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popthebutterfly 's review for:
The Poet's War
by Francis O'Neill
Disclaimer: I received a finished copy from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: The Poet’s War
Author: Francis O’Neill
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 3/5
Recommended For...: poetry, war, historical fiction
Publication Date: August 11, 2020
Genre: Historical Fiction
Recommended Age: 18+ (war flashbacks, violence, gore, romance)
Publisher: Ingram Spark
Pages: 430
Synopsis: It is Europe’s darkest time in near memory. American warrior poet Alistair Stears, thrown into Italian WWI through his mother’s love for an Italian colonel, experienced a convoy of the dying through burning provinces of Italy in the terrible retreat of 1917. It brought from him the great English poem of the Italian war.
One war later, all gracious things await destruction, knowledge is burned, thought coarsened, manners trashed, perverted faith and truth follow the dictators’ flags—vultures to grace. Stears is a famous poet now, married into German-Italian nobility and determined with his wife to fight the Axis powers. He risks everything to protect Italy and all else he loves. He finds that the bravest and fiercest resistance may be the rightness of a poem, the closing of a letter, the welcome of guests, the embrace of a bride, faith toward a fallen friend--and that it may also come from the barrel of a gun. Spanning both world wars, The Poet’s War finds loyalty, patriotism, war, deception, intrigue, romance, love, and death swept up in a maelstrom that spans generations and changes Europe forever.
Review: For the most part I liked this book. The world building was amazing and the strength of this book is the world building. I also felt like the characters were adequately developed and the plot was pretty good.
However, I had an issue with the writing. The book has a lot of Italian phrases and switches between English and Italian. I think that threw me off of the book because it was hard to understand what was being said. Also, the world building was on borderline too much in places. It was kind of like reading a Stephen King novel where he spends 3 pages describing a scene. The book also has a lot of poetry and poetic moments, which is beautiful but not my style.
Verdict: It was good, just long and sometimes confusing.
Book: The Poet’s War
Author: Francis O’Neill
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 3/5
Recommended For...: poetry, war, historical fiction
Publication Date: August 11, 2020
Genre: Historical Fiction
Recommended Age: 18+ (war flashbacks, violence, gore, romance)
Publisher: Ingram Spark
Pages: 430
Synopsis: It is Europe’s darkest time in near memory. American warrior poet Alistair Stears, thrown into Italian WWI through his mother’s love for an Italian colonel, experienced a convoy of the dying through burning provinces of Italy in the terrible retreat of 1917. It brought from him the great English poem of the Italian war.
One war later, all gracious things await destruction, knowledge is burned, thought coarsened, manners trashed, perverted faith and truth follow the dictators’ flags—vultures to grace. Stears is a famous poet now, married into German-Italian nobility and determined with his wife to fight the Axis powers. He risks everything to protect Italy and all else he loves. He finds that the bravest and fiercest resistance may be the rightness of a poem, the closing of a letter, the welcome of guests, the embrace of a bride, faith toward a fallen friend--and that it may also come from the barrel of a gun. Spanning both world wars, The Poet’s War finds loyalty, patriotism, war, deception, intrigue, romance, love, and death swept up in a maelstrom that spans generations and changes Europe forever.
Review: For the most part I liked this book. The world building was amazing and the strength of this book is the world building. I also felt like the characters were adequately developed and the plot was pretty good.
However, I had an issue with the writing. The book has a lot of Italian phrases and switches between English and Italian. I think that threw me off of the book because it was hard to understand what was being said. Also, the world building was on borderline too much in places. It was kind of like reading a Stephen King novel where he spends 3 pages describing a scene. The book also has a lot of poetry and poetic moments, which is beautiful but not my style.
Verdict: It was good, just long and sometimes confusing.