molhog93's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
frohdobaggins's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
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
5.0
this book is so good. it’s separated into short chapters from 4 people’s perspectives, so it’s a fast read. Super sad though, prepare to cry.
tkivlen's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
mz5family's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
An incredibly sad and haunting story about a little-known but significant historical event! Sepetys did a wonderful job bringing forth the characters’ voices. The book left me wanting more of the story!
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Death
sassybookdragon's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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
Captivating characters whose intertwining stories tug at the heart strings and still manage to keep you on the edge of your seat.
toloveisdestroy's review against another edition
5.0
As many of us by now have heard, this book is phenomenal and holds many awards. However, I wanted to know for myself just how good it truly was.
Let me just say
My heart hurts like hell atm.
Okay, so back to where this all began. We are introduced to our four protagonists (debatable. . . Looking at you Al): Joana, Florian, Emilia, and Alfred. Joana won my heart over imeadiately by being the calm collected and cool thinker that definitely could be a sister to Mars from Sailor Moon (sorry, I relieve serious notes with poor humor). Emilia broke my heart because I see in her a lot of what I see in the characters I often find myself clinging out to, the cinnamon rolls with scars that are just trying to survive. Florian, well, sometimes I wanted to act like his mother and other times I found his actions to be incredibly heartfelt (y'all know that Emilia scene I'm thinking of). And Alfred was the token character of uselessness that I really just wanted to kick to the curb half the time, but I appreciated his determination to recieve a medal. . . comedy am I right? Then we have the side characters that you can't help but love even more than the mains (except for you Eva, which idk where you went in the later half anyways. . .).
Then we get to the heart wrenching part about the fact that this book is based on a real event, and highlights a lot of real and gruesome things that happened. It doesn't shy away from blatantly telling you how history really occurred, the deaths feel incredibly real when you are reading the novel and you're reminded over and over that people did die in real life in these events and in similar ways that we see in the books. Women and children were harmed, young men were forced into predicaments they should never witness, and there was truly a question of good and evil (specifically in regards to race and origins).
Even now, I think we still face these questions of how do we decipher the good vs. bad, and how do we protect the innocent in our conquests to defeat evil without becoming evil ourselves. The reality of war is that evil is never defeated without sacrifice, and that's a horrifying truth and why we can never let their deaths go without acknowledgement.
Let me just say
My heart hurts like hell atm.
Okay, so back to where this all began. We are introduced to our four protagonists (debatable. . . Looking at you Al): Joana, Florian, Emilia, and Alfred. Joana won my heart over imeadiately by being the calm collected and cool thinker that definitely could be a sister to Mars from Sailor Moon (sorry, I relieve serious notes with poor humor). Emilia broke my heart because I see in her a lot of what I see in the characters I often find myself clinging out to, the cinnamon rolls with scars that are just trying to survive. Florian, well, sometimes I wanted to act like his mother and other times I found his actions to be incredibly heartfelt (y'all know that Emilia scene I'm thinking of). And Alfred was the token character of uselessness that I really just wanted to kick to the curb half the time, but I appreciated his determination to recieve a medal. . . comedy am I right? Then we have the side characters that you can't help but love even more than the mains (except for you Eva, which idk where you went in the later half anyways. . .).
Then we get to the heart wrenching part about the fact that this book is based on a real event, and highlights a lot of real and gruesome things that happened. It doesn't shy away from blatantly telling you how history really occurred, the deaths feel incredibly real when you are reading the novel and you're reminded over and over that people did die in real life in these events and in similar ways that we see in the books. Women and children were harmed, young men were forced into predicaments they should never witness, and there was truly a question of good and evil (specifically in regards to race and origins).
Even now, I think we still face these questions of how do we decipher the good vs. bad, and how do we protect the innocent in our conquests to defeat evil without becoming evil ourselves. The reality of war is that evil is never defeated without sacrifice, and that's a horrifying truth and why we can never let their deaths go without acknowledgement.
kkleven's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
charlotteriekse's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
this one hurt.