Code Name Verity

The other day I was thinking of how I would describe this novel.  That led to me dreaming about doing a review of this sung to the tune of "Super Bass" by Nicki Minaj: This one is for the girls with the history fix/turn pages and see truth and lies mix.  Unfortunately (read fortunately) that's all I can remember. What's odd is that I didn't even like this novel that much, so I'm not sure why I'm dreaming up reviews.

A pilot (Maddie) and a spy (Queenie), best friends during WWII, crash during a mission and the spy is captured by Nazis. Tortured as a prisoner of war, she agrees to betray the British war effort.  The novel is her confession (and often apology to her side) about what she knows.

I can see why Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity receives a great deal of praise (a 2012 Printz Honor book for starters), but it didn't grab me the way I had hoped.  Without spoiling the novel, there is a twist to events, but it comes far too late in the game.  As the Queenie entries progress, they start to feel repetitive. Does it make sense after the fact? Yes, but for me it tended to drag on enough that I was openly stating "come onnnnn" to the novel as I was reading.

But it is adventurous, clearly researched historical fiction with an element of girl power, so it definitely has an audience out there amongst young adults.