book review

Book Review: Code Name Verity - by Elizabeth Wein

9:55 AM

Summary from goodreadsI have two weeks. You'll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.
That's what you do to enemy agents. It's what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine - and I will do anything, anything to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again.
He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I'm going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France - an Allied Invasion of Two.
We are a sensational team.


Rating: 3.5/5 stars


*Disclaimer: Informal Review*

An emotional roller coaster. Almost teared up.

I truly believed with every fiber of my being that I wasn't going to like this book. I didn't think I'd hate it, but I certainly didn't think I'd want to read it again immediately after I'd finished it. I was dead wrong.


Describing the pace of the beginning of the book as crawling would give it too much credit. But in the end it was worth it and it made sense. The pace quickened and slowed and kept me in such a state of frustration I wanted nothing more than to rip the book in half and be done, but I also wanted to finish it which put me in a bit of a predicament. (The book was borrowed so I didn't really have much of a choice anyway).  


The Characters

My God, how much I hated Verity and Kittyhawk and von Linden and Jamie. I hated them all because I could not for the life of me make a sound decision on how I felt about them and stick with it. I thought I didn't like Verity OR Kittyhawk, but I was wrong. And I thought I liked von Linden, but then I realized I don't really like him I just like how he's written. And then there's Jamie. It took me about an hour to come to the conclusion that I want to protect Jamie, but I absolutely hate his character. Don't misunderstand, he's a great person, easy to love. Just so static and flat. But I guess there's no helping it since he's probably not even in five scenes altogether. 

The prose of Code Name Verity could easily go unnoticed. There are so many exclamation marks and yelling and capitalization it almost distracts from how well written the novel is. There is a certain flow to it that hooks the reader even though it is agonizingly slow in the beginning and the diction and syntax is borderline flawless considering the audience this novel was aimed towards. 
Definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about the angry Engl Scottish Verity and her intimate relationship with Kittyhawk. 


Sidenote: It could've been ridiculously easy for Verity and Kittyhawk to play into the "I'm not like other girls" mantra, but they didn't and it was the greatest thing ever.

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4 comments

  1. I read this book a few years ago and really liked it. It’s definitely unusual.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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    1. It really is. I'm just happy it wasn't one of those 'everyone makes it out alive and everything is peachy and happy in the end' stories

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  2. I heard about this book a LONG time ago. I've never been really interested in it, but your review has certainly increased it! It sounds really cool, and I just might give it a shot.

    GREAT review!

    Aditi @ http://athousandwordsamillionbooks.blogspot.in/

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    1. If you like witty characters and angst, then you should definitely give this book a shot.

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