OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Lambs of War" by Brian Mc Manus.]

Isaac and Flora Bloom are Jews living in Bremerhaven, Germany. Up until now, they have managed to avoid capture by the Nazis mainly through bribing a soft Police Street Captain. However, all too soon, the Captain is arrested, putting Isaac and Flora into the merciless hands of Polmer who replaces him. Polmer, who operates strictly by the rules, sends the Blooms’ to Ravensbruck for imprisonment.

Since Ravensbruck is a women’s labor camp, Isaac is smuggled out of Ravensbruck by Captain Wurtzmuller to serve as his personal prisoner. He cooks and cleans for the Captain as well as providing clerical work and cataloguing stolen gems and jewelry. All the while, Isaac searches for a chance to escape, rescue his wife, and flee Germany. Eventually Wurtzmuller’s arch enemy from the camp, an overseer by the name of Dorothy Boerner, comes to confront him over the death of her partner. Isaac seizes the opportunity to free himself and rescue Flora along with her bunkmate, Risa Resto. Will the trio be able to make it all the way to freedom?

The Lambs of War by Brian McManus is a novel set during World War II and The Holocaust; however, it is not so much focused on the savagery of the labor or death camps themselves as on the characters’ lives. While the story focuses mainly on Isaac and Flora, Mr. McManus introduces us to other interesting characters along the way. By doing this, we get a glimpse into the lives of not only victims of this horrible war but perpetrators and innocent bystanders as well. This helps to create a well rounded novel in which it is easy to become immersed.

Obviously, in dealing with this war and the atrocities that happened therein, there are mature themes throughout the book, but the author does a great job of handling them in a delicate way. I did not feel that the book was overly graphic or violent, but it still conveyed the seriousness of all that was happening. I appreciated that the novel starts right off in the thick of the events with very little preamble and continues to keep a steady pace throughout. Mr. McManus was able to throw in twists and turns that I did not see coming so as to keep me on my toes.

The only drawback to this novel was the editing. There were many mistakes throughout the entirety of the book, including quotations marks in the wrong spots, words left out, and words misspelled. The most grievous error to me, though, was the spelling of Captain Wurtzmuller’s name. In at least three different places in the novel, this character’s name is spelled wrong. This was very annoying to me and ended up distracting from my enjoyment of the novel as I thought the author really should be able to spell their own characters’ names correctly.

In spite of the editing, this was a well-written, enjoyable novel with great characters and an unpredictable, fast-moving plot. I rate The Lambs of War a 3 out of 4 stars. I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys historical fiction, World War II, or even those who just want a good read.

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The Lambs of War
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Great job on the review! This sounds like a really enjoyable read, I like that the focus is on the characters and not just the events of the Holocaust; it's just too bad about the editing!

It's a good book. I just wish the author had gotten the character's name spelled correctly! Still worthy of reading, though.

Nice job on the review - I was looking at this one to review it, and then saw it was snatched up It sounds to be about what I was hoping from it.

greenstripedgiraffe- Sorry I took the opportunity from you. It was a good book. The author really did a good job in the treatment of the subject matter. It's worth reading.

Very nice review! I usually enjoy stories set during World War II, and this one sounds very unique. It's a shame about the lack of editing, though.

Yeah, the editing could use some work, but the story itself is good. Hopefully the author will get with an editor and clean it up a little!

Thank you for the insightful review! I love books set during World War II and the Holocaust. I think it's interesting that this read is focused more on the characters' lives than the brutality during that time period. Too bad about the amount of errors; they tend to distract from the read. I'm glad that you were still able to enjoy the read, though!

Thanks hsimone! It was very interesting the way he wrote the book.

It is good that the author succeeded to convey the horror of the war. Too bad about the errors, though.
Great job on the review!

Great review! I often enjoy historical fiction and it sounds like I would enjoy this one. How unusual an error to spell a character's name wrong!

Elaine5- Yeah, it really irked me when I saw the character's name spelled wrong. It was still a good book, though, if you can overlook that.

Nice review! The story seems pretty different from other books dealing with a similar plot, and being a character-driven plot, its sure to be an interesting and refreshing read. Too bad about the editing, though.

Ananya92- The story does offer a little bit different slant on this time period, but the editing could use some work. Thanks for stopping by!

The story sounds very captivating but I think the number of errors would distract me from it. Thank you for the great review though!