Code Name Verity Review

Giving this book 3 stars makes me feel like I have no class.  Certainly, this book deserves a higher rating.  But although I appreciated the novel for its meticulous research, daring plot, and unusual narration, it just did not capture my heart.

I'm heartless along with having no class!

The story opens bleakly, with our narrator captured by the Gestapo. We are reading her written "confession" as it were.  She spins a tale of two young women — one is from Manchester, the other is a Scottish noble.  Maddie and Queenie meet during the war effort in 1936, on an air base. The two quickly become friends, but are separated as they take different paths.  Then, they are thrown together again unexpectedly, as both are needed for a top secret mission in France.

I'm not entirely sure why this book was marketed as YA.  Although the ages of these women are never discussed, they're certainly not teenagers.  The only reason I can think of is that the book has a less mature tone.  This sounds bad, I know.  What I mean is, I found the premise to be slightly implausible.  Certainly women took on a more significant role in the war effort during World War II, but I found the story of Maddie and Queenie to be such that is only possible in fiction.  It's the kind of wish fulfillment frequently found in YA literature.

One thing is undeniable, however — the book is incredibly well researched.  So much so that there's a bibliography at the end of the book.  The detail is superb; the voice is solidly of the period. It was extremely impressive.  That being said, I did think that the language was at times overly clogged with this period detail. This made my progress through Code Name Verity somewhat labored.

Another aspect that disappointed me — I can't seem to stop myself — was the friendship between Maddie and Queenie.  I guess I was expecting more chemistry.  But, apart from the fantastic early stage of their relationship, the reader doesn't get to experience the two together so much.  This was a bit of a letdown, since I was looking forward to reading about a solid friendship.

All of this is to say that I expected more from the book than I experienced.  Somehow, though, I feel more disappointed in myself than in the book.