Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - The Alice Network

Saskia Maarleveld's narration made me finish the audiobook, she is so talented with all the different accents!! <3 I wish the story had contained more historical elements (=facts about the world wars, as I'm such a war nerd myself). This is rare for me to say, but I enjoyed the romance between Charlie and Finn more than anything else in the story (damn does my heart melt just thinking about them). Overall the book was a nice experience of travelling through time, though it also felt a bit dragging at times — I wouldn't have minded if it had been shorter.

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emmehooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

4.5

I was not expecting to so throughly enjoy this book! Badass women spies, badass women defying social convention. The dual timelines wove together beautifully, there was just enough truth in the fiction to keep me interested, and I appreciated that most of the characters were “fallen” people by society’s standards. Absolutely would read another book by Kate Quinn or on this subject.

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local_hat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

5.0

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sabrina_d_arcy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative 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? Yes

5.0

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lilifane's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

Loved it, but it was too long. Hear me out.

This book is told from two perspectives in alternating chapter.
In 1915, we follow Eve, who is trained as a spy and sent to Lille in German occupied France to gather and pass on information to the Alice Network, a network of British and French spies during WWI.
In 1947 Charlie, a pregnant college student from the US, is searching for her cousin Rose who disappeared in France during WWII. She hires Eve to help with her search, and their stories intertwine more than expected.

When I say, the book was too long, I mostly mean the first half. Charlie's story, especially compared to Eve's, feels really underdeveloped in the beginning. I like that we get to know the characters slowly and in a natural way during their travels together, and the payoff is really great in the end. But it was still hard to stay invested in Charlie's parts for at least the first 200-300 pages, because nothing actually happens.

The rest of the book is just fantastic. The character work is amazing, so many strong female characters. I literally felt the tension during all the spy business scenes. Reading the author's note at the end, which explains which characters, events and details were real, made me realize how great their portrayal was in the book as well. Facts and fiction fit perfectly together.

I liked how all kinds of aspects of women's lives during the wars/post-war are shown, the relationships between the characters, the focus on their mental state. I also think it was great to have a protagonist with a speech disorder who uses this weakness and turns it into a strength. But there are several scenes that were hard to read. Kate Quinn does not shy away from detailed descriptions of gruesome and bloody scenes. So yeah, definitely check out trigger/content warnings.

Lastly, one of the things that is really hard to pull off is a satisfying showdown/ending. And I think it was done masterfully here. A lot of times the showdowns in books are either too abrupt or too slow for me. This one is perfectly timed. I love the setting, the characters involved, the emotions, the dialogues, the action, the execution and resolution. All the little details come together nicely.
And after the showdown we get an ending that's neither too short, nor too long. I'm really impressed.

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