Examines the atrocities of war and ethnic cleansing through the eyes of young men and women entwined in fighting for their lives - lies, deceit, self-preservation. A tough, raw read.

Originally reviewed on Forever Young Adult: http://foreveryoungadult.com/2020/08/25/traitor/

BOOK REPORT for Traitor: A Novel of World War II by Amanda McCrina

Cover Story: Montell Jordan
BFF Charm: Let Me Love You, Love
Swoonworthy Scale: 1
Talky Talk: The History Channel, But Awesome
Bonus Factors: Psychology, WWII
Anti-Bonus Factor: Tribalism
Relationship Status: I’ll Be Seeing You

We are very excited to be a part of the Traitor blog tour celebrating its release! Check out the book trailer while you go ahead and order your copy. We’ll wait.

Cover Story: Montell Jordan



Did I accidentally pick up a “literary fiction” book? How classy! I love this cover, even more so now after reading the story and understanding why the building is so prominent: the city itself is just as much a character as our protagonists.

The Deal:

Lwów/L’viv has always been a city divided. Years before Soviet and German soldiers ravaged its people and streets, the city was constantly traded back and forth between Poland and Ukraine, and you can imagine the tension that was incited amongst the citizens of both nations. By July 1944, the occupying Germans were leaving in droves as Soviet soldiers marched in, “liberating” the city once more.

And what of those permanent residents? In general, the Ukrainians, banking on the Germans’ promise for a future free Ukraine, had been supporting the Germans’ regime and using the arm of their underground radicals, the UPA, to further their own agenda—which involved a lot of murdering Polish people because they were Polish. The Polish Resistance was created, in a part, as retaliation against the UPA’s slaughter, and they weren’t above taking help from the Soviets. (This is a massive oversimplification of the situation that I only just learned about myself, but I promise it’s explained much more eloquently within the book!)

Our story begins with Tolya, a Soviet sniper who accidentally-on-purpose shoots his squadron’s political officer after he finds him harassing a woman in the streets (but he also recently sentenced a friend of Tolya’s to death, so...). This impulsive murder is an immediate death warrant for Tolya, as there’s no way the NKVD—essentially, the Soviet CIA—will not instantly torture a confession out of him. But salvation comes in the most curious of forms: a group of UPA freedom fighters who need Tolya’s sharpshooting skills to help assassinate the head of the NKVD. Who can you trust in a war where everyone is trying to kill you, especially when you barely trust yourself?

BFF Charm: Let Me Love You, Love



Seventeen-year-old Tolya is a unique—and reviled—product of his environment: his mother was Polish and his father Ukrainian, and both were murdered for simply being themselves when he was still young. He’s lived in a world that has spit on him and starved him within an inch of his life, and to top it all off, he considers himself a traitor to his parents for voluntarily signing up with the Soviets so he had access to things like food and clothing. Tolya is a sad little cinnamon roll I just wanted to hug. I wanted to sit him down and explain to him that doing what it takes in order to keep yourself alive in a world that is hellbent on making sure you die would in no way be a betrayal to parents who loved him. He has an air of naiveté around him, despite the things he’s lived through, and his mixed heritage has given him a unique perspective to understand “both sides”. As a consequence, though, he doesn't feel like he fits in anywhere.



On the other hand, Aleksey (code name: Solovey, which instantly meant I already had a soft spot for him since that's also the name of an excellent horse-friend from another Russian-related book I adore) deserved no fewer hugs, but I also ended up with a bit of a crush after our time together. He’s got that wry, self-deprecating charm and intelligence that, in war-time, is more of a hindrance than a help (ignorance is bliss, y’all). When Tolya meets “Solovey”, he’s a grim and insightful twenty-one year old UPA fighter, but readers are also privy to a younger, less hardened version Aleksey, whose sole concern is keeping his family, including his younger brother and his jailed Ukrainian political activist father, alive and well.

Swoonworthy Scale: 1

There are some very, very small hints of romance, but there is literally no time for that. We are dealing with life and death! While my knee-jerk reaction to “no romance” is always to be a little disappointed, rest assured that you won’t really need it for this book.

Talky Talk: The History Channel, But Awesome

There have been countless pages written about World War II, and with good reason. It’s a complex and fascinating glimpse into the human psyche and the socio-political complexities of the world. I feel like I’ve read my share of books set during WWII, but when I saw McCrina’s novel was set in Poland, focusing on an aspect of the war I haven’t ever read about before, I was instantly intrigued. Then I learned that the author of another WWII book that made me bawl like a baby endorsed the shizz out of it, and I couldn’t wait to dive in. (And warning: this book definitely got a few tears out of me too.)

Happily, Traitor was completely worth it! I got sucked in by Tolya’s earnest and slightly naïve viewpoint and fell hard for Aleksey’s battle-weary optimism. And when I say sucked in, I mean I sat down on a Saturday morning to “start reading” the book and when I looked up from the last page of the author’s notes it was early Saturday evening. McCrina’s writing was so immersive and rich, layering historical facts with fiction and tiny-but-important set-building details that made Galicia, this unfamiliar region of Poland, jump off the page and into my mind’s imagination. Her ability to capture the emotional core of the characters and relate their stories to universal truths also makes me deeply excited to see what she does next.

I will warn you that this book is not going to be for everyone. It’s unflinching in its portrayal of the terrors of war, and while I think it’s good for us to be exposed to things that make us uncomfortable sometimes, you know what you can handle. Some may be annoyed that the ending isn’t going to be tied up in a perfect bow, and while I could’ve used more at the end, myself, I was at peace with it.

Bonus Factor: Psychology



Understanding yourself and your motivations are big themes throughout the novel. Rectifying your beliefs with your actions in a world that forces you to choose between honor and survival can be a level of self-actualization that few can ever achieve, and it can manifest in some crazy cognitive dissonance. Understanding the motivations of others is almost just as murky, and forgiving them for also being human is a Herculean task. I was alternately fascinated and horrified by the psychological aspects of the story as you watch everyone figure out who to trust…and who to kill.

Bonus Factor: WWII



So. Much. Was going on back then. Obviously life around the world today is still constantly way more complex and nuanced than whatever picture we get in our media, but this particular war changed and destroyed generations and civilizations as we know them. I wish we spent more time in school discussing history in a more engaging and dynamic way to really “bring to life” topics that go far beyond Allies = good, Axis = bad. I loved learning more about an area of WWII in which I had no real familiarity or formal exposure to, which is a shame.

Anti-Bonus Factor: Tribalism



It’s not hard to strip back the brutality of war and recognize the dozens of tiny ways the aggression and hatred between the Ukrainians and the Polish and Soviets and Germans seems, well, scarily familiar. Are we not fighting and perpetuating the same kinds of wrongs in so many places today, with opposing factions believing their side is superior to the other, “othering” that which they don’t agree with while resorting to violence and propaganda, and closing ranks to keep out anything “undesirable” from their own community? We, as the human race, have really learned jack-all from our pasts. You know what they say about history and doom…

Relationship Status: I’ll Be Seeing You

I’ll still be missing you long after our tryst is over, Book. Your raw honesty and the horrors you’ve seen touched me, and yet you haven’t let this world make you cold and hateful. Life isn’t fair, and though we have to part, we can always remember these moments we had together.

Literary Matchmaking:



• I mean, I would be completely remiss if I didn’t try to make you read Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity at least one more time in this review. Pro-tip: keep an entire box of tissues handy.

• For more WWII stories with questionable loyalties and teenagers who had to grow up long before their time, check out Matt Killeen’s Orphan Monster Spy.

• In case you are warred out but still want some historical action and similarly amazing writing, I wholeheartedly recommend a Russian folklore-based series from Katherine Alden, beginning with The Bear and the Nightingale.

FTC Full Disclosure: I received my free review copy from Macmillian Children’s Publishing Group. I received neither money nor peanut butter cups in exchange for this review. Traitor is available now.

Historical fiction is not normally a genre that I would pick up. Don’t get wrong history was my favorite subject in school, but whenever I would pick up a work of fiction based on history the dates, places, and historical events became jumbled in my head.

The Story

Everyone remembers reading about World War II in school, but it was always hard to imagine the actual people fighting in the war. The lessons always made that part of history feel so far away. But Traitor puts you right next to these young men and women as they fight for their lives and for whichever side they are on, even the characters don’t know sometimes. The Polish Resistance, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the Soviet secret police (NKVD), and the German special forces units (Nachtigallen) all fight against each other at one time or another and there seem to be traitors everywhere. The main characters never seem to have a moment’s rest and I did not tire of this story at all while reading it. There are also two different timelines and it just adds to the story even more as details are revealed in the later timeline that explain things that happened in the earlier timeline and vice versa.

The Protagonists

Aleksey and Tolya became very real as I neared the end of their stories. I could honestly read about them forever. Both Tolya and Aleksey constantly battled internal struggles, while having to watch their backs against enemies and their own people. I really felt for them as they made their way through their individual battles and it saddened me when it seemed that they were never going to catch a break. People around them were dying and they never knew when they were going to be safe again. They both just really tugged at my heartstrings.

The Writing

McCrina does a fabulous job of putting you right there with the characters. You never truly know where each character’s loyalty lies no matter how many chapters you read in this story. Each time a new character is introduced I scream internally because I’m wondering if they are going to betray my beloved Aleksey and Tolya or not. McCrina knows just how to keep you on your toes and keep you guessing as the story progresses. She also ended the story on a heartbreaking note that kept me wanting to know more. The author also handles multiple timelines seamlessly. The details that she leaves in each of the timelines are just jaw-dropping and it excited me when I was able to piece together what happened between the two timelines. I am not sure if there is going to be a sequel to this phenomenal book, but if there is, I am all here for it. However, if that is all the story that we are going to get about Tolya and Aleksey, then I am perfectly happy that I got to experience their story in the first place.

This book was hard to follow and meandered too much for me. I didn’t really every connect with the story.

"Traitor" by Amanda McCrina had its pros and cons.
Pro #1: It was about WWII, but focused entirely on Poland and Ukraine while they had Germany coming on one side and Russia on the other and had plenty of tension between themselves, and this was something I'd never learned about before so that was unique and really interesting.
Con #1: I knew nothing about the names of all these armies and resistance groups and that was really, really confusing. I spent 3/4 of the book wondering which side these people were on, again? Which country do they claim? I think if I'd had a physical book and could frequently and easily refer to the helpful lists in the back of the book, that probably would have helped a lot. But with an ebook I wasn't even fully aware that those sections existed until I got to the end of the book. The author's note at the end also helped me understand a lot of what I'd read, but I would've liked to know that while reading. She also had a preface where she explained some things, but it didn't mean much to me until I was already deep in the book. I don't know, maybe I'm just too dense for historical fiction as hefty as this was.
1b. All the Ukrainian/Polish names were really hard to keep straight. Also people had titles/nicknames that made no sense to me. It was a little like reading Tolstoy, except harder. Again, having the list at the back of the book in a physical copy might have helped.
Pro #2: The writing was great and it was action-packed.
Con #2: It was hard to feel emotionally attached to the action when I couldn't keep track of who people were and to which group and country they belonged.
Con #3: The time period/POV hopping really threw me off in the beginning especially. It was clearly marked as a jump back in time, but at first I thought maybe it was the same POV character we'd started with just in the past. Then I got confused and decided it couldn't be, but then I kept changing my mind. By the time it was confirmed for sure that the past scenes were in the POV of a different person, everything that would happen to the person was revealed and then I started wondering why I ought to bother reading the rest of it. Unless of course he was lying about what had happened to him, which many characters often were. It was very hard to keep track of. It didn't feel like a mystery I had to figure out along the way, it felt like I'd missed something or that something hadn't been made clear enough for me.
Basically, this book was way over my head. Maybe if I was more of a history/Eastern European nerd I would have been able to enjoy it more, but I spent too much time being lost and confused to really get into it. It did have its good moments. It just wasn't very accessible for me, but that doesn't necessarily mean that would be true for everyone.

This is a very good book with a very large web of possible readers. This would be a fantastic book club book, because it gives the readers may topics to discuss from the writing style to the characters and to the topics discussed in the book. This is why I gave it four out of five stars.

Review posted on GoodReads (August 28, 2020)
Review linked.

3/5 stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for sending me an E-ARC for an honest review!

I was really interested in this book from the moment I heard about it. I have always loved reading Historical Fiction, and I love finding new books that shed light on an area of history that some people might not know that much about.

For me, this story was super fast paced, super action packed, and very full of information. I do feel like the plot was a bit too fast at times, but I was never bored during this book and each chapter made me want to continue reading. I think why I am giving this book three stars instead of four is because of how confused I was with the characters. There is a list in the book that explains everything, but since I had an E-ARC, the list was in the back of the book and not at the beginning. Unfortunately, throughout the story, I did get confused by connections between characters and the roles that certain characters had in the world and in the story.  

Other than that, I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it to people who love historical fiction.

Thanks for reading!
Caden

The tension began on page one and was sustained throughout the book. It kept me turning the pages.

The dual timeline didn't work well for me. It seemed to make it harder for me to keep track of the factions and what their purpose was. At times I also found myself confusing parts of the back stories of the two main characters.

The end of the book was quite abrupt. It didn't feel like the story was over yet. It felt like their could be a sequel to come,

Overall this was an interesting and engaging read.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Book Club Girls for the E-ARC.

This is such a different kind of WWII novel and I really enjoyed it! The pace was great and the plot was engaging. I only wish I had known about the character glossary at the end. The downside of reading on a kindle I have learned is that I often miss the ability to just flip around.

Oh man this was super interesting. I din't know much about what Poland and Ukraine were going through during WWII and what there liberation from Germany by the Soviets caused. It was really easy to see how you could get caught up being a traitor to both sides depending on what you had to do to survive during the occupation by germany or when the red army The Soviets came through. There was a wide cast of characters and so much historical detail that it was like you were there. All in all just really good read and I really liked learning the history of the region that I didn't really know when I started this book.

Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

This harrowing, complex thriller illumines a terrible, little-known chapter of World War II – the brutal violence that erupted between Ukrainians and Poles in disputed border regions controlled by the Germans, then the Soviets – and the impossible choices facing young people trying to survive in a world where loyalty to one side or another could mean a very painful death and where anyone could betray you at anytime.

McCrina sets her tale in the occupied Galician city of Lwow (Lviv to Ukrainians), skipping back and forth in time, between 1941, with Germans about to invade after the Soviet retreat, and 1944, after the Soviet liberation of the city, and the stories of 17-year-old Tolya, a half-Polish, half-Ukrainian sniper in the Soviet Army, and Aleksey Kobryn, elder son of a jailed Ukrainian nationalist leader. The author excels at writing thrilling scenes of close calls, of surprising betrayals and even more surprising alliances, of self-sacrifice and heroism, of chase and combat, of hunter and hunted, not sparing graphic details of hellish violence and torture.

As the novel begins, Tolya has just impulsively killed his unit's political officer, Zampolit Petrov, when he is rescued by Aleksey's squad of the Ukrainian insurgent army. The reader would do well to keep referring to the list of characters at the end to keep them all straight in what can become a very confusing list of similar names allied with warring forces including the Nachtigallen (a special-forces unit of the German army comprised of Ukrainian volunteers), the Polish Resistance, the NKVD (Soviet secret police) and the the UPA (Ukrainian insurgent army). (In an interview with Publishers Weekly, McCrina said she wrote the Tolya and Aleksey novels separately and then wove them together.)

The title is beautifully clarified in Tolya's thoughts here: "He didn't say anything. What was there to say? He wasn't Polish, and he wasn't Ukrainian. He was a traitor to his father's people on account of his mother, and a traitor to his mother's people on account of his father, and a traitor to both on account of the Reds, and a traitor to the Reds on account of Zampolit Petrov."

The book wasn't what I was expecting it to be. I found myself intrigued enough to keep reading but underwhelmed with the plot. I attribute this to the book being rated for YA. I've read quite a few adult fantasies as of late and I had a harder time switching back to YA books. I think this book is absolutely perfect for YA readers. Easy to read and understand, plot is simple enough to follow. Unfortunately, I wanted higher stakes.

"We’ve all got our own little wars."

In 1944 Poland WWII may be nearing its end, but the troubles are just beginning for some of the country's long suffering residents. In the wake of Lwów's liberation from Germany, the city--like the rest of Poland--is torn between loyalists to either Poland or Ukraine as their years long power struggle continues and threatens to tear the country apart.

Seventeen-year-old Tolya Korolenko is half-Ukrainian, half-Polish and wanted by neither side. Hungry and alone, he has become a sniper in the Soviet Red Army to try to survive. It's a good plan until he shoots his unit's political officer in a dark alley. Tolya knows what happens to traitors. He knows what to expect.

What surprises him is his unlikely rescue by Ukrainian freedom fighters. In Poland everyone is fighting their own little wars and soon Tolya finds himself dragged into Solovey's. Helping the man who rescued him probably won't save Tolya's life. But it might buy him some time.

In a city where self-preservation and loyalty can't always mean the same thing, Tolya and Solovey are both rocked by betrayals that will change everything in Traitor (2020) by Amanda McCrina.

Find it on Bookshop.

The story follows two storylines: Tolya's as it unfolds in 1944 and Aleksey's years earlier in 1941. How you feel about the story may depend on how quickly you begin piecing together the connections between these two timelines.

Contrasting the beginning and end of World War II, Traitor explores the things that remain the same as characters are driven to desperate choices both for survival and revenge. Tense prose and cliffhanging chapter endings make this novel a fast read although alternating parts between Tolya and Aleksey often cuts much the tension and--given the fact that Aleksey's story is essentially a flashback--lends a certain inevitability to what should be suspenseful plot points.

Traitor effectively uses restricted perspective in both narratives to limit what the characters and readers know leading to reveals that sometimes expected and sometimes not. Unfortunately, it also keeps both of the novel's main characters at a remove from readers making it hard to feel entirely invested in either narrative.

Traitor is a well-researched and suspenseful look at a rarely examined piece of history. Readers who enjoy their history with a large dose of suspense and an unflinching look at the violence of war will find the most to appreciate here.

Possible Pairings: Tamar by Mal Peet, Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

*An advance copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review consideration*

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Traitor: A Novel of World War II

Author: Amanda McCrina

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 2/5

Recommended For...: historical fiction, war novels

Publication Date: August 25, 2020

Genre: YA Historical Fiction

Recommended Age: can’t recommend, dnf-ed

Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

Pages: 368

Synopsis: Poland, 1944. After the Soviet liberation of Lwów from Germany, the city remains a battleground between resistance fighters and insurgent armies, its loyalties torn between Poland and Ukraine. Seventeen-year-old Tolya Korolenko is half Ukrainian, half Polish, and he joined the Soviet Red Army to keep himself alive and fed. When he not-quite-accidentally shoots his unit's political officer in the street, he's rescued by a squad of Ukrainian freedom fighters. They might have saved him, but Tolya doesn't trust them. He especially doesn't trust Solovey, the squad's war-scarred young leader, who has plenty of secrets of his own.

Then a betrayal sends them both on the run. And in a city where loyalty comes second to self-preservation, a traitor can be an enemy or a savior—or sometimes both.

Review: Overall, this was a good book but I had to DNF it at 34%. The book was action packed and could be a great read. The book is also very historical, but there were so many characters that didn’t seem to be important to the plot at all and the descriptions really made the slow pacing feel much slower. The book also confused me a bit while reading it.

Verdict: Not for me, but maybe for you!

Ukraine, 1944. Tolya Korolenko kills someone by accident. Afterwards he moves along the streets of Lwow city with his gun. We get to know the names of the streets, but we don’t get a feel of who Tolya is, besides being half Polish and half Ukrainian.

The point of the story is to shed light on the complex history of Lwow, which was in the hands of different nations and its history is probably unknown to most of the people outside Eastern Europe. The shifting powers meant you had to be careful who you associated yourself with.

What attracted me to this story was Lwow. I wanted to better understand its history. But the problem with this story is execution. Very dry style of writing. It’s like reading a non-fiction injected with a lot of dialogue at some parts. There is lack of character development. It’s just historical facts and fight for survival, lacking a character that would lead a reader through this tumultuous part of history.

The history of Lwow is so complex that trying to put all those names and what they stand for or for whom, or who is against whom, is very overwhelming.

For me, the most grasping stories start with an interesting character and then injection of history, once you’re attached to the character. Stories that start with an action scene, like in this story, and bombardment of names that most of the English speaking people won’t be able to pronounce is not something I connect with. I need character development first.

This story focuses on Poland and its struggles with the Soviet Union and Germany and much more. We follow two teens who are running for their lives. It was a different WW2 novel in the fact that we follow more of the fighting among young soldiers and factions but also see a lot of the struggles civilians.

At times it was very confusing going between 2 POV because their experiences were very similar. Their stories were also 3 years apart so it was difficult to find the connections and why there were 2 POV.

I liked the story and I liked the experiences but I spent too much time figuring out which characters were important and which side they were on. I felt the characters needed to be going through very different experiences for me to tell them apart. Because they were both teens, boys and running from soldiers, it felt too similar.

Overall a great story. It felt more like adult historical fiction than YA. Some of the violence was pretty intense.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Children's Publishing Group for the copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is out August 25, 2020.

I really enjoyed this book. I learned new history that I didn't know and I think that many would be interested in this. This was a thrill ride from start to finish.

My favorite kind of historical fiction books are the ones that take a small piece of largely unknown (to me) history and blow them up in a way that makes them unforgettable. I am sorely lacking in my knowledge of eastern European pre-WW2 leading into WW2 history, and this book made me feel like I was right there, fighting alongside these two young men.

One thing I loved about this novel was the way the narrative was told. Tolya, a half-Polish/half-Ukranian 17-year-old is fighting for his life while keeping his Polish heritage a secret upon pain of death. His story is told in the third person, and is set in 1944, while juxtaposed against Aleksey’s in 1941, told in the first person. After Tolya shoots an important officer, he is rescued by Aleksey’s insurgent forces and their stories intertwine.

I loved the twisty plot, the complex and realistic characters, and the straightforward storytelling. This will be an excellent addition to any historical fiction collection, and will be especially great for those interested in reading male YA historical fiction. There is action, some torture, and gore, but all of it felt realistic within the realm of this novel. I will definitely be endorsing this book to teens in my community.

Told from alternating view points, Amanda McCrina takes readers inside the lives of two young men trying to survive World War II in the city of Lwów. For Tolya who is half Ukranian and half Polish, each day he spends as a conscript in the Soviet army is a risk. He lives his life doing what he must to survive until one day in a moment of valor he shoots a superior office in the street to save a young woman from assault. When he’s saved by Ukrainian Freedom Fighters, Tolya knows their leader, Solovey, will only keep him alive as long as he is useful. Solovey past and present is anything but straightforward though and when their group is betrayed the two have no choice but to trust one another as they flee for their lives.

VERDICT is that this is a very compelling piece of historical fiction about a time and place during World War II that is overlooked in American history books at the very least. I was fascinated and horrified by this heartbreaking story. The back and forth narration taking place along different timelines was a little confusing at first, but ultimately very successful once I figured out all the characters and their places within each others story. There was so much to take in I almost felt as though each character could have had their own novel. I really appreciated the structure of this book with the historical note at the beginning, list of military and paramilitary forces at the end, and author’s note. These were all extremely useful in providing context for a reader like myself who really didn’t know anything in-depth about the conflict between the Ukrainians and Poles during World War II and how this was exacerbated by the German and Soviet armies. I think this is a novel that will inspire readers to want to learn more about the history of World War II in its entirety.

This book is told through two perspectives at different times in World War II. We have the perspectives of Aleksey and Tolya in Poland and how a betrayal puts both of them in danger and sends them running. I enjoyed that this book was written about a part of WW2 that isn't as well known, or written about. There was obviously a lot of research done, which I appreciate as a history nerd. But, this book fell a bit flat for me. It was a quick read (I finished it in 2 days), but I feel like I just wanted a little more. Maybe an epilogue would have helped? And the alternate perspectives and timelines could get muddled at times. Overall, I liked the book. I just felt like it needed a little more. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!