by Marina Scott
Libby audiobook 8 hours
read by Julia Emelin
Published: 2022
Genre: YA historical fiction WWII Soviet Union
This review WILL have spoilers, so stop now if you don't want the story ruined. Here's a blurb from Amazon: "There are some lines that should never be crossed―even in a city ruled by hunger. The black market is Liza’s lifeline, where she barters family heirlooms and steals whatever she can get her hands on just for enough food to survive. Morality, after all, has become a fluid thing since the Nazi siege has cut off her city from the rest of the world. Hope for a quick liberation is obliterated as the Soviet government focuses on sustaining the Red Army and not the city, subjecting its people to unimaginable cruelties at the hands of the secret police. When Liza’s best friend Aka proposes that they go to the same bullying officials, rumored to give young women food in exchange for “entertainment,” Liza thinks there surely must be some other way. Then Aka disappears and Liza resolves to rescue her no matter the cost, entangling herself in an increasingly dangerous web with two former classmates, one a policeman, the other forced to live underground."
Things I appreciate about this story:
- the severity of starvation's effect on people was very realistic
- that moral ambiguity that comes with having a survival mentality . . . again, believable
- both Maxim and Luka (?) are amazing young men
- the narrator sounded very Russian! Halting phrasing, accent, . . . perfect
- reading about the author, this is her debut novel. Good job! (And she grew up behind the Iron Curtain!)
- Who was worse for the Russian people - the German Nazis or the NKVD (Russian secret police)? Again, the horrors of starving to death were very realistic.
What I didn't appreciate:
- what a jerk Liza could be at times! She was not willing to trust either Luka or Maxim, even though neither one DID anything to make her believe they were untrustworthy. Fine. Be suspicious. But to lie and behave selfishly when it endangers others is reprehensible!
- chucking the pot of stew onto the ground because you think the "meat" is human . . . when people are starving to DEATH . . . is unconscionable. Don't eat it. Walk away. Throwing the soup on the ground isn't going to bring back the dead people!
- Also, when she kept wandering around the Mansion to look for Aka . . . how stupid can you be? Don't mess with the secret police in their own lair!
- Seriously, it took until chapter 19 to reveal who the creepy dude at the apartment really is? Gaganov (?) seemed like an awful man who had done something inexcusable. Liza avoided him like the plague. Then we find out he's her dad?!? And the horrible thing he did was suggest selling dead bodies so they could survive? Then she's all "Daddy" and talking to him. What?!?
- Okay, it gets worse when we find out that he basically sold her best friend Aka for food . . . and kept her necklace and shirt. Super creepy awful.
- The number of times Liza said she had no choice or "what choice do I have?" bothered me. There are ALWAYS choices! Some of them may be horrific, but you can choose what you think, say, and do.
