2 out of 4 stars
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The Faces of War by Jane F. McCarthy is a historical fiction novel that takes place during World War II. It follows the stories of John and Karl. John is a young American who graduates from high school early on in the war. His brother died in the attack on Pearl Harbor, so he felt the call to serve his country. Karl is a young German who lives on his parents’ farm. He is skipped over for the draft because the farm feeds the German soldiers. Many other characters weave in and out of these two stories as we learn about their journeys throughout the war.
I loved the way all of the stories intertwined. This was my favorite part of the book. I found it particularly interesting that the two main characters were on opposite sides of the war. This made the overlapping stories even better. The author did a great job weaving all of the paths together and creating a story that kept me engaged. There were just enough twists and turns to make me wonder what was going to happen next without feeling like I was able to predict the storyline.
While the story itself was great, several aspects of the writing could use some improvement. For example, the timeline could have been described more clearly. When going back and forth between different characters, it wasn’t always clear where we were at in the timeline. The story also jumped ahead without warning or clear transitions. This could easily be fixed by adding the location and date at the beginning of chapters and before setting changes.
Another downfall was that the writing was kind of bland. It stated what was happening and moved through the plot without much description. I did get used to this style and didn’t mind it as much toward the end. However, I would still suggest a change in style. It just left so much to be desired. The final big con was that book was not professionally edited. There were several errors throughout that were distracting.
I give this book 2 out of 4 stars. I couldn’t justify giving it a higher rating since there were so many cons and not as many pros. I didn’t give it just one star because I did enjoy the story even though the writing could use some work. I would love to see a revised copy of this book, and I would definitely consider increasing the rating if changes were made! I would recommend it to readers who can look past the cons mentioned above and who enjoy reading about World War II.
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The Faces of War
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