While I think that this novel shows a very unique perspective of such a historical point in time, it failed to captivate me. 

I really liked how the author gave readers an insightful look into Hitler's lifestyle. We see the opulence of the food and the way many people consider Hitler to be a father figure, someone worth supporting and fighting for. The author doesn't shy away from talking about the horrors that Hitler has inflicted on people, but the focus is very much on what it is like to be close to Hitler. 

I actually have no problems in terms of the content, message, or intent of the story. In terms of these 3 aspects, the author did a great job. 

But this wasn't a story.

It was hard to connect with Magda, our protagonist. At no point did I feel sympathy for her - and I had plenty of opportunities to do so. Where the author lavishly described details of life in Germany, there was an omission in creating depth in his characters. The relationships that developed throughout the story were lackluster and didn't have the right flow to it. While I could factually understand why there were people who did not agree with Hitler and wanted him to die, I could not feel the emotion behind those sentiments. Of course, it's obvious that Hitler did bad things and deserved to be punished, but why don't you make me feel it in my gut as I read about it from the characters who are seeing this cruel side of him?! I wanted more connection and more depth to the story and the characters. At times, it felt like I was being told and not shown things, and that led to this feeling that the story was just surface-deep and had nothing more beneath it.

Do I think this is an important topic to discuss and an interesting perspective to take? Yes. But it was far too factual, with more telling than showing and lacked a great deal of depth in terms of character development. For those reasons, I'm giving it a 2/5 stars.

“I, Magda Ritter, was one of fifteen women who tasted Hitler’s food. He was obsessively concerned about being poisoned by the Allies or traitors.

After the war, no one, except my husband, knew what I did. I didn’t talk about it. I couldn’t talk about it. But the secrets I’ve held for so many years need to be released from their inner prison. I don’t have much longer to live.”

“The Taster” gripped me in the prologue and for the first half of the book. I loved the idea of this story about one of Hitler’s tasters, but the more I read the less interested I became in the main character, Magda. She lacked depth especially in the parts of the book where she lost someone close to her.

“The Taster” wasn’t terrible, but I probably wouldn’t recommend this book.

The Taster provides a very interesting look into the life of a normal German girl who gets caught up in something bigger than herself.

Set during WWII, Magda Ritter is sent away from her parents in Berlin to "safety" with her aunt and uncle. There she finds work for the party, specifically to be sent to Hitler's mountain retreat to become one of many tasters, checking for poison before the Fuhrer partakes.

A completely unique look at the war, Hitler and how ordinary people are caught up in not only heroic deeds but clearly shows how normal citizens were also the victims of war on both sides.

An amazing read for any lover of historical fiction.

What would life be like if you had to taste the meals for a man you abhorred to ensure he didn’t die? That’s the life Magda Ritter had found herself living, serving as an official “Taster” for Hitler.

Sent to live with her Aunt and Uncle so that she can escape Berlin, Magda finds herself needing to apply for a job and work for the Reich despite the fact she has no interest in becoming part of the party and, unlike her Aunt and Uncle, certainly doesn’t worship Hitler. Yet, she finds herself saving the life of a man she’d like to see dead.

Yet, despite the stress and trauma of war, we also see that people are human. Magda falls in love with a young SS Officer and together they join a plot to kill Hitler. When it fails, Magda’s life depends on her continuing to seem loyal.

A detailed and twisting tale of life in Germany inside Hitler’s Inner Circle, a book I’ll be thinking about for months to come. And telling all my friends to read. Be sure and read the author’s note after you finish reading to see where truth and fiction are similar (and different).
I’ve always loved history and when a novel can invite me into a perspective I hadn’t considered, it’s a strong win in my book!

Thanks to Kensington, Net Galley, and V.S. Alexander for a chance to read The Taster. All opinions are my own

It is during world war II Magda Ritter a young German woman, is in desperate need of a job. Her parents are concerned about her welfare and have sent her to live with her aunt and uncle. Her aunt has demanded she find a job as soon as possible. Magda has no skills working. Her uncle vouched for her and she is given a job. She has not been told what the job is, only that she will be in service to Adolf Hitler. When arriving at her destination, she is told the job she will have. She will be a taster. Along with 15 other young women, their job is to taste everything the Hitler would be served to eat or drink.
The terror of being asked to do this job is overwhelming. However, it is not the only thing she becomes involved in.
A truly extraordinary story of the rise and fall of Germany and the man responsible for the destruction of so many lives. At the end of the day, what happened to such an evil being.
5 Stars

When Magda's Uncle finds her a job with the third reich, the last thing she imagines is that she will be tasting Hitler's food for poisons. Work at the Berhof seems almost glamorous, until it becomes obvious that Germany is losing the war. As Magda falls in love with an SS officer, she is both excited and terrified to find out that he is one of many plotting an assassination attempt.

This was a quick read and interesting story. Some of the secondary characters felt a bit bland and stereotypical. However, Magda's relationship with other staff at the Bergof and with Eva Braun was well developed. Overall, four out of five stars.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this book; I knew it was historical WWII fiction but had few expectations. Once I started reading, I was drawn into the story and couldn't put the book down. It's the story of Magda Ritter, who falls into the job of acting as one of Hitler's tasters. These girls taste all of Hitler's food in case it's poisoned. They are trained to recognize poisoned mushrooms, and to identify the smell of arsenic.

Magda wasn't a strict Nazi and she had never joined the Party. Once she is firmly ensconsed in Hitler's Berghof, she finds she disagrees with the Nazis more and more, and the feeling intensifies after she falls in love with an SS guard named Karl. There are assasination attempts made on Hitler, and Magda gets caught up in one of them.

The book takes Magda from the Berghof to Hitler's bunker, and it's a fascinating read. It's the fictional story of a woman who came forward as an old lady and said she was one of Hitler's taster's, and the author's imagination went from there.

I highly recommend this book. Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

tl;dr Review:

With an utterly selfish protagonist and overly graphic descriptions of the horror of WWII, this book is one to avoid.

Full Review:

I hate having to pan books because most times I can find some redeeming qualities in any story. However, this book made that basically impossible.

I've been on a bit of a WWII kick lately (see: The Women In The Castle and The Room on Rue Amélie) and was excited at first to read about a job I had never known existed during that time: the role of taster for Hitler.

The book's description reads:

"Amid the turbulence of World War II, a young German woman finds a precarious haven closer to the source of danger than she ever imagined—one that will propel her through the extremes of privilege and terror under Hitler’s dictatorship . . .

In early 1943, Magda Ritter’s parents send her to relatives in Bavaria, hoping to keep her safe from the Allied bombs strafing Berlin. Young German women are expected to do their duty—working for the Reich or marrying to produce strong, healthy children. After an interview with the civil service, Magda is assigned to the Berghof, Hitler’s mountain retreat. Only after weeks of training does she learn her assignment: she will be one of several young women tasting the Führer’s food, offering herself in sacrifice to keep him from being poisoned.

Perched high in the Bavarian Alps, the Berghof seems worlds away from the realities of battle. Though terrified at first, Magda gradually becomes used to her dangerous occupation—though she knows better than to voice her misgivings about the war. But her love for a conspirator within the SS, and her growing awareness of the Reich’s atrocities, draw Magda into a plot that will test her wits and loyalty in a quest for safety, freedom, and ultimately, vengeance.

Vividly written and ambitious in scope, The Taster examines the harrowing moral dilemmas of war in an emotional story filled with acts of extraordinary courage."

While I knew of kings and queens of yore having people taste their food to avoid poisons, I didn't really think that this was something people still did in the 20th century. That fact caught my attention and propelled me to read this book.

But outside of learning more about this type of role, the protagonist had few other redeeming qualities.

Not only is Magda self-obsessed, she's also extremely selfish. She struggles to see outside of her realm of wants and needs and in numerous instances takes selfish actions that leave others dead or to die.

The pace of the story moves in such a way that everything seems a little too perfect. Things just happen to fall into place and work out in ways that made me want to roll my eyes. It was like watching a telanovela where the most basic of scenes become ridiculous and contrived. (Not knocking telanovelas - just speaking the truth.)

On top of all of that, the detailed accounts of some of the atrocities that took place under Hitler and during WWII felt gratuitous. I not only dislike graphic displays of violence (hence why I can't watch Game of Thrones), but I especially dislike them when it feels like they are out of place and only included to create a background for the protagonist's story.

As much as I wanted to like this book and for as much as I love historical fiction, I just couldn't take the selfishness of Magda. the all too convenient plot lines, and the over-the-top descriptions of violence.

I give this book one thumps up out of five.

Wow.

I requested this book because it sounded interesting. I had no idea just how in-depth it would be and just how much this book would affect me. I cannot even imagine what life must have been like during the war, especially for the Germans who didn't subscribe to Hitler's madness; I can imagine even less what it must have been like to be plucked out of nothing and made a "taster" of Hitler's food to make sure it wasn't poisoned.

Magda is just a normal German girl; she has no great ambitions and she isn't interested in being part of the "party" that was spreading across Germany with the rise of Hitler and his Army. She is sent to her Aunt and Uncle's house where she earns the favor of the SS and is sent to Hitler's private Alpine residence to become one of his 15 official tasters. While there, she meets and falls in love with a young SS captain and also learns just how much she truly dislikes Hitler and all he was doing, while his people were suffering. Magda has to hide her displeasure and pretend, all while wishing the very man she was "tasting to save" dead.

This was an amazing story and I am so glad that I was able to read it. Thanks to Kensington and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC; I guarantee if you read this, you will never be the same.

There is an old saying that states: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. In The Taster, V.S. Alexander shows that it takes many good men doing the right thing to triumph over powerful evil. Unfortunately, Germany at the time of the Second World War did not have many good men.

The Nazis had thought themselves invincible but in early 1943, Berlin gets its first real taste of the war. Allied bombers make it into the center of the city, awakening the citizens of the Reich to their very real danger. While the news services insist that the German army is victorious in all things, it is clear to Magda Ritter’s father that it will only be a matter of time before bombs are replaced with enemy soldiers. Magda is sent to her uncle and aunt in Bavaria, a bucolic area unlikely to be strafed by bombers or attacked by Allied armies.

For most of the war, Magda and her friends simply glided through life. As she puts it:

“My few girlfriends were concerned with their jobs, making money and getting along. We hardly ever talked of the war except to note, with longing, the misfortune of boys being shipped off to battle.”

She knows it is her duty to either marry and have strong sons for the Reich or to work diligently and be a productive citizen, but her parents never pushed her to accomplish much of anything and she lived down to their expectations. Her aunt is not quite so sanguine. Magda is in her home less than a day when she is forced to look for work. Nothing is available in the small town, but her uncle is a party member and police officer with a bit of pull. He tells Magda to apply at the Reichsbund (civil service) and with his help, she begins training for a mysterious position. It is only after weeks of coaching that she learns she will be assigned to the Berghof, Hitler’s mountain retreat, to serve as a taster. She is one of many young women who sample the Führer’s food an hour before he eats to ensure that no one is trying to poison him.

Initially terrified by her job, Magda grows accustomed to the danger and slowly settles into the routine of the chalet. It helps that she is deeply attracted to Captain Karl Weber, a handsome SS officer in charge of the security of the kitchen staff. They rapidly move into a relationship, but it quickly becomes an uncomfortable one for Magda. Karl is determined she know the truth of the war, including the atrocities being perpetuated by the Nazis. With her new awareness of what is actually occurring, Magda becomes increasingly sickened at being a part of the Führer’s staff and is willing to join Karl’s conspiracy to bring an end to Nazi control of Germany. This is a dangerous game, though, and it soon becomes apparent to her that it is a deadly one in which you must be willing to strike hard at your enemies or die at their hands.

Magda is an unlikely heroine by contemporary standards. She does not hate the Nazis at the start of the story and in fact, toys with the idea of joining the party for her own personal betterment. She is not curious or lively, but seems determined to simply live her life as though the war were not happening. She isn’t pleased when the allied bombers pull her from her comfortable, mindless existence. She cares nothing about the plight of the Jewish people and is indifferent to whether or not the rumors regarding what is happening to them are true. She doesn’t believe they are, but she also doesn’t care enough to find out. It isn’t until she reaches the Berghof and meets people who know what is happening and hate it that she changes. I appreciated the way the author handled this. Hitler would not have risen to power if he hadn’t had at least the indifferent support of his people and Magda shows perfectly how someone’s concerns with their own welfare can help them overlook the atrocities happening around them.

The author’s sparse prose lends itself beautifully to the story, which has a decidedly raw feel; told in the first person, it very much seems as though we are experiencing the real thoughts and feelings of a young woman who is for the first time realizing that there are bigger things in life than just herself. The austerity of the writing also serves as emphasis to the austerity of Germany as it fell from power; there is increasingly less to talk about as food, clothing, water to bathe in and other essentials slowly disappear. It also contributes, though, to the book’s only flaw. The information on Magda’s growth and on her romance was too little, making both seem a bit too sudden.

Perhaps the author’s greatest achievement here is the way she captures both the humanity and inhumanity of Adolf Hitler. To Magda and her friends, he is a kindly, grandfatherly figure who takes an interest in their lives and romances. But to anyone he deems a danger he is a brute, a tyrant, a rageaholic who kills and tortures with impunity. The scary part for everyone in the tale, including Magda, is that one’s status could change in an instant, with the person concerned none the wiser as to why.

Then again, perhaps the most important thing the author does is show us that Hitler was not the only Nazi in Germany. While many seem to blame the war solely on him, it is important to remember that not only he and his generals waged that war. It took the cooperation of the nation, some actively participating, some placidly going along. As Roger Ebert stated in a review of the film Downfall:

As we regard this broken and pathetic Hitler, we realize that he did not alone create the Third Reich, but was the focus for a spontaneous uprising by many of the German people, fueled by racism, xenophobia, grandiosity and fear. He was skilled in the ways he exploited that feeling, and surrounded himself by gifted strategists and propagandists, but he was not a great man, simply one armed by fate to unleash unimaginable evil. It is useful to reflect that racism, xenophobia, grandiosity and fear are still with us, and the defeat of one of their manifestations does not inoculate us against others.

THAT is what this book reminds us of. That evil may go down to the sound of exploding bombs, but it is born in silence. It is born in cooperation. It is fueled by our fears, and fed by our selfish indifference to anything but our own gain. It is a triumph for the author that she can entertain and also deeply enlighten us through her novel.

The Taster is both a good book and an important one. It tells an intriguing story while taking pains to show that very little separates the people of then and now and that we must stay vigilant if we are to stay triumphant over evil.

V.S. Alexander has created a gripping masterpiece in The Taster that readers of all ages will learn from and gravitate towards. It has lots of historical details and is based on the woman who revealed that she was one of Hitler's food testers during WWII. It's beautifully written and readers will fully understand the struggles that present themselves to Magda, especially considering who she's in love with, who her aunt and uncle support, and what her parents ultimately believe.

WWII novels are fascinating to me. We seem to be obsessed with this horrible time in our world's history, and yet, we continue writing (and reading) fictional accounts about it. I believe there is a value in humanizing the people involved in the atrocities of the time, but we must always remember the heartache for those that were lost in this terrible time as well. It's extraordinarily hard to feel sympathy or empathy for anyone associated with the third reich, so these types of novels are difficult to read due to that dissonance we often feel.

I enjoyed the writing style and the premise of this novel, but I found myself judging the narrator a bit too harshly.

Just what the world needs, another poor German people, poor Germany. No sympathy at all for 6 million Jews, but let's feel sorry for the ordinary German people! Give me a break! I have been to Dachau three times, there is no way, the ordinary German people did not know about what was happening! People's homes, from that time period, are so close, they would have felt ashes coming from the gas ovens, or the smells would have carried! The butcher, Baker, and candlestick maker brought goods in to feed the S.S. Officer's! I lived in Germany three years, while my husband was in charge of Nuclear Weapons, when Reagan was determined to bring the wall down! I went for a walk one day with my dog, we lived in a small German City, South of Munich. We came upon a very eerie, 9vergrown area. I found a large rock tombstone, written in German, and Hebrew! There were pebbles on top of the tombstone, being a Christian, I knew immediately, that I was looking at a Mass grave in Memorial to the Jews, who had died there.! I came to find out, that the Jewish Slave Labor working for the BMW plant in Munich, moved these poor starving People down South, so the heads of BMW wouldn't be arrested for War Crimes! This German Author asked at the end of his book, did this change my opinion of the every day German? The Answer is No! They were addicted to Hitler, and his obsession with the Perfect Aryan Race! My husband's Grandfather, was a Polish Jew, whose Mother was killed by the Russians in a pogom, he left on his own, after being wounded in the head, at the age of 14! He came to his cousins in Louisville KY, in 1914. He took English classes at night, worked during the day. His older sister was married to a wealthy Jewish lumber yard owner. The Nazi's took the men, made them carry their own shovels, made them walk three miles, dig their graves, and shot them all. The women were sent on a one way 20 mile March, many older women died, and babies also. They were turned around in that city, marched back to where they had left their husbands and sons, only to be given shovels, made to dig unmarked graves, then they were shot by SS guards! Guess who this was, my husband's Great Aunt, her husband, her two children, his Mother's first cousins. It took over forty years to find this information, that part was taken over by the Communist Russian Government, after WW II! Who do you think took over their Beautiful home, and the homes of other Wealthy murdered Jewish families? Not the SS, the local people took them over! This book is nothing, but more German Propaganda , another excuse why millions of people allowed one man to kill so many innocent Jewish families!
Thank you!
Carolintallahassee 👒

This is an exceptionally well done work of historical fiction. I love WWII historical fiction but I want it done well, like Stones from the River or The Book Thief. I want WWII historical fiction that is going to have me completely immersed in time and place and I really love it when the story is told from an unexpected POV. This book did both of those things so very, very well. I found the descriptions of the bombings and destruction to be some of the best I have read and found them to pack a pretty strong emotional punch as well. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a very unique perspective on WWII.

There is an old saying that states: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. In The Taster, V.S. Alexander shows that it takes many good men doing the right thing to triumph over powerful evil. Unfortunately, Germany at the time of the Second World War did not have many good men.

The Nazis had thought themselves invincible but in early 1943, Berlin gets its first real taste of the war. Allied bombers make it into the center of the city, awakening the citizens of the Reich to their very real danger. While the news services insist that the German army is victorious in all things, it is clear to Magda Ritter’s father that it will only be a matter of time before bombs are replaced with enemy soldiers. Magda is sent to her uncle and aunt in Bavaria, a bucolic area unlikely to be strafed by bombers or attacked by Allied armies.

For most of the war, Magda and her friends simply glided through life. As she puts it:

“My few girlfriends were concerned with their jobs, making money and getting along. We hardly ever talked of the war except to note, with longing, the misfortune of boys being shipped off to battle.”

She knows it is her duty to either marry and have strong sons for the Reich or to work diligently and be a productive citizen, but her parents never pushed her to accomplish much of anything and she lived down to their expectations. Her aunt is not quite so sanguine. Magda is in her home less than a day when she is forced to look for work. Nothing is available in the small town, but her uncle is a party member and police officer with a bit of pull. He tells Magda to apply at the Reichsbund (civil service) and with his help, she begins training for a mysterious position. It is only after weeks of coaching that she learns she will be assigned to the Berghof, Hitler’s mountain retreat, to serve as a taster.  She is one of many young women who sample the Führer’s food an hour before he eats to ensure that no one is trying to poison him.

Initially terrified by her job, Magda grows accustomed to the danger and slowly settles into the routine of the chalet. It helps that she is deeply attracted to Captain Karl Weber, a handsome SS officer in charge of the security of the kitchen staff. They rapidly move into a relationship, but it quickly becomes an uncomfortable one for Magda. Karl is determined she know the truth of the war, including the atrocities being perpetuated by the Nazis. With her new awareness of what is actually occurring, Magda becomes increasingly sickened at being a part of the Führer’s staff and is willing to join Karl’s conspiracy to bring an end to Nazi control of Germany. This is a dangerous game, though, and it soon becomes apparent to her that it is a deadly one in which you must be willing to strike hard at your enemies or die at their hands.

Magda is an unlikely heroine by contemporary standards. She does not hate the Nazis at the start of the story and in fact, toys with the idea of joining the party for her own personal betterment. She is not curious or lively, but seems determined to simply live her life as though the war were not happening. She isn’t pleased when the allied bombers pull her from her comfortable, mindless existence. She cares nothing about the plight of the Jewish people and is indifferent to whether or not the rumors regarding what is happening to them are true. She doesn’t believe they are, but she also doesn’t care enough to find out. It isn’t until she reaches the Berghof and meets people who know what is happening and hate it that she changes. I appreciated the way the author handled this. Hitler would not have risen to power if he hadn’t had at least the indifferent support of his people and Magda shows perfectly how someone’s concerns with their own welfare can help them overlook the atrocities happening around them.

The author’s sparse prose lends itself beautifully to the story, which has a decidedly raw feel; told in the first person, it very much seems as though we are experiencing the real thoughts and feelings of a young woman who is for the first time realizing that there are bigger things in life than just herself. The austerity of the writing also serves as emphasis to the austerity of Germany as it fell from power; there is increasingly less to talk about as food, clothing, water to bathe in and other essentials slowly disappear. It also contributes, though, to the book’s only flaw. The information on Magda’s growth and on her romance was too little, making both seem a bit too sudden.

Perhaps the author’s greatest achievement here is the way she captures both the humanity and inhumanity of Adolf Hitler. To Magda and her friends, he is a kindly, grandfatherly figure who takes an interest in their lives and romances. But to anyone he deems a danger he is a brute, a tyrant, a rageaholic who kills and tortures with impunity. The scary part for everyone in the tale, including Magda, is that one’s status could change in an instant, with the person concerned none the wiser as to why.

Then again, perhaps the most important thing the author does is show us that Hitler was not the only Nazi in Germany. While many seem to blame the war solely on him, it is important to remember that not only he and his generals waged that war. It took the cooperation of the nation, some actively participating, some placidly going along. As Roger Ebert stated in a review of the film Downfall:

As we regard this broken and pathetic Hitler, we realize that he did not alone create the Third Reich, but was the focus for a spontaneous uprising by many of the German people, fueled by racism, xenophobia, grandiosity and fear. He was skilled in the ways he exploited that feeling, and surrounded himself by gifted strategists and propagandists, but he was not a great man, simply one armed by fate to unleash unimaginable evil. It is useful to reflect that racism, xenophobia, grandiosity and fear are still with us, and the defeat of one of their manifestations does not inoculate us against others.

THAT is what this book reminds us of. That evil may go down to the sound of exploding bombs, but it is born in silence. It is born in cooperation. It is fueled by our fears, and fed by our selfish indifference to anything but our own gain. It is a triumph for the author that she can entertain and also deeply enlighten us through her novel.

The Taster is both a good book and an important one. It tells an intriguing story while taking pains to show that very little separates the people of then and now and that we must stay vigilant if we are to stay triumphant over evil.

Buy it at: A/BN/iB/K

I love it when I can learn things from books! This book was really good. I would absolutely recommend it. 4/5

So much historical fiction has been devoted to World War II and The Taster is no different. However, The Taster takes an original angle of putting someone, a woman, directly into Hitler's presence and, in fact, in contact with his food.

Magda is a young German woman, who is sent away from Berlin. She goes to live with relatives who feel that it's everyone's role to help the country and after several interviews, Magda is hired at a mountain retreat. Not just any luxurious retreat, this is the place of Hitler. Magda's job...tasting Hitler's food before he does to ensure that it hasn't been spoiled.

This is over all a story about courage. Magda sees the inhumanity of war and her country. She questions all that she has known.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Magda Ritter, a young German girl, finds herself in a precarious position, one that, ironically, gives her her best chance at relative safety during the horrors of World War II. This new position ensures that she’ll be fed and taken care of, exposing her to circumstances that are luxurious compared to what the rest of Germany faces, while at the same time facing the daily terror of knowing that every meal may be her last. In 1943, Magda’s parents send her to stay with family in Bavaria, in the hopes that she’ll be safe from the Allied bombings in Berlin. It is not long afterward that she’s expected to fulfill her duty as a loyal German young lady: either serve the Reich or marry and produce strong, healthy children. After an interview for civil service, Magda is assigned to Hitler’s mountain retreat, the Berghof. She is trained to become a Taster, to join the young women who taste all of the Füher’s food, essentially offering herself in sacrifice to prevent him from being poisoned. She’s terrified, at first, but slowly becomes adjusted to the dangers of her position. She falls in love with a conspirator within the SS and slowly becomes aware of the atrocities being performed by the Reich. She’s drawn into the plots against Hitler, all the while knowing what will happen if she’s discovered to be anything less than perfectly loyal.

I love historical fiction and the description of this book intrigued me. I was excited to be chosen to review it and I was definitely not disappointed! This book grabs you from the beginning and doesn’t let go. I found Magda’s entire story fascinating and found myself rooting for her all the way through. It was so well written that you almost feel as if you’re experiencing everything along with Magda. Her relationship with Karl and their loyalty to each other was one of my favorite parts. There were a great number of amazingly written characters and the author managed to show the charismatic personality that Hitler was known for, his ability to inspire great loyalty, without hiding his true nature. It highlights the question of how could normal, everyday people follow such a monster. We’re they all actively complicit or did they truly not see the truth of what was happening? While much creative license was taken in the writing of this amazing novel, I could also see the great deal of research the author did in the intense detail imparted. If this isn’t on your “to read” list, then you definitely need to add it.

I had mixed feelings about this book. It was really engaging, and I liked Magda a lot. It's always truly fascinating to see WWII from the perspective of an average German citizen, and this was no exception. However, despite how average Magda is, everything happens to her. Now, if you can suspend disbelief that one woman can experience literally every facet of the war in Germany that a civilian woman could possibly experience, it's a highly readable and page-turning work of fiction. Also, because of her vast experience, the reader learns a lot about the workings of the Reich and what it was like for civilian women, including what information they had about the government's actions. I liked this book a lot; it just requires a giant grain of salt to swallow!

REVIEW
Having read The Magdalen Girls by V.S. Alexander back in December 2016 and absolutely loved it, I had been keeping an eye out for more books by this author. When I saw The Taster I was instantly very interested, then when I read the blurb I knew I just had to read this book as soon as I could!

The cover features a woman dressed in a plain wine dress with a very neat white lacey collar. The female also has a brooch or badge at the neck of her dress. There is also lace featured on the cuffs of the long-sleeved dress. The female is holding a tea cup & saucer. The picture created on the cover could represent lots of different scenes from within the book. It could be the main character of Magda Ritter, or it could also represent Ursula Thalberg.

The genres listed for this book are General Fiction and Historical Fiction which fit the book perfectly. I would also add the label Realistic Fiction and make sure to explain that this book is based on a true story too.

The book actually begins at the end with Magda Ritter explaining she is a childless old widow alone in a house full of memories. Magda describes the linden trees in spring and the blue lakes in summer that no longer bring her any joy. Then Magda reveals that she was one of fifteen women tasters that were employed to try/test Hitler's food to prevent him being poisoned by Allies, spies or any of his own men. Magda goes on to say after the war only her husband knew exactly what Magda did. But though she has kept her secrets for many years she feels now she has not much longer to live, she must reveal her hidden secrets. I loved the wording where Magda says she hopes people will not judge her as harshly as she has judged herself. How can anyone judge her badly for doing what she had to do to survive?

The book then steps back to a much younger Magda and tells the sequence of events that took place for Magda to become a taster for Hitler and the course of events that led to Magda being in the bunker the day Hitler died.

At the beginning of the story, Magda Ritter is living with her parents Hermann & Lisa Ritter in Berlin. Hermann Ritter is quietly against Hitler, his Nazis' and the war. He works at a factory and due to an injury and his age, is thankfully too old to be conscripted and sent to war. His wife, Lisa Ritter, is more accepting and sympathetic to Hitler, his Nazis' and the war. Lisa thinks Hitler may be good for Germany and its people. In fact, she is concerned when her daughter does not join the Nazi party! Lisa brings in money for the family by doing sewing. Also living in the same building as the Ritter family is Frau Horst, an elderly lady who openly supports the Nazis with a swastika card in her window. Frau Horst prefers to gather her cognac and cigarettes before making her way down to the basement when the Allies are bombing. As Berlin is becoming increasingly difficult to live in with Allied strikes increasing, food and work becoming scarcer, Hermann Ritter insists his daughter Magda be sent to live with his brother Willy and his wife Reina. After initially attempting to reason and making her case to stay in Berlin, Magda finally gives in to her parents’ wishes and is sent to Berchtesgaden, to her father’s brother and his wife's home. Magda packs a small case, putting in a family photograph and the cherished stuffed monkey her father bought and gave her when she was a young child. There's an SS Officer checking everyone's papers before she is allowed onto the train to begin her long journey. When Magda boards the train she notices a young couple a few seats in front of her. They lean close together smoking and quietly talking to each other. Part way through the journey, the train is stopped. Ann SS Officer board the train and marches up to the couple, putting his gun to the male’s head. He remains this way until armed police arrive to remove the couple from the train. Magda is naturally in shock, why are the couple being removed from the train? They are in the middle of nowhere what is going to happen to the couple?

Once Magda arrives at Berchtesgaden train station she quickly searches the people milling around and standing between all the swastikas and flags. Once she locates her Aunt and Uncle she greets them with the expected Nazis salute, she notices that her Uncle Willy in his local Police uniform with a swastika on his arm, looks much happier to see her than her Aunt Reina does. Aunt Reina is wearing a cobalt blue dress that has a fastened collar with a diamond brooch in the shape of a swastika pinned above her heart. Her Aunt and Uncles Bavarian home is festooned with swastikas and even has a black and white portrait of the Fúhrer hanging over the fireplace! Aunt Reina is openly, fully supportive of Hitler, the Nazis and the war. Aunt Reina is convinced Hitler is going to win the war easily and is the best person to rule the country. In fact, it doesn't take long for Aunt Reina find fault with Magda, specifically that Magda is not a party member yet. Aunt Reina is a big fan of Hitler and everything he says and does. Reina quickly dictates that Magda must find a job or a husband, as she and her Uncle cannot afford to keep her for nothing. It is the fact that her Uncle Willy is part of the local Police force that helps Magda finally get an interview for a job. The job Magda is accepted for is that of being one of fifteen "Tasters" though she doesn't find out what her job is until she arrives at the Berghof. Magda once again finds herself packing her small case and taking her treasured stuffed monkey to live on site at Hitler’s mountain retreat, The Berghof. Magda reports to the head of the kitchen and cook Fraulein Schultz who explains she has been chosen by her and SS Officer Captain Karl Weber for a very important job, to taste the Fuhrer's food. Fraulein Schultz goes on to say that being a taster is an important honour, as well as a job, for Magda's body is being offered in sacrifice to the Reich in case the Fuhrer's food is poisoned. It is Fraulein Schultz that teaches Magda the individual, different poisons, how they smell, taste and work. Though Fraulein Schultz is a hard boss, she is a fair one and soon comes to like Magda and they become firm friends.

Magda does meet, and make some good friends, such as Ursula who introduces her to her own boyfriend Franz. It is via Franz and Ursula that Magda eventually becomes involved with SS Captain Karl Weber and ends up being drawn into a group of Germans with in Hitler’s work force who are plotting to try and bring Hitler and his regime down.

Magda is not only risks her life every time she tastes the Fuhrers food but she has to live under constant scrutiny and behave as the perfect citizen according to Hitler too. When Hitler takes an interest in her budding romance with Karl, and gives his blessing, he even gives Magda a special badge to wear when he takes it upon himself to make her part of the Nazi party. Then Hitler continues to keep track of their lives and is constantly pushing them to marry sooner rather than later and go on to have many healthy German babies! When they do plan their wedding Hitler not only attends their wedding with his companion Eva Braun but they are the witnesses to the marriage. Hitler gifts Karl and Magda special matching, engrave silver rings, to wear as wedding rings. The young couple are happy to be together and living in married quarters now but they still have to be very careful as they are still under scrutiny, anything they do, that is perceived as being wrong can and will be severely punished. The thing is it won't just be their necks on the line but that of their family too. Magda is aware one wrong step could result in her parents, or even her Aunt and Uncle being held responsible and them being punished or killed. Magda has to be extremely careful, yet ends up being very brave in the actions she does take. This way of punishing the nearest person to the one who has committed the offence is shown when in an attempt to both protect and distance Magda from being part of any plot against Hitler, Karl leaves her behind, whilst he goes on the run. Sadly, the Colonel, who has never particularly liked Magda refuses to believe she is innocent and had no knowledge of the plotting has her sent to Bromberg-ost. It is Magda's wedding ring gift that came directly from Hitler that saves her from abuse and the fate of living in, and perhaps dying in the Bromberg-ost concentration camp.

I immediately took to and came to both respect and be in awe of Magda Ritter, she is thrown into a job beyond her own control and is simply expected to put her life on the line for one of the most self-important, hated figures in history. Magda definitely views life and politics like her father Hermann and remembers her father’s advice of "Do what you must to survive" and has to choose to adhere to this advice on many occasions throughout the book. Magda endures a lot in this book, at one point another cook Otto takes a dislike to her and actually purposely gives her poisoned food to taste. Initially Hitler thinks this was a great idea that should be repeated regularly to assess his tasters and their abilities. It is much later in the book that unintentional actions taken by Magda mean that cook Otto falls seriously out of favour with Hitler.

I adored the relationships between Magda Ritter and SS Officer Karl, as well as the one between Ursula, a fellow taster and SS Officer Franz. Ursula and Franz had known each other since childhood and planned to eventually get married. Sadly, this is a plan not meant to come to fruition as a task carried out by Ursula has awful consequences.

As much as I disliked the cook Otto, I grew to love cook, Fraulein Schultz as much as Magda did, she came to treat Magda as a good friend. So much so that when Magda has to choose between leaving Fraulein Schultz behind or escaping danger, it ends up being a very painful and difficult decision for Magda.

The funny thing is that two of the characters I found I really disliked were Lisa Ritter and Reina Ritter, though they not blood related, they are so alike and would probably have loved the honour to have had Magda's job as taster. They both can see, only the good in Hitler and his Nazi beliefs and doctrines. They both belittle those who would question Hitler and blindly believe he is the saviour of Germany right to the bitter end.

I ended up truly, adoring reading this book and I honestly became very fond of Magda. I think even more so when you realise it is based on a true story. The horrors she saw, was part of, and had to endure. Just when Magda thinks the war is over and safety is within grasp, she and those friends she has found are attacked and abused by their supposed "Russian saviours".

I have to admit it, I had a tear in my eye when Magda gets to go back to her Aunt & Uncles house when things are over, and Hitler is dead. She certainly see's a difference in her Aunt, gone are the swastika's and the portrait of the Fuhrer. There is another, bigger, surprise awaiting Magda at her Aunt & Uncles, but I don't want to spoil the surprise. I will just say have those tissues to hand.

I thought I would hate Hitler's companion Eva Braun but on occasion within this book you see a rather lonely woman who loves a man that is so busy with the war that he has very little time for her and continually puts off their wedding. Then on the other hand you think Eva Braun surely must have known what was going on with the concentration camps, which makes you wonder how could she love such a man? In the book you see Eva as a lonely figure so desperate for friends she tries to make friends with Hitler's staff. Of course, we know Eva does get her wish and gets to marry Hitler, and they then commit suicide together in his bunker with members of his staff on hand to assist where needed. Trusted members of staff then set fire to their bodies and bury their ashes as per the final instruction given to them by Hitler.

This book did go into some great and interesting details of Hitler & his staffs final weeks and days hidden far underground. The book revealed how Hitler’s right-hand men also committed suicide alongside him in the bunker first making sure their young children were also dead. Even nearing the end of his power Hitler's staff were still diligently, blindly doing the crazy man's bidding. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Hitler's final days through Magda's eyes. This view also leaves you with questions, was Magda really there alone with Hitler at the end. I don't doubt that she would be brave enough to stay as she wished "at the end" or even carried out the actions she says she did.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. I learnt more about what day to day life was like for those around Hitler. Also, I hadn't known that some of Hitler's own employees and people from his inner circle were plotting and sometimes attempting to kill him. So even those in a close vicinity to him knew he was losing the war, knew what he was trying achieve was wrong and knew he had to be stopped at all costs. Then there is the other side of the coin, of Hitler’s almost fatherly interest and matchmaking with his employees and their relationships, Also shown in this book is Hitler’s love of his dog Blondi, that has pups. Once again, Hitler goes on to show, what I guess, most people would simply say, is his pure evil side by killing the dog he professes to deeply love and care for and her pups so that when he commits suicide in his bunker no one else would get his beloved dog Blondi or her pups!

My immediate thoughts upon finishing this book were, Wow, an amazing read!

This is the second book I have read by this author. This book is a work of fiction based within factual information gathered. I have to admit I grew really fond of Magda and could certainly empathise with her character, and understand how she reacted, and why she reacted to the increasing madness around her. This book is so brilliantly written, it makes you feel you are actually there, with a bird’s eye view of the horrific events through Magda's eyes.

I honestly found this book both a highly addictive read and an interesting, informative one too. There are so many little details in this book, that encourage you to really visualise what is being portrayed in the book. What can I say? It truly is a time in history that evokes strong feelings and emotions from within me. I think the stories of the real people around Hitler should continue to be told. I am also adamant that what happened in and around the concentration camps that Hitler built etc should never, ever be forgotten.

Another great book by V.S. Alexander! I will most certainly be keeping my eyes and ears open for any other forthcoming books by this author.