Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein Review

"Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.

When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.

As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?"

Code Name Verity. Now the only reason I read this type of book is because of the book, United We Spy. I just can't wait for that book to come out. So soon, so soon. I must have read the previous books many times over. Eeee!

Okay, fangirl moment over.

Code Name Verity is an amazing, addicting, and stunning book, set in the WWII time. Or so my friends say. Obviously, I beg to differ. I don't get it. What is so appealing about Code Name Verity? Or at least in the beginning. What I feel in the beginning is boredom. Just boredom. I practically rolled my eyes in boredom and tiredness.

The plot is good. I love how exciting the middle and end part of the book. All the events and storytelling directly from the characters make Code Name Verity more exciting and awesome. The writing of the author is simply beautiful and bittersweet. Something horrible is going to happen, but you don't want to what exactly is going to happen. Someone is going to die, but you don't want to know who. Someone is going to live, and you want to know who. Code Name Verity is very compelling and heartbreaking, or at least towards the end of the book.

In the middle of the book, towards to the start of Maddie's POV, Code Name Verity gets more interesting. Remember the quote:

"One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun."

Guess who is who. At first it appears as if Verity is the girl who has a chance at survival, because we think Maddie is dead. Well, it turns out Verity is the one who lost the game before it's barely begun. That's some trickery on the author's part.

The ending, like the book, is bittersweet. I love how heartbreaking the ending is, because one dies while the other lives. Verity, or Julia, isn't a traitor after all. She's a hero, who asked her best friend to do the most inevitable thing possible. I like how everything becomes better and more beautiful. The beauty of Code Name Verity stands out the most in the end.

Characters:

Verity, or Lady Julia, is a tough gal who never is afraid of staring down the enemy. She lies easily and is ingenious. Verity, if she lives in modern day, could have been the best actress in Hollywood. Her little attitudes, like her hatred of people calling her "British" (she prefers being called "Scottish"), is humorous and brings Code Name Verity some life into it.

Maddie, or some name that starts with a K, is a female pilot in the army. While a little less humorous than Verity, Maddie is a serious women who takes every job seriously, while Verity has a little fun doing her spying.

Rating: Three out of Five.