Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - The Rose Code

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The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

14 reviews

knit_the_resistance's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

Absolutely riveting, extremely well written historical fiction about real-life characters and composites who broke code at Bletchley Park during WWII. I usually feel like a book needs editing and this definitely did not. It's a little more gruesome in small areas than I'm used to but hey, it's war, right? Smashing good characters, sparkly clothing, plot. A ripping good yarn. The climactic scene is a little ridiculous but you can forgive the author as it ties all the loose ends together. Proud of myself for figuring out who the villain was, early on in the book. Interesting depiction of the treatment of autistic characters in the 1940s.

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abi_sarah's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring 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

5.0

I love a good war story - and ‘The Rose Code’ did not disappoint!

We follow Mab, Osla, Beth and their friends who work at Bletchley Park through their work in their respective huts of the organisation. Quinn gives a fascinating insight into how codes were broken using Enigma machines and bombes. We learn that the teams at Bletchley Park each had very specific roles, meaning that no one person ever “broke a code” alone.

This causes some challenges for the friends when they are required to break a code which will help them catch the traitor at Bletchley Park. Osla and Mab must call upon many friends and acquaintances to help out, as well as find a way to free Beth from the asylum she has been locked up in.

A tale of friendship, genius and finding family in the most unexpected places.

‘The Rose Code’ is a must read for anyone who enjoys WW2 based stories, or tales of pure grit and determination from some truly inspiring female protagonists.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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kenny_2288's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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coffeekitaab's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A striking novel standing at 656 pages in length and I devoured every single word. My first read by Kate Quinn, and certainly not my last.

We follow the story of Osla, Mab and Beth - three women from very different walks of life, who attend the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break military codes on the brink of the Second World War.

Vivacious debutante Osla comes from a family of wealth and connections, dating the dashing Prince Philip of Greece who share a deeper connection over their desire to contribute towards the British war effort and she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, putting her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets.

Imperious self-made Mab is a product of East-End London poverty, her love for literature gives fire to her determination to find a husband who will help give her status and help her rise through the social hierarchy. Mab arrives at Bletchley Park and becomes adept at working the machines used by codebreakers.

Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in timid Beth, a woman living with her parents, bullied by her mother after constantly being told she has no value and is not allowed to finish school; Beth's diminished confidence conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles and maths, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts.

But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

A dual timeline takes place over 1940 - 1947 (events taking place before and after WW2) and yet there is a beautiful depth to the story, dealing not only with the work of those who are sworn to secrecy under the Official Secrets Act 1939 and how ultimately their work is monumental in impacting key events that take place in the war itself, but also about the friendship, love and humour that resounded within the walls of Bletchley Park; a camaraderie amongst those who were isolated from the world due to the nature of the work they were doing and had only each other to lean on. Sunbathing, laughing and dining together as a way to relieve the tension of long days filled with long hours of codebreaking.

This is one of the best works of Historical Fiction I have ever read and one which will no doubt stay with me. A gift that just kept on giving. After finishing the book, I wanted to dish out a review where I spilled everything; every twist that took me by surprise, every comment that made me laugh, those parts that threatened a tear and moments that touched my heart....but I really can't because I want every reader who reads this to experience the euphoria I am now...this book just has it all! The Rose Code is one of those books which makes the reader feel like they've achieved a great feat when they get to the end of it- but no. Kate Quinn is a mastermind, worthy of all accolades and deserves a huge congratulations for being such an incredible author and for writing this formidable masterpiece; the pure intelligence, emotion and daring in the plot needs it's own separate review before we even get on to the strength of the writing itself. I cannot recommend The Rose Code enough!

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megritchey's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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jencolumb0's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

A sweeping historical war-time novel; almost a math geek's League of Their Own. I enjoyed learning about an aspect of WWII history that I had not previously heard about. I also thoroughly enjoyed coming along for the ride of the (fictionalized) rise, fall, and rise again of a trio of war-time friends. As one would expect with a novel set in England during WWII, there is a fair amount of discussion around loss and violence. As the book is centered on a trio of women, the loss and violence they experience is, to a certain degree, reflective of their gender and the patriarchal constructs of the time, though I do appreciate the author's challenge to these experiences. There was just enough romance blended into the book and a solid HEA/HFN for each of the primary characters to keep it from being a complete, war-time downer, though please do read through the content warnings if you have any sensitivity to specific issues because, in more than 600 pages, pretty much every type of loss/traumatic experience is explored to some degree. I did not love that the character coded as autistic ends up spending

three and half years in a mental institution

, even if it was completely irrelevant to their neurodiversity. It just felt kind of ick. Though I, overall, enjoyed the character development, after about 500 pages, had to chuckle at the neat twists that had to snap into place to get to the HEA/HFN. While improbable on balance, those twists make for a satisfying (if not slightly madcap) outcome to an interesting corner of well-fictionalized history.

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_kathill's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

3.5

To me this book could have been like 200 pages shorter. I didn’t really care for anything that happened in the 1947 parts of the book until the last 100 pages and even then? Meh.

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