"She'd never met the man. But she knew him. Knew how the bitterness could eat at one, pnawing away until there was nothing left but sinew and bone, no heart to speak of.
...Father God, he wears his pain like a uniform. ...But you can reach him, as you reached me."
On Wings of Devotion is the latest and greatest on my bookshelf. Believe it or not, I've tried to move on to the next book, but even after finishing the book, I am drawn back to reliving life with these characters. Those who've read previous reviews know that I always go on and on about how Roseanna M. White writes books that are not only extremely well-researched, but also that she develops her characters so authentically. The imperfections of each character are always part of the draw and fascination to her stories, and if anything this is amplified in her latest release in the #codebreakers series. It could be that the characters aren't necessarily more developed, but that they resound with me more than any character she's written before. Would you like to get to know them a little bit? I'll leave out spoilers, but I think if you get to know these new friends of mine, you'll find the book just as irresistable as I did.
We've met several of the characters before in previous books, but Camden was a favorite before he ever had his own book. He's snarky, he's dark, and he's hilarious. His interactions with Margot in The Number of Love were some of the best laugh out loud moments of that book, which means its no surprise that his book would be one of my all-time Roseanna White favorites. He's not wounded in the way many came back wounded from the war. His wounds stem from a deeper turmoil of guilt rooted in an incident that one could argue had little to do with the direct fighting of the war, which makes him feel all the worse with so many of his friends now dead. He expects to die, yet when he meets Arabelle, he feels honor-bound to protect her... but not because she is strikingly beautiful....
We've actually met Arabelle before as well. She's not the pretty nurse in the ward, but she's got courage and spunk. She has arranged for herself a convenient marriage, because during a time of war, men are on short supply and a woman who is not what many would consider pretty, she believes, wouldn't have much of a chance at true love. She has, therefore, found a sense of purpose in her nursing, and is more trained than most in her position. She suffers insecurities at being abandoned (through death) by her mother and aunt (who left her a wealthy heiress), and from the on and off disappearances of her adventurous father (sometimes for years at a time. "She'd never met the man. But she knew him." So when they DO meet, and when she ends up punching someone, Camden isn't quite sure what to make of her.
If you thought that was all of the main characters, there's a side plot antagonist. If you read the last book, this character takes on a role similar to "der Geist" from Number's of Love. Yet SHE (yes, she) is fleshed out in such a way that, while you want to hate her, you somehow end understanding her and feeling a bit of her story, some through the insightful eyes of Arabelle, and some through the unfolding of events in quite an unexpected, yet still tragic, way for this character, making her less of a "villain" as we know it and more of a dynamic antagonist.
It's what I always love about Roseanna-- she knows people, and she tells stories and paints the stories of dynamic and complex characters in ways that aren't neatly tied in a bow of stereotypes. I could (and have, as several friends and my parents will testify) talk about this book for as long as you'd let me. But I could not do this story justice. Read this story. If you want to start here, you can. And you won't regret it. I recommend always starting chronologically from the beginning, with The Lost Heiress (Ladies of the Manor series), then read the Shadows Over England and THEN get into Codebreakers). You won't be lost by not starting with the chronologically first book, but it is fun to recognize and know the side stories of the characters all around, with cameos from both series scattered throughout.
I received a complimentary copy The Number of Love from the publishers. I was not required to provide a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone. To order either book, simply click on their cover photos