantly, the fantasy elements just felt so inconsequential. The different ways of magic were interesting but had no real connection to the rest of the plot, the living metal stuff was cool but not utilized during or relevant to the story in any way, and the shape shifting, telepathy using information officers did play a role, except their magical capacities were completely left outside of their plot. All of these fantasy elements could have easily been left out without changing much of the plot or structure, and in a way it feels to me like it would have been better without them.
Part of this was that the focus of the plot was definitely on the interpersonal relationships rather than on anything else. There are a few side plots around the airplanes, the war, and the unit, but all of that was secondary, led nowhere or was forgotten in the end.
That said, the relationships were incredibly complex and interesting.... but, as mentioned above, also incredibly hateful, which didn't make for the most pleasant reading experience. Development only really happened towards the end, and even then it felt like some really cool dynamics were left unexplored.
What I did enjoy most were Magdalena, who had slight love interest vibes though ultimately there was no romantic subplot whatsoever, and Tannov, one protagonist's former close friend who then becomes an information officer and thus antagonistic - except he is still pretty much her only friend because everyone else hates her. Sadly, the potential of that relationship was also left largely unexplored aside from portraying a bit of his inner conflict, but no resolution was reached in the end.
We Rule the Night was ultimately not a bad read, but not as engaging as it sounded to me at first. I wish the very cool various fantasy elements had played a larger role, and that the setting would have been farther removed from it's inspiration. Additionally, I hoped for a more uplifting ending, because ultimately it feels like in the face of the war, the story and actions of the girls had exactly zero impact on anything, not even their own lives, really.
We Rule the Night is a war-time story about an all-women night bomber unit and their complex and often hateful relationships, set in fantasy Soviet Union.
Content warnings include: war, violence, death, airplane crashes, sexism, sexual harassment and groping, corrupt government/information officers, ableism towards character with prosthetic legs, blackmail, propaganda; mentions of accident leading to amputation, incarcerated parent, absent parent.
The main emotion that dominated the entire reading experience for me was bleakness. From start to end the characters are utterly miserable and it never gets better at any point. The characters live in a propaganda driven country in the constant fear that if they say or do the slightest wrong thing they will be incarcerated because there are information officers around every corner.
Additionally, everyone is so full of hate. The protagonists both intensely dislike each other, one of them is intensely disliked by the rest of their unit and the other is constantly patronized due to her disability, and additionally their unit is collectively hated by everyone else.
The story with the all-women night bomber airplane unit is inspired by the Night Witches, an actual group of Soviet women who used badly constructed training planes to bomb the Germans during WWII. In the afterword, the author explains this and the extensive research she did on the Night Witches, Soviet Union and WWII. She says this was her inspiration, but... it mostly just felt like this was normal historical story on which a few fantasy elements and new names were slapped without any further effort.
And that did not work for me in this case.
Most importantly, the fantasy elements just felt so inconsequential. The different ways of magic were interesting but had no real connection to the rest of the plot, the living metal stuff was cool but not utilized during or relevant to the story in any way, and the shape shifting, telepathy using information officers did play a role, except their magical capacities were completely left outside of their plot. All of these fantasy elements could have easily been left out without changing much of the plot or structure, and in a way it feels to me like it would have been better without them.
Part of this was that the focus of the plot was definitely on the interpersonal relationships rather than on anything else. There are a few side plots around the airplanes, the war, and the unit, but all of that was secondary, led nowhere or was forgotten in the end.
That said, the relationships were incredibly complex and interesting.... but, as mentioned above, also incredibly hateful, which didn't make for the most pleasant reading experience. Development only really happened towards the end, and even then it felt like some really cool dynamics were left unexplored.
What I did enjoy most were Magdalena, who had slight love interest vibes though ultimately there was no romantic subplot whatsoever, and Tannov, one protagonist's former close friend who then becomes an information officer and thus antagonistic - except he is still pretty much her only friend because everyone else hates her. Sadly, the potential of that relationship was also left largely unexplored aside from portraying a bit of his inner conflict, but no resolution was reached in the end.
We Rule the Night was ultimately not a bad read, but not as engaging as it sounded to me at first. I wish the very cool various fantasy elements had played a larger role, and that the setting would have been farther removed from it's inspiration. Additionally, I hoped for a more uplifting ending, because ultimately it feels like in the face of the war, the story and actions of the girls had exactly zero impact on anything, not even their own lives, really.
jennifermreads's review
5.0
On page two, I knew I was going to either love this book or groan at its inaccuracies. A main character with a disability? This could be awesome…AND IT WAS!
No, I do not have a physical disability. My experience comes in working with people with disabilities helping them to gain the things they needed to remain independent, thriving members of the community. I was educated daily on living with disabilities and the insensitivity those with disabilities encounter all of the time, constantly, like to the point of exhaustion in dealing with it. Seeing Revna pop off the page with her prosthesis (living metal?! So incredibly cool!) and her frustrations over her treatment because of the prosthesis was breathtaking. And the fact that those frustrations continued to surface in the story all the way to the very end of the novel? That is the life of people with disabilities, folks. If the “repetitive” nature of Revna’s anger over her treatment and assumptions of her abilities (or lack of ability) feels over-done, you are W.R.O.N.G. and need to take a step back and think “Holy cow. Is this how it really is?” Because, yes, it is.
Putting aside the MAJOR kudos on having a MC with a disability, these women pilots will just make your jaw drop. Know that this is historically based. The ARC has a page reserved for an author’s note but the publisher’s introduction in the ARC states that the story is based on the Soviet Union’s 588th Night Bombers during WWII. The struggles these women endured just to fight for their country is overwhelming. Every step forward was met with discrimination and taunting, all of which oozes off the page of this book. At times, I wanted to reach in and throttle the male pilots giving them so much grief!
And I haven’t even talked about the fantasy aspects yet! The Weave? WOW! I love this idea of connecting to threads to move through the sky/air. Sparks? You mean you can power a plane with a spark from your own body? How totally cool! And the Skarov? They are?! I wanted MORE of that bit!
We Rule the Night is so full of history, adventure, action, and education about the lives of people with disabilities, and, then, it is enhanced with the magical fantasy elements. I am so excited about this book! I cannot wait to share it with my teen library patrons.
Received advance reader’s copy from publisher through Goodreads giveaway
No, I do not have a physical disability. My experience comes in working with people with disabilities helping them to gain the things they needed to remain independent, thriving members of the community. I was educated daily on living with disabilities and the insensitivity those with disabilities encounter all of the time, constantly, like to the point of exhaustion in dealing with it. Seeing Revna pop off the page with her prosthesis (living metal?! So incredibly cool!) and her frustrations over her treatment because of the prosthesis was breathtaking. And the fact that those frustrations continued to surface in the story all the way to the very end of the novel? That is the life of people with disabilities, folks. If the “repetitive” nature of Revna’s anger over her treatment and assumptions of her abilities (or lack of ability) feels over-done, you are W.R.O.N.G. and need to take a step back and think “Holy cow. Is this how it really is?” Because, yes, it is.
Putting aside the MAJOR kudos on having a MC with a disability, these women pilots will just make your jaw drop. Know that this is historically based. The ARC has a page reserved for an author’s note but the publisher’s introduction in the ARC states that the story is based on the Soviet Union’s 588th Night Bombers during WWII. The struggles these women endured just to fight for their country is overwhelming. Every step forward was met with discrimination and taunting, all of which oozes off the page of this book. At times, I wanted to reach in and throttle the male pilots giving them so much grief!
And I haven’t even talked about the fantasy aspects yet! The Weave? WOW! I love this idea of connecting to threads to move through the sky/air. Sparks? You mean you can power a plane with a spark from your own body? How totally cool! And the Skarov? They are
Spoiler
shape-shiftersWe Rule the Night is so full of history, adventure, action, and education about the lives of people with disabilities, and, then, it is enhanced with the magical fantasy elements. I am so excited about this book! I cannot wait to share it with my teen library patrons.
Received advance reader’s copy from publisher through Goodreads giveaway
emmirosereads's review
3.0
We Rule the Night is a solid, unique and just overall bad-ass World War II inspired fantasy. I loved the girl power throughout this entire novel. It was at times heartbreaking with what they have to go through, but equally awing and inspiring. The hardships of girls forcing their way into a man's world our very evident. Because of these girl power themes throughout I think a lot of people potentially might write off this book for the pretty present "not like other girls" trope Linné has and the girl hate present but I think there's a huge reason that Claire Eliza Bartlett writes her as such and I think she goes through a lot of character development throughout this novel. I really appreciated seeing that and thought her character ARC was just interesting overall. I just love imperfect characters and seeing their development. I also really liked Revna as a character. She was reserved but fiery and passionate when she wants and needs to be. Her story and ARC were really interesting and I just loved reading from her perspectives. We also get some disability rep with Revna being an amputee. We really see her struggle with that, especially in dealing with people's presumptions of her and their pity. I didn't see anything glaringly wrong with the rep and from my stand point it seemed really good but of course take that with a grain of salt since I don't have the experience to say for sure.
Along with good characters that had interesting backgrounds and ARCS the world building also hooked me. The presence of Weave magic and that it's used to fly what is essentially airplanes. Along with seeing the different parts of the world, etc. It was all really fascinating and very unique. I don't think I've ever read a fantasy quite like this before. I'm also a huge lover of historical fiction and just history in general so I really loved the WWII inspiration and atmosphere of the world.
While this book was enjoyable to read and in no way a terrible book I did have some issues with it. I think my biggest gripe was the general feeling of it being underdeveloped. It's a really great premise, world, and there's some great characters but it all felt pretty surface level. We kind of get an info dump towards the beginning of the book that kind of explains what's going on but at the same time not really. We don't really know why these two countries are at war, even really how long they've been at war or much about who their fighting besides they've got serious power and are pretty much winning. We don't really get the magic explained too in depth either. It's just kind of there and we get some explanation on how it's used. It was even hard for me to really wrap my head around the Strekoza, skyhorses, and other "vehicles" presented in this world, and how living metal really works, etc. And even though I loved the characters I feel like there definitely could have been more development and more things to really set them all apart. Especially the relationships could use more development. I do think the main relationship between our two main characters is done well but just between them and other characters. In general I wanted to know more and see more. I think that's why I didn't fully feel connected or invested in this as much as other books. I also feel like the writing style itself could have factored into that. It seemed pretty cut and dry and while not necessarily bad not the writing I really love. My next issue was the pacing. It's definitely pretty slow paced throughout and we don't get many scenery changes so to speak. The real action doesn't even happen till the last 100 pages or so. I did really love the last little chunk though! It made me happy while breaking my heart at the same time. I do feel things are left unresolved in the end and I'm not sure if there's a sequel planned or not.
Overall We Rule the Night is an enjoyable book! While it wasn't my absolute favorite thing ever and I had some issues with it, there's a lot I did enjoy. I would more then recommend it to you if you're interested in the synopsis. It's a solid debut for sure and I can't wait to see what else Claire Eliza Bartlett writes.
Along with good characters that had interesting backgrounds and ARCS the world building also hooked me. The presence of Weave magic and that it's used to fly what is essentially airplanes. Along with seeing the different parts of the world, etc. It was all really fascinating and very unique. I don't think I've ever read a fantasy quite like this before. I'm also a huge lover of historical fiction and just history in general so I really loved the WWII inspiration and atmosphere of the world.
While this book was enjoyable to read and in no way a terrible book I did have some issues with it. I think my biggest gripe was the general feeling of it being underdeveloped. It's a really great premise, world, and there's some great characters but it all felt pretty surface level. We kind of get an info dump towards the beginning of the book that kind of explains what's going on but at the same time not really. We don't really know why these two countries are at war, even really how long they've been at war or much about who their fighting besides they've got serious power and are pretty much winning. We don't really get the magic explained too in depth either. It's just kind of there and we get some explanation on how it's used. It was even hard for me to really wrap my head around the Strekoza, skyhorses, and other "vehicles" presented in this world, and how living metal really works, etc. And even though I loved the characters I feel like there definitely could have been more development and more things to really set them all apart. Especially the relationships could use more development. I do think the main relationship between our two main characters is done well but just between them and other characters. In general I wanted to know more and see more. I think that's why I didn't fully feel connected or invested in this as much as other books. I also feel like the writing style itself could have factored into that. It seemed pretty cut and dry and while not necessarily bad not the writing I really love. My next issue was the pacing. It's definitely pretty slow paced throughout and we don't get many scenery changes so to speak. The real action doesn't even happen till the last 100 pages or so. I did really love the last little chunk though! It made me happy while breaking my heart at the same time. I do feel things are left unresolved in the end and I'm not sure if there's a sequel planned or not.
Overall We Rule the Night is an enjoyable book! While it wasn't my absolute favorite thing ever and I had some issues with it, there's a lot I did enjoy. I would more then recommend it to you if you're interested in the synopsis. It's a solid debut for sure and I can't wait to see what else Claire Eliza Bartlett writes.
merricatadamtine's review
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
We Rule the Night was a great book that weaves together magic with a dash of historical fiction. Inspired by the stories of the Night Witches, Soviet female bomber pilots in WW2, this book tells the story of women who are helping fight a war with varying degrees of commitment and rationales.
molly_dettmann's review
A 2020 BFYA Nominee! Check out the blog post here:
http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2019/07/26/best-fiction-young-adults-bfya2020-nominees-round-july-26-edition/
http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2019/07/26/best-fiction-young-adults-bfya2020-nominees-round-july-26-edition/
mapmurph's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. I liked the camaraderie between the women of the 146th.
kiperoo's review
5.0
I'm sure many people will love this book for the magical elements, but for me, it was the realistic elements that absolutely hooked me. I loved the strong female leads, their messy friendship, and the details of life in a male-dominated military. Plot-wise, the story is fast-paced and full of action. Fans of YA fantasy will surely love this, and it should also appeal to fans of YA historicals like Gwen Katz' AMONG THE RED STARS (about the Night Witches in WWII).
ap088's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
kiahgardner's review
4.0
Wow, I’m blown away by how much I enjoyed this. I loved the complex relationship between Linné and Revna, and there was a lot of intense, white-knuckle reading, especially at the end! I’m quite sad that it’s over.