đ BOOK REVIEWâ đ
BOOK: The Night Witches
AUTHOR: Garth Ennis
Stars: âââ
Published: June 17th, 2019
@dynamitecomics
This is the story of Anna Kharkova, a young pilot serving in the Soviet air force during World War II. Beginning her career flying biplanes on bombing runs against the Nazi invasion, Anna proves her worth as a daredevil ace and tactician. Too bad the sexist brass refuse to see that. This is inspired by real stories, although the characters themselves are fictional. It is intended, from the authorâs notes, to give reasonably accurate snapshots of the actual experiences of the hundreds of women who served Russia during âThe Great Patriotic Warâ.
The artwork is gruff and grimy. It fits the wartime feel of the story. The renderings of the airplanes feel accurate and clean, like someone who spent a long time admiring these machines. The writing is raw and focuses on the heavy losses and compromises the soldiers took to get through the war. None of the soldiers were without some form of neurosis. One story we see is of a Nazi soldier who is beaten and imprisoned because he refused his commanderâs order to rape a civilian. Unfortunately, the story just didnât grab me, even in the charactersâ personal troubles.
What confused me about this book is that it is published by Dead Reckoning, an imprint of the US Naval Institute Press. A book that, while it doesnât glorify war, it spends a lot of time commiserating with nations and ideologies that our military classically vilify. It feels like an odd choice for them to publish. At the same time, it wouldnât be so bad to have our girls and boys in the military see the other side as human, too.
You can see more in my video review:
Small Summary:
As the German Army smashes deep into Soviet Russia and the defenders of the Motherland retreat in disarray a unique new squadron arrives at a Russian forward airbase. Like all night bomber units they will risk fiery death flying obsolete biplanes against the invader–but unlike the rest these pilots and navigators are women. In the lethal skies of the Eastern front they will become a legend–known to friend and foe alike as The Night Witches.With casualties mounting and the conflict devouring more and more of her comrades Lieutenant Anna Kharkova quickly grows from a naive teenager to a hardened combat veteran. The Nazi foe is bad enough but the dreadful power of her country’s secret police makes death in battle almost preferable. Badly wounded and exiled from her own people Anna begins an odyssey that will take her from the killing fields of the Second World War to the horrific Soviet punishment camps–and at the top of the world high above the freezing Arctic Ocean the Night Witch finds she has one last card to play.
*****
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from Netgalley.