The thrilling story of one young ATA pilot's unforgettable journey through World War Two. This is Rose Under Fire. Rose Justice is a young American ATA pilot, delivering planes and taxiing pilots for the RAF in the UK during the summer of 1944. A budding poet who feels most alive while flying, she discovers that not all battles are fought in the air. An unforgettable journey from innocence to experience from the author of the best-selling, multi-award-nominated Code Name Verity. From the exhilaration of being the youngest pilot in the British air transport auxiliary, to the aftermath of surviving the notorious Ravensbruck women's concentration camp, Rose's story is one of courage in the face of adversity. Elizabeth Wein is fast growing into one of the most important names in historical books for young adults. In this, her second book for Egmont Press, she explores a World War 2 story of great significance and harrowing consequences. Something made more haunting by the backdrop of the real-life events of Nazi Germany. Praise for Code Name Verity: "It does more than stick with me. It haunts me.
I just can't recommend it enough" Maggie Stiefvater, bestselling author of Shiver "I was bereft when I finished it" Jill Mansell "It's about friendship and bravery, loyalty and love, and will most definitely leave you sobbing" The Bookseller "This is a remarkable book" Daily Mail
I finally exhausted the handful of SYNC audiobooks I downloaded this summer. While reviewing the books I listened to so far from that event, I kept coming back to Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity. That novel is by far and away the best audiobook I've ever listened to and I decided to purchase book two in the series, Rose Under Fire because I was so entranced with the characters Wein created and the tension she was able to convey.
Rose Under Fire is no Code Name Verity. While I did find Rose's plight as a P.O.W. engrossing, it wasn't nearly as emotional, for me, as Code Name Verity. While the story is told is the same fashion as book one in the series, due to how Wein handles Rose's disappearance, the reader knows that Rose's survival has already been determined. As a result, the stakes do not feel as high and it's just a matter of learning the sequence of events that lead to it.
What is unique about Rose Under Fire is the third part of the book. Once it is revealed how Rose survives, her reintegration into a war-torn Europe is gut wrenching and heartbreaking. While I have enjoyed several fictional novels and movies about World War II, until listening to "Rose," I had not encountered one that examined a survivor's point of view post incarceration. After living through the horrors of a concentration camp, I never had thought what it must have been like for those prisoners once they had been freed. This is where Wein shines in Rose Under Fire as I believe she captures a sliver of what it must have been like for so many once freedom was obtained.
While I did not connect to Rose Under Fire in the same way emotionally as Code Name Verity, I am giving it a thumbs up for giving me a peek into what it was like for survivors after they were released from concentration camps as they tried to reintegrate into society. It was a point of view I hadn't considered before and it was a unique and heartbreaking thing to consider.
This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews.
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