Stephanie Baumgartner

I can only say a few things about this book and to be honest that is a shame. Here is a book I wanted to truly love, after all I thoroughly enjoy both fiction and non-fiction works set in this era, so by the time I reached the end of this novel, I was so disappointed that I only just liked it.

I have no issue with Christian fiction, as sometimes it can be a lot better written and put together than those outside this genre; the Authors of this kind of work always seem to be able to show the sliver of light in the darkness, but this novel was just too much and led to my being really irritated in parts. This impression was fuelled mainly by the featured protagonist of the title; she was just too good to be true. Her most annoying trait was putting off thinking about things that she didn’t like, or upset her all too sheltered little world. This may sound like a natural human reaction when dealing with the issue of war, but then the reader discovers that the most important things in her world are all centred on her. I found there to be no strength of will or conviction in this character at all, and as a whole found her to be rather vapid and flimsy. The main protagonist was not the only character I had issues with; her all too perfect devoutly Christian family were written in such a way that I felt downright disgust at their hypocrisy, and this made me come to think of them as “Sunday Christians”, not an image I should imagine the Author was looking to create at all.

Repetition featured heavily in this novel and, not intending to insult the Author in any way, it came across as if they had reached a wall with the storyline and brought back time and again feelings and impressions that had been covered earlier, to bridge a gap until the plot could be picked up again. If it was used as a tool to ensure the reader understood the motivations behind everything, good for them but if you are going to use this style in the future it may do well to come across a little less heavy-handedly. Also, and this is definitely just my personal opinion like everything else in the reviews I write, I feel this book should be reclassified as Christian Fiction; in this way the Author would probably reach a larger target audience. Classified as it is, readers picking this up and expecting to read about World War II Germany from a young American woman’s viewpoint will be sorely disappointed. I’m in two minds whether I will read anymore in the series; as one part of me would like to see if the Authors writing style and approach develop; but the other side of me is loathe to have to go through the same thing I went through with this novel.

I would recommend this book to those readers who enjoy inspirational Christian fiction and who don’t mind embarking on yet another series of books.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/03/10/review-sophias-war-the-end-of-innocence-1-...




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
… (mehr)

I can only say a few things about this book and to be honest that is a shame. Here is a book I wanted to truly love, after all I thoroughly enjoy both fiction and non-fiction works set in this era, so by the time I reached the end of this novel, I was so disappointed that I only just liked it.

I have no issue with Christian fiction, as sometimes it can be a lot better written and put together than those outside this genre; the Authors of this kind of work always seem to be able to show the sliver of light in the darkness, but this novel was just too much and led to my being really irritated in parts. This impression was fuelled mainly by the featured protagonist of the title; she was just too good to be true. Her most annoying trait was putting off thinking about things that she didn’t like, or upset her all too sheltered little world. This may sound like a natural human reaction when dealing with the issue of war, but then the reader discovers that the most important things in her world are all centred on her. I found there to be no strength of will or conviction in this character at all, and as a whole found her to be rather vapid and flimsy. The main protagonist was not the only character I had issues with; her all too perfect devoutly Christian family were written in such a way that I felt downright disgust at their hypocrisy, and this made me come to think of them as “Sunday Christians”, not an image I should imagine the Author was looking to create at all.

Repetition featured heavily in this novel and, not intending to insult the Author in any way, it came across as if they had reached a wall with the storyline and brought back time and again feelings and impressions that had been covered earlier, to bridge a gap until the plot could be picked up again. If it was used as a tool to ensure the reader understood the motivations behind everything, good for them but if you are going to use this style in the future it may do well to come across a little less heavy-handedly. Also, and this is definitely just my personal opinion like everything else in the reviews I write, I feel this book should be reclassified as Christian Fiction; in this way the Author would probably reach a larger target audience. Classified as it is, readers picking this up and expecting to read about World War II Germany from a young American woman’s viewpoint will be sorely disappointed. I’m in two minds whether I will read anymore in the series; as one part of me would like to see if the Authors writing style and approach develop; but the other side of me is loathe to have to go through the same thing I went through with this novel.

I would recommend this book to those readers who enjoy inspirational Christian fiction and who don’t mind embarking on yet another series of books.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/03/10/review-sophias-war-the-end-of-innocence-1-...




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
… (mehr)