We've got your back. With the Tough-O-Meter, you'll know whether to bring extra layers or Swiss army knives as you summit the literary mountain. (10 = Toughest)
(7) Snow Line
Like many books where a character serves as the narrator by writing the story down or recording it on 8-track tapes or texting it to a friend, Code Name Verity often veers into stream-of-consciousness territory, which means we're hearing the narrator's thoughts as she's thinking them. Think about your own thoughts: do they go in a straight line, or do they jump around from the essay you're supposed to be writing to what you're going to have for dinner tonight to a random memory of the time you fed zebras at the zoo in third grade?
Add in the fact that we've got not one but two narrators here, each of whom sees different parts of a whole, and we have a recipe for potential confusion. Like the spy in the title, Code Name Verity is not a book that gives up its secrets easily, but when we pay attention to what our narrators are telling us, the secrets that are revealed are totally worth waiting for.