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collierkeithj's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
lisade's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyable enough but seemed to end with a bit of whimper.
duparker's review against another edition
3.0
I had higher hopes for this book. It is WWII espionage, but set at sea, and adrift at times. I never was drawn in as much as I wanted. It might have suffered from reading five Furst books within 3 days.
leighwh727's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jacki_f's review against another edition
3.0
Alan Furst has written fourteen books set in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. They form the "Night Soldiers" series and while they are loosely inter-connected, each is a standalone novel in its own right. Blood of Victory is set between November 1940-July 1941 and is about a British plot to disrupt the supply of Romanian oil to the Germans. Our hero is Serebin, a writer and journalist, originally from Odessa but now living in Paris.
This book showcases both what is good about Furst's writing and what is not so good. He has a wonderful economical writing style - he can pack more into a short paragraph than almost any other author I know. He creates a world full of richly realised characters and brings the settings to life with telling details. His stories are fictional but they feel real.
However as with so many of his books, the storyline takes a back seat to the characters and settings. There are long periods in this book where you kind of wonder where its going or what is the point of the little story we've got waylaid in. Sometimes, masterfully, he will weave it back in 100 pages down the track, but at other times it's just about creating layers of atmosphere, building up a scene in depth. Generally I like this aspect of his writing but this time round it felt like he'd let it go a little too far. The pace is sluggish and the plot seems murky right up until the final 40 pages, which are densely packed with heart in your mouth action.
This book showcases both what is good about Furst's writing and what is not so good. He has a wonderful economical writing style - he can pack more into a short paragraph than almost any other author I know. He creates a world full of richly realised characters and brings the settings to life with telling details. His stories are fictional but they feel real.
However as with so many of his books, the storyline takes a back seat to the characters and settings. There are long periods in this book where you kind of wonder where its going or what is the point of the little story we've got waylaid in. Sometimes, masterfully, he will weave it back in 100 pages down the track, but at other times it's just about creating layers of atmosphere, building up a scene in depth. Generally I like this aspect of his writing but this time round it felt like he'd let it go a little too far. The pace is sluggish and the plot seems murky right up until the final 40 pages, which are densely packed with heart in your mouth action.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
(3.5) I had an itch to read an Alan Furst novel and I scratched it with this one because it was the only one available at three different used book stores. It's no better or worse than any other in the Night Soldiers series, the only reason I gave it three stars was that I hoped it would be different otherwise. When I get the need to read another in the series, I'll scratch the itch again but I just can't help feeling that Furst's books should be more enjoyable than they actually are.
joestewart's review against another edition
3.0
I found this one to be surprisingly confusing. Not sure why, but nonetheless it was. As usual the characters came to life in the settings that Furst does such a nice job of describing.
leavingsealevel's review against another edition
2.0
Unfortunately (for me), I did not like this as well as the other Alan Furst book I recently read. I found the plot too hard to follow, without enough back story/character development. I am still confused about what the bunch of spies did (and didn't?) accomplish. I am going to go read Goodreads reviews now in hopes that someone who gets spies has explained things.
jefecarpenter's review against another edition
5.0
A beautiful story where for much of the book you don't feel you're in an espionage thriller as much as living in a dark age, much as we are now, where, if you are progressive, you can't sit idly and just watch it; you are drawn into doing something. In this case, it is WWII, and it becomes an intricate network of players with many unique talents and world-views, with the tools to execute amazing things, but they are all living in oppression, dangerous times, and there's the "blues" engendered by that, just as much as the original blues in the American south under slavery. Along with that comes a sense of honor, and dignity, that have been hard to find in our world these past few years (-2021) and a beautifully understated love affair that grows deeper now, as the story passes into memory.
It seems to me that Alan Furst is sort of like the Patrick O'Brian of WWII in eastern Europe. O'Brian wrote the reader right into the day-to-day experience of the British Navy in the Napoleonic Wars but his over-arching achievement was telling deep stories of character and relationships, and often taking you far from the waves. I think Furst's "Blood of Victory" is like O'Brian's "The Surgeon's Mate" where the great part of the story takes place inside the back-channels of aristocracy in Paris, and inside a prison much like the Bastille, and a lot of time is spent with intricate details of life devoid of action.
It seems to me that Alan Furst is sort of like the Patrick O'Brian of WWII in eastern Europe. O'Brian wrote the reader right into the day-to-day experience of the British Navy in the Napoleonic Wars but his over-arching achievement was telling deep stories of character and relationships, and often taking you far from the waves. I think Furst's "Blood of Victory" is like O'Brian's "The Surgeon's Mate" where the great part of the story takes place inside the back-channels of aristocracy in Paris, and inside a prison much like the Bastille, and a lot of time is spent with intricate details of life devoid of action.