Review by Tester013 -- The Warramunga's War by Greg Kater

[Tester013]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Warramunga's War" by Greg Kater.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Set in the early days of World War II, The Warramunga's War by Greg Kate is a historical fiction that tells the story of James Munro and Jack O’Brien as they engage clandestine activities for Britain to aid the war effort against Germany. Will they be able to best foreign counter-intelligence operatives? What troubles will they run into on their journey to win the war?

Despite the fictional aspect of this novel, Kate beautifully weaves his story in with historical events, getting straight into the action right as Munro receives his promotion to Captain. Through a series of events, he and O’Brien are recruited by MI6 as operatives, eventually being dispatched to Cairo, Egypt. There, the duo enlists the help of several working women to act as informants as they engage in an intense battle of wits to aid Britain in the North Africa campaign.

Perhaps the best aspect of Kate’s novel is its professionalism. Unlike typical spy novels which may include significant portions of romance and explicit content, this book handles such issues very differently. Despite having a close relationship with several women in Cairo, many of whom are prostitutes, Kate never once felt the need to describe any sexual encounters between Munro or O’Brien with these women. The duo is described as having a very professional relationship with these women and treated them with respect. Such stories are somewhat of a rarity nowadays - many books I’ve reviewed in the past unnecessarily sexualize their female characters. Hence, I believe that Kate’s ability to tell a compelling story without the use of such devices is rather commendable.

Nonetheless, there are several questionable aspects of the story. Chiefly, the ease with which Munro and O’Brien obtained information and acted upon it challenges my belief. Although the women described in the story need money, I find it difficult to believe that any women will be willing to offer up the information they did to a complete stranger, especially considering that Egypt was still under German control at the time. Their ability to consistently best German intelligence also raises some eyebrows, as the Gestapo and SS were agencies famous for their brutal tactics in eliciting information. The incompetence of these agencies as described in this book challenges the belief of even the most naïve reader.

Overall though, I find that the book was an extremely interesting and exciting read. Greg Kate has skillfully woven fictional elements into true historical events. As the first installment of a three-part series, I eagerly await the arrival of the second and third books. Rating wise, I have to give this book 3 out of 4 stars, deducting a star for the eyebrow-raising aspects of the story. Nevertheless, I would certainly recommend this to anyone who’s a fan of war stories and due to the professionalism maintained throughout the book, there really isn’t anyone in particular that I find to be unsuitable to read this book.

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The Warramunga's War
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[Erin Painter Baker]

As a child from a military family, I often raise my eyebrows at certain depictions of wartime activities, and yet my father and grandfather often told me that those depictions were closer to the truth of the matter than the history we all "knew". I have no idea if that is the case or not, but this sounds like a book my father would very much like. I'll have to recommend the series to him.