Blog Tour: Review – The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein

Author: Elizabeth Wein

Genre: YA Historical

Published by: Bloomsbury

Publication date: 14/05/20

Pages: 432

My rating: ★★★★.5

I received a free review copy from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

From the internationally acclaimed bestselling author of Code Name Verity comes a thrilling story of wartime secrets, intrigue and wild courage.

Windyedge Airfield, Scotland. World War II.

When her mother is killed in the Blitz, and her father’s ship goes down, Louisa Adair feels she has lost everything. The country she has called home since her family left Jamaica is not a friendly place for an orphaned girl with brown skin, and she badly needs money and a roof over her head.

Finally she finds work looking after an old lady at a pub near an airfield in Scotland. There she meets Ellen, a driver for the RAF, and Jamie, a pilot – two other young people just as exhausted by the toll the war has taken on their loved ones, and just as desperate for a way to fight back.

Then the impossible happens. A German defector lands at the airfield carrying a precious package, and Louisa, Jamie and Ellen find themselves hiding a codebreaking machine that could alter the course of the war. But there are powerful people hunting for the machine, and soon Louisa and her friends are playing a deadly game that threatens everything they hold dear.

A thrilling story of wartime secrets, international intrigue and wild courage from the award-winning author of Code Name Verity, with three young heroes you’ll never forget.

I’m going to be completely honest and upfront, my review is based on the first half of the book as the neighbours are having emergency work done, it’s impossible to read with all the drilling. My review will be updated once I’ve finished it, I can’t apologise enough.

I haven’t read many books set during WW2. The hype surrounding Code Name Verity intrigued me enough to join the blog tour for The Enigma Game and honestly, I wasn’t disappointed. It completely blew me away! I completely get the hype surrounding the author and their previous books and have already put a hold on both at my library. 

The Enigma Game is told from the perspective of Louisa, Ellen and Jamie, so we’re already off to a brilliant start as I love books with multiple povs. When a German defector lands in an airfield in Scotland carrying a codebreaking machine, Louisa, Ellen and Jamie are thrust into a deadly game when other come looking for it.

I couldn’t put out this down from the moment I turned the first page, tearing through the pages desperate to know what happens next and how it ends. There’s so much to love about it. I love the characters, the bonds they share, especially the bond between Louisa and Jane. The Enigma Game is incredible, gripping and gorgeously written. I’ll be recommending it to anyone and everyone

Buy from: Waterstones Hive

 

About the author:

Elizabeth Wein is a church bell ringer, a recreational pilot, and the owner of about a thousand maps. She grew up in England, Jamaica, and Pennsylvania, and has lived in Scotland since 2000, where she learned to fly at the Scottish Aero Club. She is best known for her historical fiction about young women as aviators in World War II, including Code Name Verity (2012), which became a New York Times bestseller and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Elizabeth holds both American and British citizenship; she is married to games developer Tim Gatland and they have two grown children.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ewein2412