A review by yario
The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye

5.0

This is the most surprising young adult novel about the Holocaust that I have ever encountered. The author takes a well-trodden topic in literature - the Holocaust -, mixes it up, turns it around and out comes a surprising, suspense-filled novel that portrays a week in the lives of a group of young people from very different backgrounds (I don't want to spoil the story, but I can say that this cast of people was a first for me in any kind of Holocaust-related literature) as they struggle to survive the genocidal cleansing of Berlin in 1945. To top it off, the author, who is a Holocaust scholar, has invented his story around real historical events. So the book is also highly educational. I read 200 pages of the book in one sitting, and the rest the next day. To conclude: this is a wonderful novel - for youths and adults alike.