Review of Chameleons
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Andrea Denny
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- Latest Review: Chameleons by Martin Wyatt
Review of Chameleons
[Following is a volunteer review of "Chameleons" by Martin Wyatt.]
This historical fiction set in Poland focuses largely on the Nazi invasion during the 1930’s and 40’s and the main protagonist of the story is Brygida, who along with her twin sister Mysz, fights to survive the horrors of Adolf Hilter and his merciless, evil accomplices who are hell bent on torturing and murdering as many Jews as they can.
Martin Wyatt does an excellent job of skillfully weaving a story that leaves the reader on the edge of their seat; Horrified by the brutality of what went on in Germany and Poland less than a hundred years ago, and at the same time, unable to tear yourself away, wondering what will happen next, rooting for the twins, cheering them on with each small victory and feeling each crushing blow of defeat. Despite the fact that Brygida and Mysz themselves are fictional characters, Wyatt tells a story so well that you wonder if they are loosely based on real people discovered during his research because he so accurately depicts settings and scenarios.
For me the hardest part was the fact that Wyatt pulls together too many genres. In addition to historical fiction, he tries to pull in a science fiction component along with a religious component and the time travel along with the angels and demons and magic was overwhelming to say the least and it really threw too many unnecessary pieces into an otherwise excellent book. It added components, characters and entire chapters that made it confusing and hard to follow.
While I understand that he wanted to have a happy(ish) ending and wrap it up with a neat bow, that’s simply not the way life works sometimes, and certainly not for holocaust survivors. Adding in magic and time travel to give a character the ability to right a wrong simply negates the historical fiction genre in my opinion.
That said, I truly believe that the author has skill and talent. His characters are well developed, relatable, diverse and easy to empathize with. I truly enjoyed the book despite my confusion about the time travel and the religion aspects of it. I wish I could ask him questions directly. I would love to understand why her grandfather chose Brygida over Mysz to be the one to save the family and the treasured necklace. Why was she his favorite. What made her so special and the chosen one? There are questions that linger for me.
That said there are also extremely graphic depictures of torture and execution that linger for me so I would not recommend this for younger readers or anyone who might be affected by reading that.
I noticed a couple of minor errors and certainly nothing to influence a rating. I am giving Chameleons by Martin Wyatt a 3 out of 4 stars simply because of the unnecessary and distracting additional genres added that I believe detract from the overall greatness of the book.
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Chameleons
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
This historical fiction set in Poland focuses largely on the Nazi invasion during the 1930’s and 40’s and the main protagonist of the story is Brygida, who along with her twin sister Mysz, fights to survive the horrors of Adolf Hilter and his merciless, evil accomplices who are hell bent on torturing and murdering as many Jews as they can.
Martin Wyatt does an excellent job of skillfully weaving a story that leaves the reader on the edge of their seat; Horrified by the brutality of what went on in Germany and Poland less than a hundred years ago, and at the same time, unable to tear yourself away, wondering what will happen next, rooting for the twins, cheering them on with each small victory and feeling each crushing blow of defeat. Despite the fact that Brygida and Mysz themselves are fictional characters, Wyatt tells a story so well that you wonder if they are loosely based on real people discovered during his research because he so accurately depicts settings and scenarios.
For me the hardest part was the fact that Wyatt pulls together too many genres. In addition to historical fiction, he tries to pull in a science fiction component along with a religious component and the time travel along with the angels and demons and magic was overwhelming to say the least and it really threw too many unnecessary pieces into an otherwise excellent book. It added components, characters and entire chapters that made it confusing and hard to follow.
While I understand that he wanted to have a happy(ish) ending and wrap it up with a neat bow, that’s simply not the way life works sometimes, and certainly not for holocaust survivors. Adding in magic and time travel to give a character the ability to right a wrong simply negates the historical fiction genre in my opinion.
That said, I truly believe that the author has skill and talent. His characters are well developed, relatable, diverse and easy to empathize with. I truly enjoyed the book despite my confusion about the time travel and the religion aspects of it. I wish I could ask him questions directly. I would love to understand why her grandfather chose Brygida over Mysz to be the one to save the family and the treasured necklace. Why was she his favorite. What made her so special and the chosen one? There are questions that linger for me.
That said there are also extremely graphic depictures of torture and execution that linger for me so I would not recommend this for younger readers or anyone who might be affected by reading that.
I noticed a couple of minor errors and certainly nothing to influence a rating. I am giving Chameleons by Martin Wyatt a 3 out of 4 stars simply because of the unnecessary and distracting additional genres added that I believe detract from the overall greatness of the book.
******
Chameleons
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Chameleons by Martin Wyatt
