Stateless

IN A NUTSHELL
'Stateless' is an engaging, exciting, informative novel that worked very well as an historical thriller, scaling up the tension right to the end, but it went further than I'd expected. The descriptions of the flying were very vivid and realistic. The story avoided simple stereotypes. I felt an emotional connection to these young people who did not yet know that they were two years away from a World War that would reshape Europe. It made me see our present generation of European teenagers as being in a similar situation, as I believe that the hybrid war between Russia and the rest of Europe is likely to escalate into a deadly military conflict soon.

I don't normally read YA historical fiction, but I saw this cover in my local show more Public Library and couldn't resist picking it up. I was immediately surprised and impressed by how good it was. I looked 'Stateless' up online and saw that it had won. ITW Thriller Award for Young Adult Novel (2024), Crimefest Award (Best Crime Novel for Young Adults) (2024), and the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award (Juvenile/Y.A.) (2024). I downloaded a digital copy from the library and fell into the book.

It starts as a one-young-woman-striving-to-win-against-odds story, framed as a Europe-wide air race, in which young pilots represent their country in a competition intended to promote peace and friendship between nations.

Almost immediately, it becomes more complicated. Our English Rose heroine, Stella North, isn't actually English, she's stateless and she's not the only young pilot who isn't who she appears to be.

Then someone starts killing pilots in the air in incidents that look like accidents. For Stella North, the struggle becomes not one of winning a race for the honour of her host country, but of surviving and helping others to survive the attacks on their lives. Eventually, the book becomes about deciding who to trust with your life.

'Stateless' gave a strong sense of threat from the rise of Fascism, which has some disturbing contemporary echoes.

It got the details right on the places (oddly, I've spent time in every city that the competitors go to). I also picked up (and verified as I went along) pieces of history I was ignorant of, for example, the existence of a Nansen Passport specifically for stateless people and the sabotage at the 1929 Women's Air Derby.

The biggest surprise to me was how deeply I felt the doom of these brave, optimistic young people, all of whom would be exactly the right age to have their lives twisted out of shape by the coming war. It made me wonder whether the present generation of European teens can see the next stage of the war with Russia coming. show less

It’s the summer of 1937 and seventeen year old Stella North is the sole female contestant in a youth flying race across Europe. She is representing Britain, although she doesn’t actually have a British passport, having emigrated from Russia as a small child. On the first day of the race Stella witnesses something going wrong for one of the other contestants. Was it an accident -- or was it sabotage?

Stella and some of her fellow contestants are acutely -- and believably -- aware of the current politics, tensions and anxieties in Europe, so even though they don’t know what the future holds, it makes it impossible for the reader to forget. And there’s something incredibly bittersweet in becoming invested in a group of young pilots show more and their friendships with each other, knowing that they’re all shortly going to be plunged into war. (In that respect, this reminded me of K.M. Peyton’s The Edge of the Cloud, which is set just before WWI, and is also the book which got me hooked on stories about flying aeroplanes.)

This novel gave me increasingly more and more FEELINGS. At times it made me laugh out loud. It also made me desperately worried about Stella and her new friends. Which was stressful, but at the same time, I enjoyed feeling worried for them.

(I was reminded of reading Mary Stewart’s suspense novels -- the first-person narration from a practical and level-headed young woman, the vivid sense of place, the mystery and the danger. Possibly a subjective reaction but anyway, it was a reminder of just how much I like this sort of genre. One of the cities the characters stop over in is a place I visited at seventeen, and moreover, one of the few places in Europe I’ve been to, so that was an added source of interest.)

I really like the way Wein tells stories and I really liked this one.

I’d suspected this would be the sort of thing I enjoy even more as an audiobook and I was right, so I’m glad I waited until I finally found the audiobook, but it meant I couldn’t bookmark any of my favourite passages. show less

Murder mystery isn’t a genre I gravitate towards often but this mystery was wrapped up in just the right mix of unique elements, taking place during an airplane race through Europe in 1937, and with the lone female pilot in that race, Stella North, as the lead character, I’m so glad that premise prompted me to give this a try because I ended up loving it.

A female pilot was definitely something that attracted me to this book. I love to read about women in roles you don’t often see them in, but I appreciated that the story never fixated on her gender, there isn’t a barrage of men hitting on her or telling her she’s incapable, being a girl comes up in the narrative when it makes sense for it to come up, it’s addressed when it show more needs to be addressed and in realistic ways like the reporters’ fascination with her which you could totally see happening, but it felt just as realistic and rewarding, too, when what sets her apart is almost forgotten by those around her, when she’s seen simply as a fellow pilot and camaraderie develops.

There’s a little something more than camaraderie percolating between Stella and one of the boys, I liked the dynamic between them, sometimes suspicious, sometimes friendly, and I also liked that at no point did flirting or anything like that take over the story or take away from Stella, their connection is mostly on the subtle side, so if romance is not your thing it shouldn’t be a problem.

This is a different sort of take on a war story as it doesn’t technically involve scenes of war yet you feel the impact of war on these characters throughout, whether it’s how they’re treated due to their nationality or the toll physically and emotionally of combat, the affect on their temperaments, traces of PTSD, the way it’s obliterated families and war even very much fuels the mystery and intrigue in Stateless.

There may be some readers who would argue that the first signs of death or sabotage would have brought such a high profile race to an immediate halt, but to me, the “show” going on, covering things up to save face, even if that means putting people in more danger doesn’t feel all that far-fetched, it’s in fact something that does happen in sports and in politics and this race is a combination of the two, if you think about it, those in charge choosing to hide the problem and clean it up later when there may be less of a spotlight on it, unfortunately rings pretty true to life.

With the war angle, with lives in danger, there is some serious stuff here, but it’s also entertaining at the same time, a page-turner.

I received this book through a giveaway. show less

While the mystery unveils well before the end, the tension as this group of teen and early twenties fliers realize what’s happening keeps you reading. Stella North represents England in a flight competition around pre-World War Two, ostensibly to promote peace while the Germans and Italians are destroying Spain and Ethiopia. Her parents were killed by the communists when she was a toddler and she survived by hiding in a dark cellar for days. The other pilots have similar scars, some psychic, some physical that are revealed as the story progresses. When Stella witnesses an attack on the Italian pilot resulting in a crash in the English Channel and his death, it sets in motion numerous attacks on other competitors. What makes this a show more great read is how events in Europe are portrayed and what their emotional impact is on everyone in the story. The young pilots come together in ways that shame the adults time after time. This is a great historical mystery, carefully researched with a fine cast of players. show less

I really enjoyed the pacing and mix of mystery and adventure in this novel, taking place in 20th century Europe as tensions continue to rise and Nazis are gaining power ahead of the Second World War. For readers who are unsure how "plane-heavy" this book is, there is a great balance of plot and detail regarding flight and planes (without being tedious or boring!) and I appreciated the sprinkling of romance/tension throughout the story. I did wish there was a bit more depth and character development but I can't exactly pinpoint why they felt a bit flat for me.

An exciting account of a 1937 air race that was created specifically for young pilots and was intended to promote peace in a world on the brink of war. Stella North, representing the United Kingdom, is a one-time refugee from Russia and the only female competing against pilots with varying political sentiments from several European countries. When she witnessed two planes almost colliding, one flew away unscathed and the other plummeted to the ocean in what she believes to be the deliberate elimination of a competitor. Stella and other pilots investigate the event. The life stories of the competitors reflect the positions of European countries at the time, making this a good overall portrayal of the era. It's a fascinating and thrilling show more adventure story that although classified as Young Adult, readers of any age can enjoy. show less

ELIZABETH WEIN DOES IT AGAIN?
WHAT is it about this book! it's the same exact thing as CNV where I fully know that there's something missing but the majority of me is absolutely enthralled to the point where I'm willing to give it the full five stars. It must be the character relationships, the sudden bonds formed under pressure where they just come together - it must be the chess metaphor that slipped in at one point (I am an absolute sucker for those). It also must be that I LIKED Stella and Tony and Sebastian and the rest of them. It is disappointingly rare that I fully like YA casts lo l help but for how little we really got to know the aviators (other than S & T obvs) I was surprisingly connected to all of them. (Maybe? Sequel? show more Perhaps?? But :()
maybe I go reread CNV now. wilding over here... week 4 of camp here we come. show less