The story centres around Alistair Stears, originally from America but now living in Europe with his mother who is the mistress of an Italian Colonel. Alistair has the responsibility of accompanying two horses across Europe to Venice. WW1 has broken out and the journey is not a very safe one. Alistair is a poet, a gentle soul who finds love, a soul mate only to lose her while he is away fighting.
This is such a beautifully written novel that still catches me still with a flood of emotions. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to experience this period in history but to then face a second war some years later seems just unthinkable. Alistair finds his fame and new love but his past is always there.
The characters in this story are quite haunting how fate played its part to give and take away. Alistair expresses himself in his writing but the need arises he is more than willing to fight for his beloved Italy. The battles are intense and fierce and the casualties are high.
This book has everything, it has passion and heart. Highly recommended. Simply epic!
I wish to thank Smith Publicity and NetGalley for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

Disclaimer: I received a finished copy from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Poet’s War

Author: Francis O’Neill

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 3/5

Recommended For...: poetry, war, historical fiction

Publication Date: August 11, 2020

Genre: Historical Fiction

Recommended Age: 18+ (war flashbacks, violence, gore, romance)

Publisher: Ingram Spark

Pages: 430

Synopsis: It is Europe’s darkest time in near memory. American warrior poet Alistair Stears, thrown into Italian WWI through his mother’s love for an Italian colonel, experienced a convoy of the dying through burning provinces of Italy in the terrible retreat of 1917. It brought from him the great English poem of the Italian war.

One war later, all gracious things await destruction, knowledge is burned, thought coarsened, manners trashed, perverted faith and truth follow the dictators’ flags—vultures to grace. Stears is a famous poet now, married into German-Italian nobility and determined with his wife to fight the Axis powers. He risks everything to protect Italy and all else he loves. He finds that the bravest and fiercest resistance may be the rightness of a poem, the closing of a letter, the welcome of guests, the embrace of a bride, faith toward a fallen friend--and that it may also come from the barrel of a gun. Spanning both world wars, The Poet’s War finds loyalty, patriotism, war, deception, intrigue, romance, love, and death swept up in a maelstrom that spans generations and changes Europe forever.

Review: For the most part I liked this book. The world building was amazing and the strength of this book is the world building. I also felt like the characters were adequately developed and the plot was pretty good.

However, I had an issue with the writing. The book has a lot of Italian phrases and switches between English and Italian. I think that threw me off of the book because it was hard to understand what was being said. Also, the world building was on borderline too much in places. It was kind of like reading a Stephen King novel where he spends 3 pages describing a scene. The book also has a lot of poetry and poetic moments, which is beautiful but not my style.

Verdict: It was good, just long and sometimes confusing.