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A review by dwinn5
Lovely War by Julie Berry
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Wow. It’s 1:13 AM, I have to be awake for work in 5 hours, and my heart is breaking right now.
This book took me a second to get into, but as soon as it caught me, I was done for. I don’t usually go all in on the we-only-met-once-or-twice-and-then-were-separated-but-it-was-true-love thing, but a couple factors helped me over that hurdle here: 1) the time period and progression of romance back then in general, and 2) the urgency of war and everything that entails for people’s long-term plans.
The author was brilliant to allow each of the (present) gods to offer their perspectives on the timeline of events- it really added some depth and breadth to the story and gave the reader a small amount of peace after tragedy (thank you, Hades).
My main holdup was something about the execution of the chapters where it was just discussion between the gods- it didn’t capture my attention the way the rest of the book did, and the reveal of the final love story at the end caught me a little off guard; I think it could’ve unfolded a tiny bit more prior to the end. But regardless, I enjoyed that little twist as well.
Something about this story transcended beyond being just a book to me, I can’t explain it. But I will definitely be thinking about this one for a while.
This book took me a second to get into, but as soon as it caught me, I was done for. I don’t usually go all in on the we-only-met-once-or-twice-and-then-were-separated-but-it-was-true-love thing, but a couple factors helped me over that hurdle here: 1) the time period and progression of romance back then in general, and 2) the urgency of war and everything that entails for people’s long-term plans.
The author was brilliant to allow each of the (present) gods to offer their perspectives on the timeline of events- it really added some depth and breadth to the story and gave the reader a small amount of peace after tragedy (thank you, Hades).
My main holdup was something about the execution of the chapters where it was just discussion between the gods- it didn’t capture my attention the way the rest of the book did, and the reveal of the final love story at the end caught me a little off guard; I think it could’ve unfolded a tiny bit more prior to the end. But regardless, I enjoyed that little twist as well.
Something about this story transcended beyond being just a book to me, I can’t explain it. But I will definitely be thinking about this one for a while.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Racism, Death, War, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, and Hate crime
Moderate: Grief, Gore, and Mental illness