Scan barcode
skylarkblue1's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Representations: https://trello.com/c/7biCmMI9/94-orphan-monster-spy-1-orphan-monster-spy-by-matt-killeen
I think I did overall like this book. Aside from being suddenly thrust into very graphic topics and descriptions to a level I did not expect from a YA novel (the pedophilia and gore mainly). If you're an adult trying to work out if it's suitable for a teen, absolutely read it first.
This book very much goes quite deep into a lot of the horrors of World War 2 that are often not mentioned or overlooked. It goes explicitly into how Jewish people were treated just in towns and within what was their communities alongside talking about the genocide itself. It talks about actual events that happened and all sorts, the level of detail is quite astounding. Most of what's mentioned isn't even on the UK curriculum for WW2 so I think it's quite good this brings up those conversations. Especially as this book also details how disabled people were part of the genocides in quite horrible, but sadly pretty accurate, ways. A suprising amount of people don't realise disabled people where part of the genocides, it's where the diagnosis of "Aspergers" came around, Hans Asperger gave kids that diagnosis if they were not autistic enough to be sent to get killed. This is why so many in the Autistic community are now moving away from the term as everyone with aspergers is part of the autism spectrum anyway. Unfortunatly this fact isn't mentioned in the book as it focuses on Down Syndrome instead, but maybe in book 2.
Another part I liked about this book was that it kinda pulled back the cover of "this big and powerful regime" and showed that it was kinda falling apart behind the scenes. The historical note at the back (highly recommend reading that after the book, it gives so much context) rightly points out that while it's a bit exaggerated in the book, in real life things where not perfect and wealthy as they wanted you to think.
I was quite shocked by the level of gore in this book though. Very detailed descriptions of injuries, the car accident has a *lot* of detail (though you don't read the accident itself, the injuries from it are detailed), and it's all from the very start as well. The pedo stuff as well was just a major suprise to suddenly have. I think it was handled decently well, but boy was I not expecting it and for that long either.
The characters where quite interesting, of course it was quite fictional in terms of their choices, if they where actually spies then they'd be long dead ngl lol. But I was able to suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the plot, it's a very interesting idea honestly. I liked Sarah, the self-loathing low-confidence girl who slowly breaks more and more with the events of the book - it sort of reminded me of hunger games in a way and how katniss (sort of) deals with her trauma and such. The captain was a tad forgettable, but he's not in the book too much so it wasn't too bad. I really hope book 2 has some kind of conclusion for one of the boarding school girls, I won't say too much but I was quite disappointed with how this book handled her at the end.
I think I did overall like this book. Aside from being suddenly thrust into very graphic topics and descriptions to a level I did not expect from a YA novel (the pedophilia and gore mainly). If you're an adult trying to work out if it's suitable for a teen, absolutely read it first.
This book very much goes quite deep into a lot of the horrors of World War 2 that are often not mentioned or overlooked. It goes explicitly into how Jewish people were treated just in towns and within what was their communities alongside talking about the genocide itself. It talks about actual events that happened and all sorts, the level of detail is quite astounding. Most of what's mentioned isn't even on the UK curriculum for WW2 so I think it's quite good this brings up those conversations. Especially as this book also details how disabled people were part of the genocides in quite horrible, but sadly pretty accurate, ways. A suprising amount of people don't realise disabled people where part of the genocides, it's where the diagnosis of "Aspergers" came around, Hans Asperger gave kids that diagnosis if they were not autistic enough to be sent to get killed. This is why so many in the Autistic community are now moving away from the term as everyone with aspergers is part of the autism spectrum anyway. Unfortunatly this fact isn't mentioned in the book as it focuses on Down Syndrome instead, but maybe in book 2.
Another part I liked about this book was that it kinda pulled back the cover of "this big and powerful regime" and showed that it was kinda falling apart behind the scenes. The historical note at the back (highly recommend reading that after the book, it gives so much context) rightly points out that while it's a bit exaggerated in the book, in real life things where not perfect and wealthy as they wanted you to think.
I was quite shocked by the level of gore in this book though. Very detailed descriptions of injuries, the car accident has a *lot* of detail (though you don't read the accident itself, the injuries from it are detailed), and it's all from the very start as well. The pedo stuff as well was just a major suprise to suddenly have. I think it was handled decently well, but boy was I not expecting it and for that long either.
The characters where quite interesting, of course it was quite fictional in terms of their choices, if they where actually spies then they'd be long dead ngl lol. But I was able to suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the plot, it's a very interesting idea honestly. I liked Sarah, the self-loathing low-confidence girl who slowly breaks more and more with the events of the book - it sort of reminded me of hunger games in a way and how katniss (sort of) deals with her trauma and such. The captain was a tad forgettable, but he's not in the book too much so it wasn't too bad. I really hope book 2 has some kind of conclusion for one of the boarding school girls, I won't say too much but I was quite disappointed with how this book handled her at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Forced institutionalization
Young Carer, Ableist Slurs, Drugging