Scan barcode
lawbooks600's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
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.
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.
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Full trigger warnings: Death of a friend, parents and other people, fire, plane crash, military violence and war themes, World War Two, racist slur, gun violence, physical assault and injury, blood depiction, murder, explosionsrubylovesbooks13's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, and Death of parent
betweentheshelves's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Fans of Wein's novels will recognize nods to other characters from other novels--which I love! I haven't read all her books, but I remember enough to recognize how they cross over. That always makes an author's books fun.
I love how Wein makes women front and center in her historical fiction novels, especially where that isn't always the case, like on military bases. I really liked the narrators in this book, and Wein does an excellent job in differentiating between the three of them. The way she writes dialect is fantastic and almost makes me wish I would have listened to this on audio.
While at times, some of the plane terminology and other aspects went over my head, I appreciated the amount of research Wein put into writing this book.
Another great addition to Wein's historical fiction works!
I love how Wein makes women front and center in her historical fiction novels, especially where that isn't always the case, like on military bases. I really liked the narrators in this book, and Wein does an excellent job in differentiating between the three of them. The way she writes dialect is fantastic and almost makes me wish I would have listened to this on audio.
While at times, some of the plane terminology and other aspects went over my head, I appreciated the amount of research Wein put into writing this book.
Another great addition to Wein's historical fiction works!
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia and Antisemitism
beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition
Not very invested in the story as I would have liked to have been.
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Gore and Antisemitism
One of the POV characters is a Traveller (Irish Romani) and there is one direct slur mentioned. Also the story is set during WWII and several characters are flyers for the Royal Air Force. There are several scenes depicting aerial confrontations between said flyers and Nazi planes/submarines.