A review by diegopv
Sisters in Arms: A Novel by Kaia Alderson, Kaia Alderson

1.0

After reading the synopsis, I was excited to read the amazing story of the first all-female-black battalion during WW2, but I couldn’t be more wrong. I know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I should have listened to my intuition here.

The writing was kind of poor and modern, and did not transport me to the 1940s as I expected. The book had no plot, nothing major happens besides Grace and Eliza joining the army and serving for a couple of years. It is basically filled with the two main characters bickering at each other in an army setting. That’s it. No major/interesting army events. Even the racial and feminist discussions were minimal and lacked depth.

Character-wise, they were all flat and I didn’t care about anyone besides a couple of moments. Their development was also very lacking throughout the book, Grace and Eliza are pretty much the same from beginning to end. Which actually makes some sense now that I think about how uneventful the book is…

The romance plot was another disappointment, it didn’t make much sense and it was forced to me. I felt like the author decided that they needed a love interest and shoved it without making their development seem natural.

The end in general was underwhelming. Some decisions contradicted the characters development and the little “twist” at the end was a big WTF moment that almost made me drop the book. The plot was basically “fixed” for the purpose of a happy ending. I feel like it was a cheap choice from the author that ruined the character development for me. Really disappointed here.