Code Name Verity

Code Name Verityby Elizabeth Wein

I have two weeks. You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.That’s what you do to enemy agents. It’s what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine — and I will do anything, anything, to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again.He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I’m going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France — an Allied Invasion of Two.We are a sensational team. (goodreads.com)

It might seem rather odd for me to jump from All Things Fantasy into historical fiction about World War II, but I did. Another odd thing is that I even bought this book and wanted to read it. It's very much not my regular cup of tea, but as I read reviews around the Internet and as my interest in reading war-time historical fiction has increased in the last year (no idea why), I knew this was one book I didn't want to miss.And HO-LEE COW was this an amazing story. It was gripping, heart-wrenching, breath-catching, horrifying and just all around lovely. I even read this book ON THE BUS, people, while desperately fighting off motion sickness because I cannot read on a moving vehicle to save my life (trains not included). I just could not stop reading.I don't want to spoil anything for those of you who have not yet read Code Name Verity and want to, but I will say this: Have you ever had a reading experience where something so shocking happens that you actually exclaim out loud? Well, I had that happen to me while reading this book and I refused to believe what I was reading. I held out until the last page that something would change. I did not cry, though I came close and I think had I been in a different head space I'd have been sobbing for the last third of the book. I fought that like I fought the motion sickness. I didn't want the tears in my eyes to distract me from the words on the page. I didn't want to miss a thing!The author's note at the end of the novel comes with the disclaimer that the names and places were made up and that there are some historical inaccuracies, but you know what? I don't think you need to set this story in a real place because it's the emotion that floats off the pages and wraps around you. Elizabeth Wein might have created Ormaie, but she certainly captured the fear, heartbreak and energy of what Verity was going through. One of the things that really got under my skin was the fear that "kerosene" caused Verity. That something so common and simple could cause such fear (and be used for so many things!). I could almost taste the fear when I was reading Verity's words. I could. It was a very uncomfortable yet intriguing experience.Code Name Verity is a book that stays with you for days after you read it. I find myself dreaming of aeroplanes and fear and war - even though I haven't the slightest inkling of what it would be like to live in war-time. I don't know anything of war. The wars we deal with now are all far, far away from where I live and only referenced on TV or in the news. You read about it, just like you read a book. I don't live IN it. I haven't any clue what it would be even remotely like to live IN it. I do have a very strong feeling that I wouldn't be nearly as strong as Verity or Maddie.At one point this story had me flipping back to the earlier parts in reference as things came together. It was fascinating how this book fit together like a puzzle. A curious and horrifying puzzle in my brain.This is an outstanding story, well-told and emotionally charged. From a comment from author R.J. Anderson (whom I adore both in books and on twitter ;)), I now know I must read more of Elizabeth Wein's books. I also need to read books by Megan Whalen Turner. I will certainly be doing this because if those other books are written as superbly as Code Name Verity was, I will not be disappointed.