Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

A big thank you to the author Michael Reit the publisher and Netgalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my candid review.

This is an amazing story of resustance during WWII that does not get much notice. I was fortunate to travel to Warsaw in 1976 with my Polish grandmother and to see Old Town Warsaw which had been rebuilt exactly as it had been before the war. It had been destroyed by Nazis during the war. I also got to see films of the total destruction of the Polish Ghetto and of Warsaw. Films made by the Nazis. The Warsaw people really angered and frustrated the Nazis by defying them and by holding out for so long. The Polish people and specifically the Varsovians were brave, valiant, and resiliant and stood up to the Nazis. This book tells the amazing story of those brave people and of the sad story of extermination of Jews. I highly recommend this book as a must read to anyone who wants to know about bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.

Thank you to Netgalley and Michael Reit for the arc of Warsaw Fury by Michael Reit.

If you've read his first one beyond the tracks then I am guaranteed that you will love this one! 5 stars again! he does it so good its amazing! HIghly captivating, gripping, hooking a total page turner and i finiahed within 24 hours as well! Sorry the review is late!

5 STARS THANK YOU AGAIN MICHAEL!

I am a big fan of historical fiction, so this was an easy pick for me. This was pretty enjoyable, but not 100% the book for me. I was not particularly interested in the detailed battle scenes in the city.

Another outstanding page turner from author Michael Reit. I thoroughly enjoy reading WWII novels, and Reit has a way of really captivating his readers and telling stories that are unique.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, WWII books, or war related novels in general. It is very well written and deserves attention.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Michael Reit for the privilege to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Nathan and Julie, they met in the war in Warsaw, Palestine.. Warsaw was raided by the Germans, and the dreaded S.S. They were determined to destroy the City and the people. They shipped the Jews to internment camps and destroyed their homes. Many other buildings were destroyed and people killed for no reason. But the people did not just give them everything, they started to fight back against all odds. And that was when the Resistance was established and where Nathan andJulie met. Their courage and ingenuity sparks your attention and you become deeply involved in their lives. A reminder to us all of the atrocities that occurred during the Second World war and the heroic actions by people of all ages. Highly recommend.

This is a second WWII historical fiction book I’ve read by this author. He has done an amazing job of focusing on a little known aspect of Hitler’s reign of terror. The details of the Jewish resistance and the Warsaw uprising was well researched. The characters are well developed and their dedication and sacrifice in the face of such evil is inspirational.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Book Whisperer for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Warsaw Fury hooked me from the beginning and didn't let go until the very end. I enjoyed reading about the Polish resistance which I'm ashamed to say that I didn't know anything about it.

Michael Reit brings the devastating, war-torn streets of Warsaw to life. Natan and Julia are from two different worlds, but are both stricken by tragedy when the Nazis invade Warsaw. They are models of perseverance, resilience, and strength even when the odds are against you. Even though they are fictional, they faced the same horrors that so many went through during WWII.

I recommend Warsaw Fury to historical fiction fans especially if you're looking for something based on lesser known events.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Absolutely a must read! It is well written and captivating! Based on a true story of loss and resistance, through fighting and survival to the hope filled ending, this story had me totally invested in what was happening in Warsaw and the fight of resistance.

Warsaw Fury
Michael Reit
08 Oct 2021

Description:
"Warsaw, 1939 ... We mustn't let darkness win.

Natan Borkowski has it all. In line to take over the successful family business, his future is set.

Julia Horowitz lives in poverty. The daughter of a shoemaker, she dreams of a different life - a different world.

Everything changes when Hitler’s armies invade Poland. Natan’s future is ripped away by the flick of a switch of a Luftwaffe pilot. When the smoke clears, Julia and her family find themselves locked within the walls of the newly-formed Jewish ghetto.

On opposite sides of the wall, Natan and Julia’s lives are not so different anymore. As the Nazis unleash a reign of hunger, terror, and death across the city, they must now decide what’s more terrifying:

To die on their knees, or go down fighting?"

Review:
Based on true events, well-researched. Highly recommend.

"The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation, in the summer of 1944, by the Polish underground resistance, led by the Polish resistance Home Army, to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. The uprising was timed to coincide with the retreat of the German forces from Poland ahead of the Soviet advance. While approaching the eastern suburbs of the city, the Red Army temporarily halted combat operations, enabling the Germans to regroup and defeat the Polish resistance and to destroy the city in retaliation. The Uprising was fought for 63 days with little outside support. It was the single largest military effort taken by any European resistance movement during World War II." (Wikipedia)

Warsaw ghetto, resistance fighters, WW2, poverty, terror, love, death, courage, resilience, evil, Varsovians.

I was gifted this advance copy by NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

They have no choice… they have to fight to survive!

Warsaw Fury is one of the best historical fiction books I have ever read. Not only because this book is unforgettable and has amazing characters, but also because the book reflects very important historical events that took place in Warsaw during World War II. The book is based on the true historical events. Michael Reit accurately showed the life of the people, Polish and Jewish, in the pre-war period, during the occupation by the Nazis and during the Ghetto Uprising. The main characters, Natan and Julia, symbolize the young Varsovians who love their city and are ready to sacrifice their lives to engage in the fighting an unequal enemy.

Natan is a young man who helps his father in the factory and loves to spend his free time with his friends. He had forgotten to send the important documents and that led to big problems at the factory. He has to find a way to solve that problem but could he do that?

Julia is a girl who helpes her father in the shop and dreams to become as a lawer but her father opposes her dreams. Could she act against her father prohibition attending the Law classes?

Both of them had a clear future, their hopes and dreams before the Nazis invaded Poland, after that their lives had changed completely. They had to choose what to do, to live under Nazi rules or fight. What future awaits them? Are they ready for a different future? Do they have that future?

I love this amazing book so much! It hooked me on the first pages and I could not put it down. It is such an emotional and heartbreaking story.

I would definitely recommend Warsaw Fury to everyone who is interested in well-written historical fiction and books about World War II.

Thanks to Michael Reit, BookWhisperer and Netgalleyfor the chance to read this book!

#WarsawFury #NetGalley #Amazing #Basedontruestory

I've read about the Warsaw Ghetto as I studied WWII and Polish history, but this book, is based on the true story of how it came about. I have even visited Post Cold War Poland and came away amazed at how the Polish people continue to survive and have developed a great respect for them. This book takes you through how It all started. These people met an overwhelming force with very little and the terror was unending, but they made the decision to fight back anyway they could. True heroes. They were left without the support of their allies.

Warsaw, 1939

We mustn't let darkness win.

Natan Borkowski has it all. In line to take over the successful family business, his future is set.

Julia Horowitz lives in poverty. The daughter of a shoemaker, she dreams of a different live, a different world.

Everything changes when Hitler’s armies invade Poland. Natan’s future is ripped away by the flick of a switch of a Luftwaffe pilot. When the smoke clears, Julia and her family find themselves locked within the walls of the newly-formed Jewish ghetto.

On different sides of the wall, Natan and Julia’s lives are not so different anymore. As the Nazis unleash a reign of hunger, terror, and death across the city, they must now decide what’s more terrifying:

To die on their knees, or go down fighting?

Just another WWII story mixed with a love story. Nothing much to separate this from the thousands of other books written about this part of the past. A small map at the beginning of most chapters for reference highlighting the locations that were talked about would have been useful.

Natan Borkowski has his future is set. He’s destined to take over the family factory, which tans leather. From a fairly well to do family, he goes to a rather prestigious school and spends this time after school basically working in accounting at his family’s factory despite wanting to be out with his friends like a normal teenager from any era would. We, the reader, meet Natan after he makes a few mistakes in life, one that results in his father frantically trying to find money to get clearance from customs to ship their biggest leather order of the year. If you read into it, Natan accidentally almost single handedly ruined their family business. But this is small peanuts in comparison to what is to come.

Julia Horowitz is the daughter of a struggling shoemaker, with an older brother who gladly sacrificed his schooling to get a job to put food on the family’s table. Julia, however, has bigger aspirations than what is normally expected of a Jewish girl. She wants to become a lawyer, no matter what any man tells her, including her father. Julia and her family live in one of the poorer sections of Warsaw, so when the Nazis invaded, she witnesses to walls going up around her neighborhood, enclosing it to form the ghetto where Jewish citizen will soon be ordered to live.
(view spoiler) The result is both of them really hating the Nazis, obviously. Stuck on either side of the wall, they both take action. Julia joins the Jewish Resistance and becomes rather adept at navigating the sewer system in order to retrieve supplies and smuggle them into the ghetto. Natan joins the Home Army, which starts working with the Resistance fighters in order to arm them and give them illegal documents. It’s through working for these two organizations that Julia and Natan meet Natan promises to help Julia with the Jewish resistance’s cause.

Conclusion?
Warsaw Fury is a well-researched, well thought out book which is easy to lose yourself in. I like how the eventual love story takes a backseat to the main plot, which is fighting back against the Nazis and their occupation of Warsaw, Poland.

I have read several books before this one involving resistance fighters (mind you the majority were YA cause I have the attention span of golden retriever when it comes to drawn out books) but never tire of reading about people willing to sacrifice themselves to a cause that they absolutely believe in. World War II and the atrocities of the Nazis is something a rarely pass up reading about when I spot a good book about it. This particular book is one of maybe three books I can recall reading that includes the Home Army, which was a pretty large resistance group against the Nazis. So it’s really nice to see them properly represented in this book.

Note: Michael Reit also includes notes containing information on the true facts and people he included in his book in the conclusion if that sort of thing interests you as much as it does me.

World War II and the Final Solution and German/Polish antisemitism. All the things I claim repel me like kryptonite does Superman, garlic does Dracula, and Old Spice does a metrosexual. What transreversal of my brain was enacted by which Doctor Who aliens, what cabal of soap-opera writers flipped my script, whose malign curse on me altered my tastes? None. All these tropes are in this thriller, and I still read it.

They all still do repel me, though.

So how did that rating appear up there, the one that doesn't have a minus sign in front of it, the one that's above three but below five? Perspective. Not just mine, the story's as well. I'm down for a story whose *background* is WWII, but whose events while factual and tied to WWII, are not using WWII as the reason for the story.

Natan is a rich kid, a guy with social skills and connections; Julia is not possessed of either of those things; what brings the two of them together in this story is how they each hate and fear the Germans who have invaded their country and are murdering their people. Both lost their parents, each has a wise (if young) head and a fierce heart to avenge those who are unjustly dead. The whole story isn't about the brutal regime trying to exterminate all the Poles, every Jew, anyone who isn't Just Like Them.

We are instead told the two interlinked tales of resourceful young people motivated by a catastrophe they never asked for and weren't consulted about doing every single dangerous, difficult, and deeply necessary thing to stop, reverse, and fix their world. The planet needs them, or their great-grandchildren, now. These two characters, people on either side of a literal and metaphorical wall, are united in their purpose to resist, to expel, the invaders wreaking graphically told havoc on their home. They unite despite their "differences" because the goal they serve is more important than the surface dissimilarities that actually make each well-suited to their respective roles. And, because of course they did, these two crazy kids fell in luuuv. Despite their wildly different backgrounds, though, at least this couple could never possibly lack for something to talk about....

The story doesn't belabor the points I'm calling out here. I am doing so. I am explaining how, despite being a story told in a setting I'm ever so sick of, I got involved in and inspired by Warsaw Fury. Author Reit clearly knows his subject inside out, which adds to the pace of action he achieves and sustains. There is never a lack of action, and it's all grounded in real events.

So that's the story. What about the writing? Well, what indeed. It is unexceptional but unexceptionable. It isn't stellar and it isn't execrable. It is the high end of serviceable, the lower edge of inspired. Occasional phrases made me cringe...a Varsovian, a Pole, and you'd fight to the bitter end, oh now really...but it got the job done.

You're looking at that rating right now, aren't you. Thinking about the times I've said much harsher things about much milder stylistic infractions. You know, you're correct, but you're also looking at this from the ordinary perspective. This is an extraordinary case. I gave a book whose writing I reluctantly allowed to happen to me four full stars...doesn't that say something a lot bigger than "read these pretty sentences" would?

We need this story of coming together to resist an overwhelming, unstoppable crisis. We need to read things that stress our only hope being to find the good intentions and best practices in those we'd normally never so much as fire a neuron for. This story, a fact-based one, tells us that when we're pulling in the same direction, we can move the damn Nazis and their weapons on down the road.

Uncurl your lip, Sunshine. Get the memo here: Fight now, fight hard and with all your power...but aim it where it will help not where you think you want to.

Unbelievable well researched book about the polish resistance during WWII and especially the Ghetto Uprising.

Based on real life situation and real life characters this book will be impossible for the reader to put down, it is that good. It tells the story of the young people resistance, their lives, relationships, dreams, hopes and tragic situations, their heroism and bravery.

Without skirting on the gruesome details and atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis, Reit has written an accurate account of what happened in Poland during the Nazi occupation during the Holocaust and reminds us the power of fighting for liberty of common individuals.

I highly recommend this book, it is one of the best books I have read this year.

Warsaw Fury by Michael Reit explores another avenue of WWII, the resistance of the people of Warsaw once it was invaded. Natan and Julie live in Warsaw when it is invaded by Germany. They both wish to help and defend Poland and become part of the resistance in Warsaw although they are both under 21. Natan's family owns a shoe factory, but the Germans take over the factory for their own needs. Natan has no military experience but he draws on his strengths so he can help the resistance. Julia's father owns a shoe repair shop which is barely scraping by. When Warsaw is invaded, Julia's family is at great risk for they are Jewish. As the family struggles to survive, Julia steps up with innovative ways to help the resistance. Eventually Natan and Julia cross paths and work together through many challenges. Both face great losses but move forward to battle the Germans. Michael Reit has written a fascinating book about the people that rose up in Warsaw against the Germans where there was no Polish military in place. Some of the characters were real people, but Michael Reit did a great deal of research so that I felt like I was in war torn Warsaw. As the book unfolded, I couldn't put the book down because I was so drawn into the book. I have read many books set in WWII and found this book to be very realistic.

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2021
Interesting take on the Warsaw uprising, incorporating an unlikely love story into real events. While the main characters were maybe just a little too Zelig-like, it was nowhere near as unbelievable as Beneath the Scarlet Sky, or the Tattooist of Auschwitz, and the story did make one curious to find out more on the subject.

Warsaw Fury is a historical fiction novel based on the events of the Warsaw Uprising and the Jewish Ghetto between 1939-1944.
This story is told through Julia and Nathan. Julia is the daughter of a struggling shoemaker, while Nathan is the son of a well respected factory owner. When the Nazis invaded Poland, Julia and Nathan put their lives on the line to help their Jewish friends and neighbors by joining the Polish Home Army and the Jewish Resistance groups. This is a tale of resilience, strength, bravery, and hope.
Although the book itself is fiction, Michael Reit does an excellent job of accurately describing the events that took place during that time period. It is a must read for all historical fiction fans.
Thank you to Michael Reit and the publisher for this free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Princess Fuzzypants here: There are many stories of great heroism in the resistance against the Nazis in WWII. The invasion of Poland predicated the start of the war. They felt the full wrath of Blitzkrieg. But even with the overwhelming brutality of the invasion, there were still pockets in Warsaw that refused to give up. This included the Jewish ghetto where the common or garden cruelty was not the only thing. They also had to deal with entire neighbourhoods being removed from their homes and transported. When the full truth of the Holocaust became known, the patriots who resisted sought out support from the people resisting outside of the walls of the ghetto.

The pervasive anti-semitism that was accepted by the masses proved to be a stumbling block for many but there were those who admired courage wherever they found it and only saw Poles not Jews. They reached out and tried to support the effort. It was not until the Jews of the ghetto struck back at the Nazis that the leadership of the resistance, both in Poland and England where the leaders had gone in exile, that they provided the support that was needed. It was, alas, too little, too late but it is a beacon that shows what dedicated and brave individuals can do.

The book is also the story of two young people. One is a highly intelligent Jewish girl who must prove herself again and again. The other is an affluent young man who has enjoyed the best of everything. Both of them are stripped of all they hold dear and their loved ones. When they find each other, they are loathe to let it go and so adventure after adventure, trial after trial, danger after danger, they always seek out and find each other. The intertwining of their relationship within the framework of the historical events creates an urgency to turn the pages to find out what happens to them. It kept me up to the wee hours to finish it. That is the sign of a good and thrilling book.

Five purrs and two paws up.