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A review by egbella
Operation Lionhearted by Maribeth Barber
5.0
Although I’m not usually a big science fiction reader, I’m a fan of this sweet author, and I’m so glad I gave this book a try! I didn't get around to reviewing it right after I read it, so I won't get into too many specifics just in case I'd misremember them. But I enjoyed this a lot!
This is a very character-forward book, which is great because the characters are my favorite part. They were interesting, sympathetic, and wrestled with a lot of real issues that helped me understand why they acted the way they did. The protagonist fascinated me, and I could relate to her in a lot of ways. The romance subplot was sweet and completely clean, which I really appreciated, and I could ship them from the very start.
All of the supporting characters (while I had trouble keeping track of them all sometimes) seemed to have lives, dreams, and goals outside of the main story line, which helped reinforce how real they felt. I could never quite figure out whether I was meant to trust/like a couple of them, which kept me on my toes in the best possible way.
The world-building was also done extremely well, where I could picture and follow along with most everything. I wish I was a more frequent science fiction reader so I could really appreciate all of the depth of details the author packed into this book. It's clear she put a lot of thought and development into this world, and I would love to read further stories about it.
The balancing of the fast-paced action, political intrigue, and slower meaningful moments was done wonderfully, giving the story some naturally great pacing. There was never a point where I lost interest. And of course, the themes, while not explicitly Christian, were beautifully-written and powerful. I could pick up on the allegorical elements, while nothing was even remotely forced.
All in all, this made me like science fiction even more, and I really enjoyed the read!
I would definitely recommend this to teens and older that enjoy action-packed, political science fiction reads with strong characters, sweet and subtle romance, and memorable themes.
CW: war-type violence, death, and some ethical dilemmas (as war tends to bring).
This is a very character-forward book, which is great because the characters are my favorite part. They were interesting, sympathetic, and wrestled with a lot of real issues that helped me understand why they acted the way they did. The protagonist fascinated me, and I could relate to her in a lot of ways. The romance subplot was sweet and completely clean, which I really appreciated, and I could ship them from the very start.
All of the supporting characters (while I had trouble keeping track of them all sometimes) seemed to have lives, dreams, and goals outside of the main story line, which helped reinforce how real they felt. I could never quite figure out whether I was meant to trust/like a couple of them, which kept me on my toes in the best possible way.
The world-building was also done extremely well, where I could picture and follow along with most everything. I wish I was a more frequent science fiction reader so I could really appreciate all of the depth of details the author packed into this book. It's clear she put a lot of thought and development into this world, and I would love to read further stories about it.
The balancing of the fast-paced action, political intrigue, and slower meaningful moments was done wonderfully, giving the story some naturally great pacing. There was never a point where I lost interest. And of course, the themes, while not explicitly Christian, were beautifully-written and powerful. I could pick up on the allegorical elements, while nothing was even remotely forced.
All in all, this made me like science fiction even more, and I really enjoyed the read!
I would definitely recommend this to teens and older that enjoy action-packed, political science fiction reads with strong characters, sweet and subtle romance, and memorable themes.
CW: war-type violence, death, and some ethical dilemmas (as war tends to bring).