Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

Book Review: The Silent Unseen by Amanda McRina

The Silent Unseen is a young adult historical novel about a teenager trying to navigate Poland in July 1944 after escaping from a Nazi labor camp.

When Maria returns to her home country of Poland after being forced into slave labor by the Nazis she finds her parents dead and the county torn between Soviet forces, Ukrainian nationalists and the Polish resistance. She impulsively saves a Ukrainian boy (Kostya) from being tortured by the Soviet army and turns to the Polish resistance for help. But alliances between the various factions are treacherous and Maria will have to play a dangerous game to save the people she cares about.

Silent Unseen shows a fascinating and dangerous time for the Polish people during World War II. They were torn between various military groups operating within their borders with children and teenagers serving as soldiers, couriers and spies. I found the backstory of Maria’s older brother Tomek and his role as a British trained secret agent (aka a “Silent Unseen”) fascinating and I’d love to see him starring in his own book. There is also an angsty enemies to lovers romance between Maria and Kostya.

I highly recommend this solid piece of World War 2 young adult fiction. I know it will stick with me for a long time.

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm almost always a fan of WWII books or books set in/around that era. This was a bit difficult to get into at first, but it was well -written and would be a good recommendation for readers of YA interested in a historic novel.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) for providing me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All the opinions and views expressed are purely my own and not affiliated with any brand.

Thank you #NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for letting me read and review this book. A mesmerizing historical novel of suspense and intrigue about a teenage girl who risks everything to save her missing brother. This book opened my eyes to a entire different side of history. It was a very good book that made me want to keep reading.

I had enjoyed the author's other book and I was excited to get a copy of this. I did not enjoy this book as much as the other one. I had a hard time getting through parts of the book but I did like the plot.

This was a unique WWII story as it took us to Poland with a focus on Polish and Ukrainian characters which is not usually the case in many WWII books. I must admit that I am not a fan of books set in the era typically but I did find this one to be a little more intriguing than most. It was incredibly heartfelt and well written BUT I will say the ending was extremely abrupt which was a bit disappointing.

Another extraordinary book by Amanda (but I am biased because I am her agent). The futility and tragedy are second only to the human resilience and loyalty.

This book had so much potential, but alas, I just was not enjoying the experience of reading it. The characters felt very flat and I was frequently confused as to whose perspective I was reading. I felt like it was a strange mix of too much and not enough happening to move the plot along. Overall, this was just disappointing for me.

This was just a stunning and brilliant read! The prose and themes of this book were beyond what expected. I can't wait to read more of the author's works soon.

This book was a very quick read and one that I gobbled up. There were some very wonderful and in-depth characters. I loved the loving and devoted relationship between Maria and her brother Tomek and enjoyed the complex relationship and banter between Maria and Kostya.

This is a book you can definitely learn a little history from while reading, but I felt like more background was needed. Things did get a little confusing sometimes and could be hard to follow. I was also kind of hoping to learn more about The Silent Unseen.

This story is well paced and one that I wished was longer because I didn’t want to be finished reading it. I want to read more about Maria and Kostya. :)

Thank you to Net Galley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) for this digital arc in exchange for my honest review which is not affiliated with any brand.

#NetGalley #TheSilentUnseen

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) for providing me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All the opinions and views expressed are purely my own and not affiliated with any brand.

Amanda McCrina has written and truly compelling WWII YA novel. I was engaged from the very beginning. As with most WWII historical fictions, this story is both inspiring and heartbreaking. I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

The Silent Unseen was well-written and will definitely grab my historical fiction readers' attention. As I can't keep enough books about this era on the shelf, it will be a must-purchase for my library.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* certainly a book i plan on buying. Very incredible read, would recommend.

'The Silent Unseen' by Amanda McCrina is a decent young adult historical fiction set in WWII. It is timely in that it involves a Ukrainian boy so it is nice to have a fresh perspective. It is a bit dark and the ending is not as neat as I would prefer but overall a nice story.

A heartbreaking, timely story! It was a bit unnerving reading towns and events that I feel like are currently happening in Ukraine! The story is intense and at times graphic, but it is about an intense and graphic time in history. It was so well written!! Well done!

I read Daughters Of A Dead Empire a couple of months ago and it felt like we were just walking around not really doing much. Unfortunately, this story felt much the same but I didn't connect with the characters as well.

It's a topical story, with Ukrainian and Polish characters, but looking back I'm not sure where exactly it was set - Ukraine or Poland or even both. We meet Kostya and Maria at a time in their lives when the war has ended, and they're coming back home to see if their families are even still alive.

Kostya and Maria do seem to have a connection, but not a full on relationship. Still, I did feel that the story picked up when they were together. I think I just wanted more from the story, which ended really abruptly, with no clue as to if Kostya or Maria would even see the next few years or even a note to explain what happened in history around that time.

I really appreciate the author telling this story. It was refreshing to see a story about a group of people we don't usually read about. With the Ukrainian and Russian conflict going on right now, it was interesting to see how long this unrest between the two countries has really been going on.
This is a story about a Polish girl and Ukrainian boy during WWII. Maria was one of the Polish youth taken into captivity by the Germans and put into a labor camp. Kostya's sister was also taken to a German labor camp, and he joins the UPA to rescue her. This is the story of how Maria and Kostya's paths in life overlap and work together to achieve their individual goals of going back home.

I felt that the book ended somewhat abruptly, and I was left wanting more but overall was a good story.

I found this book to be really compelling, especially the relationship between Kostya and Maria. I don’t know anything about the real history of the time period (1944) or how realistic the events in the story are, but I found THE SILENT UNSEEN to be really moving.

There were a couple of weird things about it to me, though. The title and cover copy kind of make it sound like Tomek is a major character, and he really wasn’t? It would make more sense if this is the first book in a series, and the Silent Unseen become a more major part of the story across multiple books, but I don’t see anything stating that this is anything other than a standalone novel.

The story was also a lot darker than I expected. Kostya joined the Ukrainian nationalists unwillingly, and was pretty severely tortured during his service with them. I liked his character a lot, though. His whole goal is to find his way back to his mother and sister and protect them. He seems young and somehow innocent despite everything he’s been through.

On the whole, I liked this book. I feel like it ended in kind of a weird place, like I feel like I’m still waiting for some shoes to drop? So again, it feels like this should be a series, but I don’t see anything about that being the case. If it’s a standalone, I feel weird about the way it ended because so much was still up in the air. In any case, I enjoyed reading THE SILENT UNSEEN, and it made me want to read more of the real history of what happened in Poland following the end of World War II.

I have a fascination with World War 2 stories, especially those about survival and the heroic things people did just to survive. The Silent Unseen by Amanda McCrina sounded like it was going to be right up my alley. I was very excited to read.

I’m going to start with a note that I did not finish this novel. The story follows Maria, trying to find her family after World War II, and Tomek, her brother who is working a dangerous job to take down the new enemy sweeping in. Right off the bat, I was confused with Tomek’s story. There was no lead in. He’s at a bar waiting on someone and then a woman officer arrives and it’s moving very quickly and there wasn’t a lot of explanation. With that finished it continued. I preferred Maria’s story parts over Tomek’s only because they were more understandable, not as confusing, and just generally better written. Maybe it was McCrina’s goal to make Tomek’s story seem more frazzled, but it really bothered me reading.

I think the story idea is interesting and could be really great, but the execution for me was the big downfall of this book. As I continued to force myself to read, because doing it for fun was just not happening as I was not enjoying it much, I really just did not like the writing style or the storytelling. The story was not cohesive and did not have that flow that most books have as you read. Even with two story lines, I feel this could have been more fluid.

I have never read a book by McCrina before and I always like to give people the benefit of the doubt. This book was not something I enjoyed and would not recommend if someone asked, but there are plenty that would really enjoy this story I think. My personal taste did not and I decided to put it down and not finish because I was not enjoying it at all. I encourage others to check it out and I will always give McCrina another try with her next novel to see if I like that.

Set in Poland in 1944, right in the middle of WWII, two teenagers are just trying to get back to their families. They are on opposing sides but when Maria stumbles upon Kostya in trouble, Maria does not hesitate to help. Unfortunately, he gets shot in the middle of being rescued and Maria must help him.
Opinion
Historical fiction is not normally my cup of tea. However, after reading the book blurb, I was intrigued, and rightly so. This book turned out to be down right fantastic. There is a constant state of danger with spies and counter spies that is just plain appealing to read. The story ended up with so many twists and turns that I just didn't know where it was going next.
My only regret with this book is the ending. While it may be someone's idea of a great book, I needed more answers.
Overall, this is a fantastic book and I immediately went to my librarian and said "Buy this book!"
Many thanks to Net Galley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing me with an ARC of this book.