Book Review: City of Thieves

My favorite book so far this year. Yes, it even tops John Scalzi’s The Lost Colony which had been my favorite book this year until now. Why did it beat out Scalzi? Because Scalzi’s was the third book in a series, and City of Thieves introduced me to a whole new world and new set of characters. Now if I had to compare it to Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, the first book in that series…but I digress, this is a review about City of Thieves.

So, why did I enjoy City of Thieves so much?

Great characters. Great writing.

It reconfirmed my love of military historical fiction: put two well-written characters that play well off each other in a historical, war-time setting, and that time period comes alive better than it ever could in a history book.
There are two things I wanted to mention about Benioff’s style that put this book so high on my list.

First, his ability to bring forth moments of levity during the siege of Leningrad with all of its associated horrors still has me wondering how he did it so effectively. To show that people still joke or worry about the most inane things when the bloodiest struggle in history is raging all around them brought a sense of verisimilitude to the story. But don’t let me lead you on the incorrect assumption that this is a comedy. It’s a tragedy, as all wars are. Benioff doesn’t shy away from or gloss over the horrors of the siege or the war. It’s there, we see it, but Benioff relates it in a way that is told as though it is a story and not real. I don’t know else to explain it. There is something about Benioff’s writing that keeps us that half-inch away from what is happening, as though we are an up close observer, not a participant, even though we’re seeing it through the protagonist’s POV.

An example is the heart-wrenching story of Zoya versus the murder of a woman in The Dresden File.. Both were scenes were detailed in their description, but there was no space or filter between me and what I saw in The Dresden Files. The scene in The Dresden Files gave me a real nightmare. City of Thieves somehow gave the reader a respite, a bit of space. Like at a funeral for a distant cousin, you’re sad it happened and sad for everyone’s loss, but there is a sense of relief that you are a step removed from the grief of those closest to the departed.

The second comment on style I wanted to make was how well the sentences in City of Thieves flowed. How after a long paragraph, or short, or exchange of dialogue, I’d go wow that was really good. And then I’d have to go back and see how he did it. Part of it was Benioff’s expertise in constructing long sentences and stacking short ones.

For example:

“A few people had theories on where they could be found: high-ranking army officers had them flown in from Moscow; farmers outside the city gave them to the Germans, along with butter and fresh milk, in exchange for their lives; an old man who lived near the Narva Gate kept chickens in a rooftop coop.”

and

“It only took them a few hours. She hadn’t gotten far. She was so weak…She’d been little to begin with, and she ‘d barely eaten a thing since she’d been here. They brought her back.”

If you want to read a fun, slightly bizarre, adventure story about two soldiers during World War II who were ordered to find a dozen eggs in a starving city for a wedding cake, this is your book.

I highly recommend it.