melbsreads 's review for:

Traitor: A Novel of World War II by Amanda McCrina

3.0

adventurous challenging tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Trigger warnings: war, death, gun violence, blood, death of a parent, execution, death of a sibling

I honestly found this a somewhat disjointed reading experience. It jumps back and forth in time between 1941 and 1944, and there's a connection between the two times but not a huge amount of overlap. So while I was trying to keep track of the places and the people and what was Poland and what was Ukraine in the two times and who the various characters were fighting for and against, I sort of lost track of the story. 

Don't get me wrong, it's FANTASTIC having a YA book that deals with the Eastern Front and with a fight that I knew absolutely nothing about. And in some ways, it was quite fitting to read about the animosity between Poland and Ukraine in a year where Poland has been so accepting of Ukrainian refugees. 

But I really did struggle to keep all the characters and the story straight in my head...