Amazing!

A Portrait of Loyalty by Roseanna M. White is the third book in what I now consider one of my favorite series of all time: The Codebreakers. I’m afraid it does spoil a bit where this review is going, prepare for a lot of fangirling!

First, it is possible to read this as a standalone but I can promise you it’s much more fun to read them in order, as the main characters from the previous books definitely make appearances.

Now, unto the premiss... we have a former Russian intelligence agent, who deflected to the English after the Bolsheviks took over Russia. Roseanna M. White is a genius in coming up with interesting characters, and Zivon definitely is one. He’s been traumatized and needs to learn to trust again, but he’s also very good at seeing patterns. Not like Margot, with math and codebreaking, he sees patterns with people. He’s very good at what he does, and it takes courage and quite a bit of humbling to start at the lowest point and have his loyalties questioned.

Meanwhile Lilian pretends to work at the hospital but is secretly also working for Room 40, editing photographs. She’s a real artistic talent, and sees magic through her lens, but now she uses her skill for the war effort. Most men don’t really see her because she has an adorable vibrant younger sister, but Zivon sees more and they keep finding excuses to talk to each other. This is what I love most about their relationship, they develop a very deep friendship and are not afraid to call out the other when they see something or be kind to one another.

But of course there is more, lots of action as Zivon is looking for his lost brother and it seems that Russia is not leaving him alone... We get some perspective on the bad guys too, and they were so interesting! The changing POVs make you eager to read more, there was never a dull moment.

I absolutely loved this book, with extremely interesting characters and enough happening to keep it interesting, yet not so much that it feels like it’s just one big action scene. There were breathing spaces and different perspectives and emotional growth, and I loved every minute of it and I just wish it was longer. Aka the pacing was perfect and the writing style intruiging. The spiritual message was very strong, and hit home with me. It is about hate, if you allow that to linger, and to question yourself what it is exactly you hate. But also about learning to trust, renewed faith and how to deal with hardship, and never in a preachy way.

All in all, I really recommend this book! My dad just finished The Number of Love and is kind of jealous I already read book 3, and my granddad is reading the first book now and actually can’t stop reading, so this series really is for everyone!

I also have to give a trigger warning, I’ll do it at the end so you can choose not to read it, it’s not really a spoiler but it does give an indication where the story is going.

As it’s 1918, it’s also the start of the Spanish Flu pandemic, and for me that brought back a little bit of the fear I experienced the past months. I can imagine if you’ve had or are having a rough time or in the very worst case, lost someone, it can be hard to read.

I received a free e-copy in exchange for my honest review.