Review of War Torn

[Peace Odii]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "War Torn" by Toni Rae.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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The plague of war had spread throughout Germany, and the fear of Hitler and the Nazi reapers haunted the people. Alessia witnessed first-hand how the reapers took the life out of the neighborhood. After all, her father had suffered a similar fate at their cruel hands. Every moment of the war was a drag across their hearts, which drained their joy. Night after night, her nightmares haunted her, and her imagination kept her bound. Finally, a call of hope came through. Aladrich had promised to help Alessia, her sister, and her mother escape across the border. But it couldn't be that easy, could it? Enshrouded by the horror of death and the loom of darkness, would the Rianis thrive in life amidst the war?

War Torn by Toni Rae is a work of fiction in which the author uses a simple family to play out the happenings of history. I loved how the story focused on different issues faced by the protagonists in the book. Some topics in the book are based on historical references like the swastika, Nazist activities, the impact of the war on civilians, and sundry. The eventual romance and love in the book were a paradigm shift to how the book started. I enjoyed every bit of it.

I credit the author for her extensive knowledge of the history of the wars. The events were accurately detailed to the date, month, and year.

I was not too fond of some aspects of the book, however. The way the story focused primarily on Alessia could have done more justice to giving a broadened overview of the story's concept. The whole war experience could not have been centered only on Alessia. I understand that Alessia played the leading character role, but other characters like Doris and Dante were other prisoners in the camp. Including their POVs would have helped readers view the story from different angles since they were all in similar conditions.

Being the first novel by the author, Toni Rae, the story is creative and features an imaginative exploration of the author's mind. Another area for improvement in the book was the errors. This included misplaced and misspelled words. Hence, I rate this book three out of five stars.

The book is inspiring, but readers would have to be conscious of the violent and other horror features. I don't think younger readers would be comfortable with this. Overall, I recommend this book to readers interested in historical genres and war novels.

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War Torn
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[Tamara Bengesai]

This was a great review of the Historical story. It would be interesting to see how the story unfolds and if Alessia manage to escape.

[Shem Murundu]

I can't imagine how nightmarish life was for the Germans, and especially his opposition, was under Hitler's reign. To live in Germany during that period must have been a horrible experience. It must have been traumatic for Alessia to witness her dad being butchered by the Nazis. I hope they managed to get out of that place unscathed. Your review was a joy to read.