Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

I don't know yet how to feel about Code Name Verity. It is an amazing book. Full of heartbreak and a few sweet moments. But it also wasn't as perfect as I thought it would be. I wanted it to be more awful, in a way. But it isn't. We don't get to see any of the torture, which probably was a good thing, but I still wanted it, at least a tiny bit of it. This book focus for the most part on a friendship between two girls. And I loved that. Truly. But I did have a few issues with the writing. Didn't love it.

The writing in this book is a bit weird. Because it is told from two different point of views, but in a different way. It is told in writing. Past-tense. I'm not entirely pleased with it; wished it had been first-person, but it did make sense, and I did enjoy it. Just didn't like the writing that much. But I still managed to fall in love with this book, with the characters and the story :)

I don't know how to describe this book. I really don't. And I know my review won't be very long, because I don't really want to spoil anything ;) First, I thought this would be a short book, just over 300 pages. But oh. Code Name Verity took ages to read. Which I loved :) I won't recap the summary. But yeah. This book is about two girls at war. They are best friends. And some really bad things happen. This is the story of their friendship, and everything they go through. I did love it.

I don't know how to start. But I suppose I should start with the main character, the girl we get to know through most of the book, the point of view we read for most of the book. We shall call her Verity. She has quite many names, to be honest. A bit confusing, but I did understand them all. Anyway. I kind of adored her. The stories she told of herself and Maddie. It was amazing. Verity seemed like such an amazing person. Sweet and kind. But also fierce and amazing. She was awesome. I loved her a lot.

So of course it's her that is in the French prison. I hated it. Really, truly hated it. But. I also wanted more from it. I wanted more about the torture. I felt like we didn't get to see it at all, and that made it seem to me that there wasn't such awful things happening at all. Which I kind of disliked. Yeah. I wish it had been a bit more details, which is why I wanted a first-person point of view, and not letters in past-tense. But I did enjoy it. I enjoyed reading this book, for the most part, and it's an amazing novel.

We get to know so many characters in this book. Too many for me to remember all their names, cause they were pretty complicated. But I do remember Anna Engel, who works in the prison where Verity is. She seemed awful at first. But I started to like her later on. Awesome character. Then there is the person who does the torturing, v.Linden. Him I hated. But I also didn't hate him all the time. It was a bit confusing. He was an amazing character, though. But I don't think he was the villain, to be honest.

The villain of this book is Adolf Hitler, and the war. I mean, it isn't about him at all, this book. But yeah. It is set in that time. I must admit to not knowing much about that time at all, except for a few important things, but after having read this book I want to read more from that time set. There is a lot of war in this book. But, yeah, not enough violence and action for me. It became boring at times. Sigh. But I loved it, still. I loved reading about the airplanes, it was interesting, just a bit much at times.

Then there is Maddie. Verity's best friend. I loved reading about her. She's a bit shy and scared a lot, but she's a pilot, and she's amazing. She and Verity are amazing friends. Sniffs. I loved them. Then there is Verity's brother, Jamie, who I also adored. Sad about his toes, though. This is not a romance book. But there is a tiny bit romance between Maddie and Jamie. Even kisses. And I adored that. Wanted more of it too, but I'm not too sad about it. Because yeah. I did love what little we got of them together :)

Code Name Verity is a book full of feels. Lots of heartbreak. Some awful things. But also some happy ones, when we get to read the story of Verity and Maddie. I did enjoy that. But yes, I also wanted a bit more from this book. I'm glad I read it, though, and I did love it. Not going to say more about it. Just that I already knew the ending before starting the book.. And yeah. It is a heartbreaking ending, and I wish it had never happened. Don't understand why it had to. Anyway. You need to read this book :)

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