October 3rd, 2017 at 11:29pm
Wow. This is extremely well-written and compelling. Historical fiction isn't normally my thing, but I'm really into this. I love how each character you introduce really feels like a real person, with real desires, fears, and motivations. I love how they are all allowed to be sympathetic and human to some degree. It would be so easy to write a story in this setting where anyone on the Nazi side of things was just a pure evil two-dimensional villain and any prisoner was just an innocent victim written as generically as possible, but it's so refreshing to see people on both sides allowed to be real people. I really loved that I was able to feel for every single character to some degree or another.
I absolutely love the way you describe things. You seem to know exactly when to go into detail and when to keep things short. I particularly loved reading the scene about Jürgen for this reason. The action was very well-paced, and the details were very visceral when they needed to be. It was easy to picture and to imagine what he was going through in that part. This is true, of course, to a certain extent for all that you've written in these first two chapters, but I thought that sequence was the best, especially because action scenes can be difficult to pull off in terms of pacing and description.
I kind of wish I had more to say about this one, but all I can say is just really great work. This isn't my usual genre that I prefer to read, but I may have to come back and read more!
I normally don't read historical fiction as well. But I was more then pleasantly surprised by this piece. Looking forward to updates!