4 out of 4 stars
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Aces is a historical fiction book that was written by Michael January. The book is organized into chapters. It contains a total of nineteen chapters. It is written in the third person point of view.
The book narrates the journey of some college friends. It begins with a thrilling flying competition. It is in the year 1935. A big crowd is gathered to watch the National Air Races at Cleveland Aerodrome. Aaron Miller wins the competition narrowly. He is followed closely by his friend, Michael “Miki” von Steuven. It is after this race that Aaron and Miki begin parting ways. The separation is hastened when Lacy Dunbrough chose to marry Miki. Both Aaron and Miki had been eyeing her. This decision was partly influenced by her father. Aaron is angered. The rivalry between the two former friends grows rapidly. In the end, Miki finds himself flying bomber planes for the German Nazi during World War II. Aaron and his three other friends decided to join the Royal Air Force. Will the two friends ever meet during the war?
The dominant themes explored are friendship, romance, love, war, philanthropism, and loyalty. How the author was able to weave these themes into the fabric of this story was fascinating. These themes revealed the characters well. The author dwelled on character development much. It was fascinating to follow the characters as they developed from the start to the end of the story. Many other minor characters were merely introduced along the way. They helped to build on the chief characters.
What I liked most about this book is how the author was able to weave all the themes into this perfect story. The plot was well developed. It was exceptionally easy to follow the storyline and understand the flow of events. The story was also made more intriguing by the numerous twists and turns in it. This is one of the stories where the end cannot be told from the beginning. However, in some instances, there was a big lapse in time between different scenes in the same chapter. Hence, connecting the two scenes would be difficult. This is because the sudden transitions came at a time when none was expected. The book is also action-packed. This made the story intriguing as it helped to break the monotony of narration. It was astonishing to see how two people who were once friends and college mates could turn to enemies fighting on opposite sides.
Therefore, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. The book was edited professionally. The author was also able to develop the characters well. The dialogues were also very realistic, and this made it easy to be in the story. The book was mainly slow paced. I recommend it to all ardent fans of historical fiction books. Any reader who will want to read this book should be aware it contains some sexual scenes. These scenes, however, are not graphic. Those who enjoy flying or reading about aircrafts will also find this book to be interesting.
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Aces
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