Scan barcode
ryceejo's review
4.0
Excellent first novel, and I learned a lot about Germany and WWI. Anxious to see where Lund takes the series!
janeeyre_914716's review
5.0
I LOVE history and so even though WWI isn't my favorite part of history I actually enjoyed learning about snippets with what was going on with the Church and the missionaries at the beginning of the war and then after actually for once reading Elder Lunds chapter notes on The Great War. I especially LOVED the ending!! Wowsers! I definitely didn't see that coming! But Elder Lund has done it again as usual and has written an amazing historical fiction which he does best. Can't wait until the next book!!! Can it come any faster??!!
jsburt's review
4.0
Enjoyed this book about a fictional German family leading up to and through the Great War.
stoddawg's review
4.0
Decent read. You can tell that the author was setting up the entire series in this book and that made it generally slow as so many details and characters had to be set up. However, the last few chapters were thrilling and I am very excited for the next one to come out. Gerald N. Lund is truly a great story teller and has a gift for causing great intrigue.
hillarya's review
4.0
I enjoyed this book. Love the genre, but I just felt it was a little short for how much time and info it covered. I will definitely read the next one in the series.
readerturnedwriter's review against another edition
4.0
I have read a little on WWI, but not a lot. I found this book to be very educational about what happened and what it felt like to be a part of the horrible event.
I really related with the mother in this and loved the family relationships. I didn't love Hans Otto (our entitled main character) but I did appreciate his growth throughout the story and am excited to see more of his journey.
I did feel that the nonfiction history side often slowed the story and at times was a side note rather than directly related to our characters.
Overall, I found it to be a pretty quick read, despite it being a WWI historical fiction, and yet still enlightening. I am excited to continue on in the series.
Edit after finishing the series:
For the series, I would give it four stars. It was a good series overall. I learned so much (I've read a lot of WWII historical fiction, but never one that looks so deeply at Hitler and his rise to power). I also fell in love with both families that we follow and cried with them many times. Some books were harder to get through and there were sections that didn't keep my interest, especially with the family in America--by the end, I saw the point of including them and was so glad they were included, but the first couple of books, I wondered why they were even being talked about.
Book one: 4 stars
Book two: 5 stars
Book three: 5 stars
Book four: my favorite! 5 stars
Book five: 3.5 stars
Book six: 5 stars
I really related with the mother in this and loved the family relationships. I didn't love Hans Otto (our entitled main character) but I did appreciate his growth throughout the story and am excited to see more of his journey.
I did feel that the nonfiction history side often slowed the story and at times was a side note rather than directly related to our characters.
Overall, I found it to be a pretty quick read, despite it being a WWI historical fiction, and yet still enlightening. I am excited to continue on in the series.
Edit after finishing the series:
For the series, I would give it four stars. It was a good series overall. I learned so much (I've read a lot of WWII historical fiction, but never one that looks so deeply at Hitler and his rise to power). I also fell in love with both families that we follow and cried with them many times. Some books were harder to get through and there were sections that didn't keep my interest, especially with the family in America--by the end, I saw the point of including them and was so glad they were included, but the first couple of books, I wondered why they were even being talked about.
Book one: 4 stars
Book two: 5 stars
Book three: 5 stars
Book four: my favorite! 5 stars
Book five: 3.5 stars
Book six: 5 stars
dujyt's review against another edition
1.0
I need historical fiction to weave facts and fiction together in a believable, interesting and compelling way. This book failed to do that for me. Historical places and events were shoehorned in randomly--e.g. a visit to King Ludwig's castle at Neuschwanstein by a German *peasant* family so the son can read a school report to the gathered visitors on the history of the castle? Too contrived for my tastes.
The author's notes at the end of various chapters also left me feeling like this was a second-rate project. He cites Wikipedia as the source for most of his historical sources. Fine to use that as a jumping-off place for further research, but not your main source.
The author did a little better using primary sources of LDS missionary letters and writings for the pre-WW1 events, but this part of the story involved minor characters. Not enough to bring the whole story to a believable, reasonable level of good historical fiction writing.
I know this author has written a lot of popular historical fiction around LDS themes, but I don't think this book or the series is up to that level.
The author's notes at the end of various chapters also left me feeling like this was a second-rate project. He cites Wikipedia as the source for most of his historical sources. Fine to use that as a jumping-off place for further research, but not your main source.
The author did a little better using primary sources of LDS missionary letters and writings for the pre-WW1 events, but this part of the story involved minor characters. Not enough to bring the whole story to a believable, reasonable level of good historical fiction writing.
I know this author has written a lot of popular historical fiction around LDS themes, but I don't think this book or the series is up to that level.
jillreads77's review
4.0
This book introduces us to the Eckhardt family in Germany pre-WWI. Inga and Hans are dairy farmers in Germany. They have a newborn son, Hans Otto, who the whole family dotes on. He has a great mind and has opportunities to go to a prestigious academy and become an engineer. But events of the day change everyone's plans. I am interested to see where this series goes and what is coming next for the Eckhardt family.
libraryjen's review
2.0
I've really enjoyed the other books I've read by Lund, but this one was a lot harder for me to get into. I finally realized it's because I don't find any of the characters to be particularly compelling. I don't like Hans Sr. or Hans Otto - they are both selfish and annoying. Inga tries to be strong, but the time period and culture she lives in make that very difficult and everyone else in the bookis really one-dimensional. After finishing the book I can't even recall any names for Hans Otto's three sisters or nieces or nephews. I'm fairly certain that the names of his three brother-in-laws were never even mentioned. The time period this book covers (pre WWI and WWI) is interesting, and not one that I've really read a lot about before, but I don't feel like I actually know any more about it after reading this book. Hans Otto's war experiences are almost all glossed over.
So, I don't think I'll continue the series - too many books out there to read, too little time. But, if you're a big Lund fan or you are fascinated by this time period, you might give it a try.
So, I don't think I'll continue the series - too many books out there to read, too little time. But, if you're a big Lund fan or you are fascinated by this time period, you might give it a try.
cwillis626's review
4.0
Fantastic intro to a new series from Gerald Lund. I'm pretty sure I've read everything he's ever written, because I'm a sucker for historical fiction, and he does it so perfectly. But I haven't read many set in WWI or WWII, so I'm excited to see where this series goes. I don't love the characters in this novel, but I love the setting, and how Lund weaves historical details into what is for me like a fairy tale. Anxiously awaiting the next one!