“The Enigma Game” is an interesting historical thriller set in World War II that features multiple main characters and high stakes. It was an okay read, but it was not nearly as compelling as “Code Name Verity.” 

This book jumped around so much it felt that my copy was missing pages—scenes and thoughts and interactions were rushed through with such breakneck speed I could hardly keep up. It’s disappointing that “The Enigma Game” had such pacing problems because Wein’s characters were interesting and I wanted to know what would happen to them next. 

If I had read “The Enigma Game” before “Code Name Verity,” which is the chronological order of the books, I think I would have enjoyed it more. But alas, I went in publication order. 

Representation: Biracial (half Black and half white) and Black characters
Score: Six points out of ten.

I wanted to read this for a while but never got around to doing so until now. I thought The Enigma Game was new since it was on the new titles shelf at the library. Turns out they lied; they bought it around three years ago. I enjoyed this one but if the author improved her piece of literature, it could be better. I'm not rushing to read Code Name Verity, but I'll read it if I have time.

It starts with the first character I see, Louisa Adair, living in Britain during the early 1940s with World War Two ongoing. She is desperate after losing both her parents from different causes. Louisa soon meets two new characters, Ellen and Jamie who work for the Royal Air Force or RAF. The opening pages are slow but the action picks up around part two, where I see Louisa take part in the air forces fighting off enemy aircraft, which I enjoyed reading. 

There's a plot twist when a defective German soldier has a package, and inside there's a typewriter called an Enigma, which soon plays a significant role in the narrative. Thus begins Louisa and other's quest to keep the Enigma as long as they can from malicious hands. The Enigma Game shines in its enthralling plot and immersion since I could never put it down. However, it has flaws with the characters; even though I liked them, I didn't find them that memorable nor could I sympathise with them, even with Louisa's hardship. It rubs me the wrong way when a white author writes about a person like Louisa. It feels like tokenism or cultural appropriation. The multiple POVs didn't work as they were almost indistinguishable other than their names. I wonder if Code Name Verity is better.