Book Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Rating: 4/5 stars

Favorite quote: “It’s like being in love, discovering your best friend.”

Well… that was intense. Code Name Verity is told through notes written by a British (I mean, Scottish) spy who is shot down over Nazi-occupied France and tortured for information. She is forced to write down the account of her mission for her interrogators, which she tells from the perspective of her best friend Maddie who had been flying the plane.

This book is very dark and violent (obviously). Not that graphic but definitely disturbing. The plot is amazing. I went into the book knowing that it was really plot twist-y, so I was actively trying to guess the twists the entire time. And I failed. There were SO many plot twists and they ALL caught me off guard. At one point I audibly gasped and covered my mouth while reading because I don’t know what kind of ending I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t that one. There’s also a lot of comic relief for such dark subject matter. One thing I didn’t really like was the pacing: I was initially expecting a really fast-paced book, which this is not. The main character alternates between long anecdotal flashbacks and the present, and because Code Name Verity was so suspenseful and full of dramatic irony I found myself wishing we could just get to the important part already. I finished it in one evening (such is quarantine) but it took way more time to read than I predicted because the plot is slower than I anticipated and consequently more intricately crafted. Also, the characters all have so many different aliases that I found myself reading and re-reading sections just trying to figure out who we were talking about.

Overally, though, Code Name Verity is very interesting and cleverly written. If you love historical fiction and/or stories with very intriguing plots, this book is for you!