The first thing that came to my mind while reading this book was that it gives off major 1984 vibes, let me explain: The Unified Nations is at war, but no one knows who is fighting whom; what is the cause of the war does not find mention anywhere. We just know that all is not good as " The World Is At War, Again " and that " Things aren't going too well with the War. " These two lines are repeated over and over again to justify actions which would otherwise be questionable.

The Fandanellis are undoubtedly my favourite character duo. Marco single-handedly brought in the humor element to the story. Peter, their son, is left behind at Panbury hall, after his parents have to go on a pretty unplanned mission, but Peter doesn't know the actual reason. He is again told about how the War needs his parents, but never explained in what capacity. Panbury Hall turns out to be much more than a school and a majority of the plot develops here. However, truth be told, I enjoyed the happenings aboard the Water Lily City much more.

The story behind the relationship dynamics between Nadia and Chewti Misorov seemed a bit rushed to me. We get an insight into where Chewti is coming from, but I was much more interested in the workings of Nadia's mind.

Coming to the plot and the writing, in-spite of having multiple characters and more than one setting where the story unfolds, the author did a good job in handling them. I did not find myself disconnecting with the characters, nor was it a problem following the parallel scenarios.

The various themes addressed in this book would include : Friendship, as seen between Peter and his fellow mates at Panbury hall; parental pressure that Nadia had to go through, which made her the person she is; living up to high expectations, which Nadia's mother, Iva was subjected to and this definitely played a role in what she did with Nadia; and following what your heart wants, which is explored through the character of Marco Fandanelli.

I look forward to seeing how the story progresses with Peter as the main character, if and when there is a sequel.

I want to thank Elsewhen Press, Netgalley, and the author Simon Lowe for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a little hard to follow for me. The third person present tense point of view was a little bit hard to understand, and it suffered from the common YA trope of Everything Is Capitalized at times. However, I did find the plot to be engaging and interesting, even if the ending left a bit to be desired.

3.5/5

The World is at War, Again is a comedic take on a spy v. spy novel. The ending felt a bit rushed, but the ride to get there was fun.

Oh my Lordship, this was hilarious, Things Not Going Too Well With The War and all. Another reviewer on Goodreads summarized this perfectly by saying this is Monty Python with spies, and I think I'd go ahead and say it's Monty Python meets Spy Kids. I loved it.

There were VERY fun parts (there's a bit where 'can of large' is mentioned and I literally shed tears as I laughed. I don't even know what got into me, but kudos to Lowe); and I was incredibly fond of the characters (Doughie and Marco, specially).

So, I got excited seeing the synopsis for this novel and, when I looked on Goodreads, it mentioned for fans of Monty Python! Surreal comedy abounds I thought. Well. I was wrong about that one. The novel is set in a world that is at war, however, all we know of this war is that is isn’t going so well. Which is mentioned a lot and in capitals throughout - I felt like this was an attempt at that surreal humour but, for me, it fell a little flat. The characters are fleshed out well and I enjoyed some perspectives a lot more than others, however, the ending left a lot to be desired. All in all, an okay novel. It ain’t no flying circus surreal that’s for sure.

An interesting concept that fails to follow through in execution. The idea of a future world that used to be technologically advanced but has since been forced to regress - interesting. Putting this world at war - also interesting. But these high-concepts are not actually the focus of this book - its characters are. Now, on the surface that is not a bad thing, as a teenage boy adjusting to a new boarding school whose parents are secretly a team of assassins assisting in the war effort and whose teacher is another assassin out for revenge against her evil cousin, is pretty compelling. But this book gets so caught up in its complex characters that it forgets one of the key commandments of storytelling: show, don't tell. In this book every character, main or side, gets a long winded backstory presented upfront in such a boring way that there is no mystery, no intrigue. All of the characters talk in the same matter-of-fact way that can be done well, but gets repetitive and old when it is used for every character and every conversation. And all of this takes away from the worldbuilding that readers came for, to the point where it's impossible to say just what this post-technology society is actually like, or how it differs from the present day. Even simple questions, like what a war looks like in this world, or how being at war affects people day-to-day, go largely unanswered.

Overall, this book gets points for trying, and for having a solid idea, but it ultimately falls short.