I am so in love with this book; it was explosive, fast-paced and more gruesome than ever. Five big fat, shiny stars from me. Purple Hearts absolutely met the super high standards already set by the previous two books in this utterly addictive alternate version of history. Michael Grant cleverly weaves his characters and their stories together with some genuine events from WWII and perfectly captures the notion that every soldier had their own story, and fought their own version in a War which took the lives of so many.

At the end of Silver Stars I wasn’t too sure which way Purple Hearts could go – would Rio, Frangie and Rainy be touring around celebrating their medals or would we be straight back into the thick of it with our squad? But these girls don’t know how to give up; so it’s straight back to the War for us and this final instalment plummets the girls right back into the action (and espionage for a certain undercover Shulterman; she’s my favourite – I just can’t help it).

I love how well Grant captures how far each of the girls, and other secondary characters, have come. As each of the girls gets a little more responsibility this time around, we see the juxtaposition between “green” soldiers, like the ones our girls used to be, and who they have later become. The character development is just huge but more so than this, revisiting these characters for the final time is actually almost like sitting down for dinner with your friends. I have developed this warm affection for most, if not all, of these characters and somehow this little alternate history feels, to me, like the real deal. This author knows how to drag you in and keep you hooked on every word. And let’s face it, you all want to know who makes it in the end and you all know the odds aren’t looking so hot; that part of history can’t be changed! And Gentle Reader, I know you want to know which character has been writing these mysterious letters to us all this time – you won’t be disappointed.

I really enjoyed exploring the idea that everyone is living their own kind of war, or dying in it, and that being an excellent soldier isn’t all there is to it. It was particularly interesting to consider the idea of a “worst war” and the kind of contempt this might have had in reality for soldiers even on the same side. Would you, having faced unimaginable odds on the ground or the front line feel you’d had a harder time than those soldiers elsewhere? Should it even matter if you’re on the same side? I think this final book captures really nicely how different people cope with the tests that a war throws at them, particularly for those soldiers (like Rio) sending their troops into awful conditions, watching your friends and allies dying around you, not really knowing your odds and whether you can be strong enough to keep the madness just out of reach. Surprising moments of camaraderie will bring you back from the edge though and these personal, sweet snapshots really made the book for me.

Grant does an excellent job again of representing what it is to be discriminated against, but also how complex that idea actually is when you throw race, sex and even rank into the mix. This setting is the ideal way to capture that in fact because it doesn’t matter who you are, what you look like, whether you wear pants or skirts, what boxes you fit into – you’re still capable of living or dying just the same when the enemy is pointing a gun at you. But of course, outside of the war there is still work to be done on that front.

The book ends quite quickly, largely because we are seeing it through the eyes of the character you’ll find has been writing to us so we can only discover what they saw. But I think this works perfectly and fit the nature of the book. I can’t recommend Purple Hearts enough; a fantastic close to what has been the most memorable set of characters and story-lines for me in such a long time. This is an important book because, despite its fictional characters, parts of these stories are true for many and we owe it to the people who gave their lives protecting others, to remember.