Germania

by Brendan McNally

A tale set during the final days of the Third Reich follows the efforts of a famous German cabaret act of Jewish quadruplets to apply the full range of their wits and talents when one of their number is targeted. A first novel. 50,000 first printing.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction, Fantasy

384 pages, Hardcover

First published September 9, 2008

Reviews

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually, I wrote the dang book, so my opinions on how great it is, is not to be trusted

[Lee Mandel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the end of World War II in Europe and the short-lived Flensburg government that succeded the Third Reich. Brendan McNally creates the factual picture of those days, weaving the actual historical figures with the fictitious Flying Magical Loerber Brothers, to create a historical novel that keeps the reader turning the pages. Well done!

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story. It has some far out fiction mixed right in with true facts. Perfect! I like to read about WWII and McNally did a great job gathering facts and making them interesting. Don't be dismayed by my 3 stars. I really enjoyed this, but wouldn't go out of my way to read it again.

[Neal Fandek · Rating 3 out of 5]

((3.5 stars))

I started this book with great expectations; dipping into it, I was enthralled. The last days of the Third Reich, Hitler and Himmler and Speer, Nazi gold, plots, subplots, magic and mayhem, what's not to like?

That's the problem. There's so many characters running amok, so many grand schemes, so many ambushes and shootouts, it's hard to keep track. I stopped trying, and let the narrative wash over me.

Which doesn't work: You have to keep up with the diverse threads to make sense of it all.

The magical Loerber brothers, for instance, at the heart of the novel: they have distinctive personalities and missions, but tend to blend together. The plot is really a menagerie of subplots with the Flensburg Reich, the fates of Speer and Himmler and Donitz, midget subs, plans for the remnants of the Third Reich to unite with the Western Allies to turn on the Soviet Union -- it becomes too much. A narrower focus would have helped here. Sorry, but the Flensburg Reich is in and of itself not terribly interesting.

We're supposed to feel sorry for these Nazis? And regard the Americans and British as brutes? McNally has succumbed to what too many historians have done, admire the Nazis and the Third Reich. Sorry, no can do. The Nazis richly deserved their fates. We should have let the Soviets take over, wreck and ransack all Germany.

[Ron Chicaferro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brendan McNally's first novel, Germania, is superb. It's the history of what happened at the end of World War II in a part of Germany called Flensburg. Much has been written about the start of World War II but reading about the ending was an eye-opener. How some of the SS tried to escape punishment. How some of the regular German military officers had to pay the ultimate price for the excesses of the SS. How the regular German military had to admit, first to themselves then to history that they really did know what was going on in the concentration camps. An amazing story about a terrible time in world history. Truly a 'Must Read' book.

[Jaci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical facts about the short-lived Flensburg government after Hitler's death are beautifully married to the fictional Flying Magical Loerber Brothers, a vaudeville act from the Weimar days. The resulting novel is a page turner and very funny. Albert Speer has a speaking role.

p.195: "But then, we've all become something else, made by the times and circumstances we've intersected with ... A memory is inherently false, frozen in time, yet endlessly buffeted by shifting context."

[J.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel provides a fascinating glimpse at the final days of the Third Reich. I was distracted by the author's focus on magic rather than a straight telling of the story through an intriguing cast of characters.
Still, I enjoyed the novel and will be looking forward to Brendan McNally's next effort.
You can read my full review on Amazon.

[S · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book; the first couple of chapters started out intriguing. But by the third chapter I found myself skimming, hoping something would happen. Unfortunately, the characters never really grew on me, and the story seemed to drag...so I stopped reading and put the book back in the 'return to library pile'.

[Raquel Tripp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful novel, and a perfect compromise for those interested in WWII fiction without blow-by-blow battle scenes. The book felt more like a fantasy than just another tragic war story. By and by, I became so invested in the fates of our Flying Magical Loerber Brothers that the story's end felt abrupt - though, it had to end somewhere.

[Heather Domin · Rating 3 out of 5]

[to be reviewed for HNS Feb. 2009:]

[Liviu]

I was very excited about the subject of this book, but the prose just did not work for me being very flat

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a strange book! Set in Germany following WWII. Uses real people with some not-so-real events. An odd combo of fiction and non-fiction put together in one.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any fan of history will love this book. I found it very interesting and a worth it read.

[Dave Millard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book about the Third Reich after Hitler died - did you know he had a successor? Historical with a fantastical twist to it. I enjoyed it

[Maeta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very promising book, with some interesting possibilities. But falls short on delivery. Ending too ambiguous, with too many ends left untied.

[Gary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author's website: www.brendanmcnallyauthor.com