The Vogels: On All Fronts (The Half-Bloods Book 2) by Jana Petken

The Vogels: On All Fronts (The Half-Bloods Book 2) Reviews

• 
  Mary Yarde

  
  
  “I’m still trying to wrap my head around Paul being married to a Gestapo Major’s daughter, Wilmot spending time in a prison camp, and your father being a British spy. What sort of family have I married into?”
  
  There are no winners in war, or so it is said. For the Vogel family, the war has brought division and mistrust. They are a household divided. While two sons fight for the Third Reich, the other, along with his father, is a British Intelligence Officer.
  
  Max Vogel will not fight for a government, a country, that had so fundamentally lost its way. He will do everything in his power to thwart the Nazi Regime and help the Allies win this war.
  
  Wilmot Vogel did not think his life could get any worse than the time he had spent as a prisoner in Dachau concentration camp, but that was before he experienced winter on the Eastern Front. Supplies are slow in coming, and the winter seems as never-ending as the war. However, Wilmot, unlike Max, believes in the Führer and the Party. He dreams of committing an act of true heroism. It is his ardent desire to one day have an Iron Cross pinned to his uniform.
  
  With small acts of heroism, Paul Vogel finds himself fighting injustice from the right side of wrong. A doctor for the Third Reich and son-in-law to the Gestapo Major, Kriminaldirektor Biermann, Paul plays a dangerous game of cat and mouse. He isn’t the person his father-in-law, and the Third Reich wants him to be, but if he refuses to conform, then he risks everything.
  
  From the dangers of occupied France to the adversity of life on the Eastern Front, The Vogels: On All Fronts (The Half-Bloods Book 2) by Jana Petken is the compelling account of one family as it navigates the horrors of World War II from opposing battle lines.
  
  Petken’s narrative is flawless. This is a story which appals, impresses, and fascinates in almost equal measures. However, what makes Petken a master bard is that she knows when to pull back and change the scene, which gives her readers a chance to catch their breath. Petken can do this because the story is told by several points of view, which I found exceedingly compelling and utterly riveting.
  
  Petken has a novelist eye for detail, not only with regard to the history of this era in which it is very obvious that she has spent many hours researching, but also in the study of human fallibility. Petken has created characters that are very real in the telling. I thought the portrayal of Paul’s wife, Valentina, showed how easily some German citizens believed fabricated and colossal untruths. Valentina is so blindly loyal to the Führer and her father that she cannot see the truth even when it is looking right at her. Valentina believes that she is part of the “master race,” and yet, as a mother to be, she cannot place herself in the shoes of her Jewish counterparts. She has been told the Jews are vermin and that is that. She has ceased to think of them as humans. They are an annoyance — and she wishes they would all disappear. Valentina is a stark contrast to her husband. Paul is loyal to his country, but he isn’t as devoted to the Führer and the Nazi Party as he has led everyone to believe. As a doctor, Paul deplores the things he has seen and the things that he has been forced to do, but on the other hand, he isn’t the victim in this story. There are decisions that he makes which have profound consequences on innocent people. Paul is, I guess, an ordinary man, who has been thrown into Hell without a map to guide him. Therefore, his story is one of utter heartbreak.
  
  At times the tension in this book was so unbearable that I found myself holding my breath as I daringly turned another page. It is well documented that the German Army failed to supply their soldiers with equipment and clothing for the tempestuous winter weather on the Eastern Front. However, to read about a character whom I have come to care for made this knowledge all the more poignant and upsetting. Wilmot’s struggle to not only stay alive but to keep his wits was, at times, tremendously hard to read, and I did find myself in tears on more than one occasion as he faced one unimaginable horror after another. Petken’s portrayal of the terrible conditions on the Eastern Front was masterful. There is a realism that comes with Petken’s writing that is almost tangible. She has a visceral understanding of what makes history worth reading.
  
  I thought Petken’s portrayal of MI6, and the very secret Special Operations Executive (SOE), was fabulous and a direct contrast to the Gestapo, especially when it came to interrogation tactics. Like his father, Max is involved at one time or another with both organisations. Max is a very experienced intelligence officer, but he is also a son and a brother. Max cannot understand why Paul chooses Germany and the Nazis over, what is so obvious to Max, the right path. Max is the only brother who sees the Nazi Party for what it really is, and he will do everything in his power to bring them down. Max lives in a shadowy underworld. He faces a different type of war to his brothers. I thought his story was tautly gripping.
  
  The Vogels: On All Front (The Half-Bloods Book 2) is a wonderfully magnificent book that was so enthralling that I simply could not put it down once I had started. I cannot wait to get my hands on Book 3 and find out what happens to this extraordinary family.
  
  If you are looking for your next great World War II, historical fiction read, then look no further than The Half-Blood series. You will not be disappointed. This series has everything you could want, and then a bit more.
  
  I Highly Recommend.
  
  Review by Mary Anne Yarde.
  The Coffee Pot Book Club.
• 
  Ana Santos

  Fascinating and gripping second installment to this WW2 trilogy that's easily becoming one of my favorites. Jana Petken does a fantastic job incorporating harsh truths and real wartime grit I often find missing from many historical fiction books set during this period.
• 
  Joanna

  This was great !!! The story continues with Vogel family...I can't wait till the 3rd part comes out ! Hopefully soon!
• 
  Cindy Woods

  A riveting WWII family saga!
  
  Well worth the reading. So many important characters, but easy to follow with such an interesting storyline. The writing flows.
  
  We get a perspective from so many different points of view be it German, English, Russian Finnish, Polish, Jewish and Catholic, Irish and Spanish, businessmen, soldiers, resistance fighters and housewives. A fascinating spectrum all rolled up in a great saga.
  
  Well worth reading. I would recommend to readers of historical fiction.
• 
  Scot

  This second in the series is even stronger than the first. It follows the war's impact on the Vogel family and those around them 1941-42 in this second book of the trilogy, boradening its scope as it couples each of the three sons with another character for a range of plot developments to cover espionage, military battles, and the horrors of what is happening to the Jews. Thus we have Max Vogel working with the Polish good friend he cuckolded in Book 1, Romek, in a double agent intrigue involving a submarine; his twin Paul discovering their former chauffeur Kurt being tortured and held in the Lodz ghetto after Paul has been stationed as a doctor there; and the youngest son Willie out on the Russian front, enduring the seige of Leningrad and the desolation of a terrible Russian winter alone out in the woods with his buddy Hauptmann.
  
  This story had some plot developments I expected and patted myself on the back for foreseeing and others that took me by surprise, in just the right combination for an entertaining and illuminating read. Two minor complaints. Three times at least, the Vogels use the overcorrection "person X and I" in the objective case when they should say "person X and me." I would expect all these well educated, fluent English speakersa not to make that error! Also, at one one point Max picks up Mahatma Gandhi's best selling book The Story of My Experiments with Truth and it is referred to as a novel. Gandhi 's book is an autobiography, not a novel. Authors should all know the difference between the two, and why even include the detail if you don't???
• 
  Todd Oliver

  I am absolutely loving this series! If you love historical fiction or stories about WW2, I highly recommend this series. It's not so much about the war itself, but the human experience of the war. It's about a family torn apart on both sides of the war. I don't want to give away too many details though.
  
  The worst part of this book is that book 3 isn't available yet lol. I guess I'll wait patiently if I have to lol.
  
  The narration was good but I was honestly disappointed at the beginning. I guess the previous narrator was no longer available, so a new narrator was picked for this book. His accents weren't as good as the previous narrator, but the narration itself was great so I won't hold it against him lol.
• 
  Rosalie Sambuco

  THE VOGELS
  
  Part 2 was as well-written as Part 1. I thoroughly enjoyed both books. The Vogel family became real to me. I was shocked at some of the torture committed by the Nazis. Again I wondered if I would survive living under such conditions. I recommend both books to readers of WW II stories.
• 
  Greg

  The second as good as the first of what is the best trilogy ever.
  
  What can I say, I am not a great reviewer but I have not read two books that will become three by tomorrow this quickly in many years. You will not regret enjoying these books. Stay tuned for number 3 shortly. I think I will take it slower for the enjoyment.
• 
  Gail

  Really loved book one, "The Half Bloods" and found "The Vogels" to be even better. Well researched, exciting read that made feel the emotions of each brother and what they faced. Looking forward to the next one.
• 
  Larmie Fahrendorff

  A thoroughly entertaining trilogy!
  
  An excellent continuation from the German Half-bloods. This series is thoroughly entertaining following the many characters over the face of Europe during World War II. I cannot wait to find and begin book 3. Highly recommended!
• 
  Dorothy Pierce

  Best two books I have read in years. They are wonderfully written by a very well researched author. Can’t wait for the next one in the series.
  
  I would recommend this series to anyone interested in this period in history, as terrible as it was. Ms Petken has gained a new fan.
• 
  Charles L. Young

  Good stuff
  
  This was a real page turner. Plots laid out and added to in unusual ways. Ending parts are masterful. Enjoyed.