Orphan Monster Spy

Product Information

Devil Darling Spy breaks my usual theory that sequels cannot be as amazing as the first but this proved me wrong. Dapo Adeola, Tracy Darnton, Joseph Coelho and Chitra Soundar are among the 19 authors and illustrators longlisted for the Inclusive Books for Child...

Sarah intrigued me very much and at times I was very glad she was on "side of the angels" so to speak. A few times she sent a chill down my spine. The plot was chillingly uncomfortable. A lot of things happens that make you gag. Or chill you to the bone. One of my favourite quotes from the authors note - “If you assume or even hope that you would have been the kind of person to defy Nazi’s, now is the time to find out.” Speaking of characters, Sarah was definitely one of my favorites. She was headstrong and intelligent and it was so wonderful reading from her perspective. She wasn’t afraid to stand up for her friends and even herself which was something I really admired. She had amazing character development from the beginning of the novel and by the end, she morphed into this confident heroine who could take on anything thrown at her.The whole novel felt electric, and had a very presence that I haven't had from a book in this genre for a good while ( The Color of Secrets and Susanna Kearsley are two that come to mind).

A big thank you to Penguin Group and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this YA book about a young girl caught up in trying to prevent the creation of a bomb like the world has never seen. Right now, history is repeating. The very things for which the teenagers who confronted the Third Reich sacrificed so much are under threat. Resistance has never been so important. I hope that the readers of Orphan Monster Spy will part of that.This changes drastically when she can no longer rely on the Captain who has lost his own confidence and control. She becomes the adult, the cold monster who has to make the hard decisions and complete the mission. Because if she doesn't, how many would die? She becomes a woman willing to kill hundreds to save millions. It is an excellent transition and you can see how she thinks, how she fights it and how she comes to terms with it. I also really loved her relationship with Captain Floyd. They have this really sweet and caring father/daughter connection that reminded me a lot of Hopper and Eleven from season two of “Stranger Things” (aka my all-time FAVORITE show). He also really became this super supportive figure in Sarah’s life and I really just want more scenes from the pair! La historia es bonita, a pesar de lo cruel de las situaciones a las que se enfrenta Sarah siendo tan pequeña. A su vez es sorprendente lo bien que relata la soledad y autonomía a la que se enfrenta el personaje, ya que a pesar de tener al Capitán, el mismo no cubre la figura paterna o de un familiar que le hace falta a Sarah, sino lo he visto casi más como un amigo-adulto. Se observa en la novela la crueldad de la Alemania nazi en su día a día, con una cuidadosa precisión en los detalles, ya que contamos con varios personajes muy observadores. In this utterly gripping thriller, Sarah, the fearless heroine of Orphan Monster Spy, hunts a rogue German doctor in West Africa who might be a serial murderer. Sarah is to hide in plain sight at a boarding school for the daughters of top Nazi brass, posing as one of them. She must befriend the daughter of a key scientist to gain access to the blueprints for a bomb that could destroy the cities of Western Europe, and steal them.

By the end of the story, it is clear that Sarah and the captain have only just begun in their mission to work together for the greater good and I look forward to reading what they get up to in their next venture. Being a massive WWII buff who spent a fair amount of time studying this horrendous time of war, I have to appreciate the amount of effort that Killeen has gone through to capture the darkness of this time period, the ferocity of this war and the grim casualties that happen along the way. And as much as people think that this book is dark and doesn’t reflect the war correctly, I ask you to keep in mind that there was a German camp that used to skin their victims with tattoos and these were turned into gloves and lampshades. So it’s best to keep in mind that in times of war, nothing is too dark and nothing is out of the question when it comes of the human’s nasty capability. The last book taught me a lot about Jewish history, I spent a lot of time reading up on it after the book. This book taught me about the Congo and what happened in Africa, and of course I had to read in to it to fully grasp the situation and it truly was heartbreaking. You could see their pain and struggles through Clementine and the villagers. By the time I finished the final edits, narrow-minded and spiteful nationalism had been normalised, allowing racism and sexism to flourish online, on our streets, in our media and in our politics. We are, right now, looking at the conditions that created the Third Reich and all it will take, to paraphrase Burke, is for good people to do nothing.

Genre

Through Sarah’s fictional adventures I want to illuminate this time and make it real for the reader. I want them to understand that history, to interrogate it and then question the events of today. Nobody should ever say ‘this couldn’t happen now’ because it can and it does. As the philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” A powerful, bleak, and penetrating portrait of an isolated young woman excelling in unimaginable danger For the most part, the writing is strong. However, whilst it’s clear and relatively fast-paced, the internal dialogue is intrusive and repetitive - the constant reminders of Sarah’s Jewishness in particular. Sure, she must be hyperconscious of the fact, but I as a reader have already grasped that given the historical context. Killeen is clearly intelligent, and this makes the peppering of clunky German phrases and terrible action scenes harder to bear.

A fast-paced journey that will leave anyone wanting more. Topped with witty writing and a boatload of action, this book leaves me extremely ecstatic for more work from Matt Killeen..."

Synopsis

I was very interested in the history notes at the end though. That was interesting, well written and the best part of this whole thing. Maybe this author should write nonfiction.