This book is getting three stars from me because:
1. It is a rarely-written about part of World War 2 history, and
2. I can tell the author did her research, and that the subject matter was important to her.
If not for those two things, I would have rated it lower. The book is aptly named, because everyone is betraying everyone, which makes it very hard to follow. The history itself is complicated, but the writing of the story did not make it that much clearer. Even if the author’s note had been in the front of the book (or if I had read it first), it still would have only lent a little background to what was going on.

I read an interview with the author, in which she stated the story was mainly Tolya’s. But there are two different time periods, and two different characters that the story follows. If the book was supposed to be mainly Tolya’s story, half of it should not have been the background of Solovey and what he experienced before meeting Tolya. Another issue is that the novel is in third person. With an already complicated narrative, it would have helped to be in Tolya’s head and perspective in order to cement the reader in the action.

The upshot is Tolya is half-Polish, half-Ukrainian, and during this time period, that sucks for him because the Polish hate the Ukrainians, the Ukrainians hate the Polish, the Germans hate the Polish, and the Soviets hate everybody. At least, that is what I was able to gather through the course of the entire novel.
Tolya lives in an area that is constantly passed back and forth between Soviet and German hands, and the Ukrainian nationalist movement and Polish resistance are at odds with each other and with whoever is in power at any given time. Confused yet?? Furthermore, the Ukrainian nationalist movement is really only fighting for itself, but partnered with the Germans at first against the Soviets.

All that to say, Tolya is stuck in this world, between all these worlds and all the hate and all the machinations.

There are also a lot of characters, which with the afore-mentioned ethnicities and political parties, made it hard to remember whose side people were on, and the betrayals didn’t help matters.

I even had a hard time keeping the backstories of Tolya and Solovey straight. If you do choose to pick up this book, I highly suggest making use of the List of Military and Paramilitary Forces and the Character List, which are in the back of the book. I might even say that taking notes would help, but who has time for that??

I really appreciate that you can feel the author’s passion for this history, but I wish it had been made more accessible to the reader. And, if we as readers had been inside Tolya’s head, I think I would have connected with the story more.

This action packed novel does a great job of introducing readers to the complex and often untold history of the many clashing resistance groups, partisans, militaries, and civilians, all struggling for control of this region at the end of world war II. The story is told from dual perspectives and jumps between two different timelines, and while this keeps the intensity rising, it can be difficult to keep track of all the names and information between the shifting stories.

It was interesting to see the moral ambiguity of the main characters, and I think this book would be a great conversation starter about how people with only bad options make decisions and what actions we can justify in the name of survival. This book is a good pick for readers interested in complex histories and learning about the impact of war, but between the complexity, depictions of violence, and weighty subject matter, I think more mature YA readers will get the most out of it.

Thank you to Macmillan and Netgalley for an advance copy of this Ebook.

This book was a little hard for me to get into right from the start mainly because the names were so unfamiliar but it didn't take long for me to not want to put it down. I have a lot of kids that will love this book and I am excited to add it to the library.

This book was not for me, so I did not finish it.
It might be a case of "it's not you, it's me," though!
Thanks for the opportunity to preview the title.

I really wanted to like this book. I love reading historical books but it was in dual perspective and that just confused me to no end. I couldn't keep track of who was where and if so and so was there or over there.
I just would have preferred one POV or something just a big different to make the distinction between characterws.

Told through two different characters, Tolya and Aleksey three years apart, this story about two young men who learn that a traitor can be an enemy and a savior and sometimes both.

This was a historical YA novel that I was greatly looking forward to. It had all the elements to make it a banger - young adult, World War 2, traitorous undertones, what more could you want? Unfortunately this fell south of flat for me - I could not make it past 30% of the book. It starts out with 17-year old Tolya, a half-Ukranian half-Polish boy caught up in the war. Events happen that give him the status of "traitor" and he and his rescuers end up on the run. The writing felt uninspired for me; the character perspective did not have a whole lot going on in terms of engagement and interest or plot/character development. But then, it SWITCHED perspectives to someone else and from a different point of view. It's hard enough to do this when there are good things happening in a book, and this just didn't work for me in this book at all.

Perhaps this is one of those books that works best for WWII enthusiasts and those more attuned to the young adult age, rather than just any YA-interested person, but for me, this was not a great story, mainly because I felt the story and character development fell flat.

It took me a little while to get into this book, but I found it to be engaging and worthwhile. I think this will be a great addition to our (high school) library. We have a lot of readers who enjoy WWII historical fiction, especially those who take our Holocaust history class.
Thanks for the galley! Our physical copy arrived in the library last week from Follett and I am excited to book talk it for our classes.

This is one of my favorite time periods for historical fiction. As an adult, I very much enjoyed this book, but as a teacher reading for her students this book read too much like narrative nonfiction for me. There is a lot of background knowledge that could get confusing for a young adult reader. Overall, it was a darkly fascinating story, but I just think it was too confusing for my students.

While I don't normally read YA, this book piqued my curiosity. Taking place in Poland in 1944, resistance fighters and insurgents armies serve as a backdrop for this novel.

While this book definitely held a lot of promise, I found it confusing and disjointed. I simply couldn't follow the storyline which was unusual because it was YA. I don't think many young readers would be able to stay interested in this story. It saddens me to write a negative review for TRAITOR because I was so excited for this book. I will definitely follow McCrina, however, and am looking forward to seeing what she will write next.

I was very excited to dive into Traitor by Amanda McCrina. I was excited to know that the author was homeschool and she wrote a book about one of my favorite subjects. This book takes place during World War II. I think this novel keeps the readers on its toes with all the twists and turns it has. The title fits the story so well. I really enjoyed that the story took place in a different part of the war than you normally read about. Our main character is Ukrainian and Polish. The story takes place between the Ukraine and Poland.

This novel is about two young men who are caught up in all of the fighting of the war. There is so much devastation and heartbreak that they witness. I found that sometimes the timelines could be a bit confusing but you find how these two men's lives are intertwined and connected. I personally feel like there is always something learn from books even if they are fiction. I am glad that I got a chance to read this book.

Traitor is a World War II book. The story starts with Tolya, where we follow him on the night when he comes across a man harassing a woman,bthe man is a important soldier/leader (some happens) and he sneaks back onto the base. When he does he realizes that he's going to have to escape and make a run for it and we follow his journey of what it's like being on the run from a part of his past and another part of his past. There's a lot going on in this book there's a few times I did find myself confused but I did enjoy the characters and learning more about this part of the war of World War II and how it does affect you not just by family and friends dying but mentally, how that leads to other problems; like trusting people, ect. Also what Tolya has to go through being from one country when you're at war and another country that hates his country, and not knowing where he belongs. The main character is from both sides of the war and he battles with identity crisis and what it's like when you can't say that you're from one can't you're not because you're from both side of the war. I enjoy the pacing, there was no part that I was bored at or wasn't slow; every single thing that happened in this book lead or connected to something else somewhere in this book and I really enjoyed how everything was connected. Stories set in War in the past is usually ones I do enjoy I was feeling like I’m leaning and growing. Every time I do read a World War II book I feel like I learn another piece of a puzzle of what it was like back then; the trauma, the sadness and the hardship that people went through, that my ancestors went through and it's just really important of a story to tell. Overall, if you are a fan of historian or war base books, you will enjoy this and you will see another side of the story told.

Wow this was a challenging read. The setting and topic were very difficult to undead keep clear. I very quickly lost track of who was polish, Ukrainian, and Russian; of who was part of the Resistance, the Reds, the UPA. The story was still interesting and engaging but definitely challenging. And then it just ended. I understand I had an early release of the novel, but there wasn’t any kind of resolution, but rather an abrupt ending.

Kudos to this author for taking on such a difficult part of history and recording a fictional account of what I’m sure is an integral part of Eastern Europe’s history during WWII.

I sometimes find it difficult to get into a third person POV, but Amanda McCrina's voice was so immersive, I really felt like I was there with both Tolya and Aleksey. As a person of both Polish and Russian heritage, I really enjoyed all the details regarding the setting and learning more about this particular conflict surrounding Lwow during WW2. While this story is historical fiction, I really think it would appeal to fans of non-fiction as well (i.e. readers of Lauren Hillenbrand).

Fiction, especially YA fiction, based around aspects of the two World Wars always finds a way to tell a story relatable to the reader. Even as a history major, I found myself unaware tensions were so high between Poles and Ukrainians after the Germans and Russians decimated the Eastern Front. While the characters in this book are fictional, the anger and prejudices encompassing the book from the start are truly genuine. I highly encourage history readers to pick this one up. It’s one of the more necessary and recently published reads on World War II, right next to The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

Traitor: A Novel of World War II By Amanda McCrina

Rating: 3 / 5 Stars

Publication Date: 8/25/2020

** Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan, and of course, Amanda McCrina, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am always a huge advocate for YA depictions of World War II. When it comes to general historical fiction, the period is overdone, but for children, I always believe learning from fiction is the best way. History can often be a bore for younger readers!

The youth audience though provides a challenge on the other hand. McCrina uses a ton of words from Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, and German words/names which can confuse the reader. It could also deter them from not finishing. I am an advocate for accuracy - but this is a frustrating reality when it comes to young readers.

The setting is incredibly important. The conclusion of World War II is often forgotten in exchange for the heavier years of battle. To call this a novel of the war does confuse me. Yes, we see the final year of it - but the plot focuses on the liberation by the Soviets and what unfolds afterward. So, technically I think it would fare better if it was just titled a historical novel? I guess I am nitpicking!

Our main character is Tolya Korolenko - Ukrainian and Polish who is trying to survive the new conditions of Lwów, Poland under Soviet control. This leads him to join the Red Army - where he accidentally shoots and kills his political officer in the street. He is rescued by Ukrainian freedom fighters, but that doesn’t mean he trusts them. What follows is two on the run in order to save their own lives. A traitor can be an enemy or a savior - or can they be both?

Traitor is depicted as a historical thriller, and I do think it lives up to that. I must congratulate McCrina for her work on this novel. Despite my few reservations, I think this book is a great read for younger readers.

“Whose side are you on anyway? ...my own, same as you.”
It’s hard to know who to trust when you’re simply trying to survive.
At first, the story’s a bit confusing, my own ignorance of the area and history is to blame, and 4 sided, between Polish, Ukrainian, Russian and German interests and also their long-held prejudices and beliefs to take into account. Most of the plot is narrowed down between Polish and Ukrainian, the characters and their stories spill into all of the nationalities and values, and it’s a bit hard to keep things straight, so you’d better pay attention! Definitely refer to the List of Military and Paramilitary Forces that McCrina provides (I do wish I’d seen this before I finished the book!) With that being said, what a story! A story of survival, resistance, collaboration, betrayal, torture, hope, and love of family and country.

While I enjoyed this book, I was confusing! With the overlapping characters and storylines - but being set in two different times - it was a bit confusing to follow. With that, I was definitely invested in the outcomes of the two characters; I was eager to see if they survived or how they ended up. However, all the secondary characters meant little to me - which is sad, since they are where the real overlap happened. I think the confusion was also made worse just by so many different sides, which is obviously not the author's fault, but is just how history worked; so, it was incredibly difficult to remember who was who, who didn't like who and why, and who the characters were currently running away from or trying to avoid.

Overall, it was a quick read and I did enjoy most of the novel, but it was just a confusing bit of history to set a book in which impacted my reading experience.

Two soldiers bring to life a little known aspect of WWII of four warring armies and factions--the Red Army, Germans (Wehrmacht, SS. Gestapo), Polish Resistance, Ukrainian Freedom Fighters--all operating in and around Lwow, Poland. Being character driven with themes of prejudice and survival, I was seriously reminded of Kafka's The Castle--just when you think you know where someone's allegiance lies, you find you are wrong. A complex and rewarding read which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

When you think of World War II historical fiction for young people, Germany, France, Great Britain, and Japan all immediately come to mind as likely settings. Amanda McCrina fills a gap with "Traitor," shining a light on the lesser known story of what war was like for the citizens and soldiers in Poland. Told in alternating viewpoints of two soldiers young soldiers--Tolya Korolenko a sniper in the Soviet Army, and Aleksey Solovey, a leader in the Ukrainian Nationalist--"Traitor" is equal parts thriller, adventure, and mystery. On a fateful night, Tolya shoots his commanding officer and is then rescued from execution by his own army by a group of Ukrainian Nationalists led by Aleksey. Changing alliances, undercover spies, and mistaken loyalties force Tolya and Aleksey on the run, and bring a relentless sequence of heart-pounding action. McCrina jumps back and forth in time, revealing how the two soldiers' lives are more intertwined than either of them realize. The fact that this part of World War II history is lesser known puts readers in an emotional state very similar to Tolya's--never knowing who to trust, who is on your side, and what you are even fighting for. McCrina doesn't sugarcoat the violence and brutality of war, and drives home the fact that war strips everyone's innocence away. This may be a difficult read for many readers and the ending is not a hopeful one; however, Tolya and Aleksey will leave a lasting impression.