City of Thieves
A Novel
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4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
From the critically acclaimed author of The 25th Hour and When the Nines Roll Over and co-creator of the HBO series Game of Thrones, a captivating novel about war, courage, survival — and a remarkable friendship that ripples across a lifetime.
During the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible.
By turns insightful and funny, thrilling and terrifying, the New York Times bestseller City of Thieves is a gripping, cinematic World War II adventure and an intimate coming-of-age story with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Author and screenwriter Benioff follows up The 25th Hour with this hard-to-put-down novel based on his grandfather's stories about surviving WWII in Russia. Having elected to stay in Leningrad during the siege, 17-year-old Lev Beniov is caught looting a German paratrooper's corpse. The penalty for this infraction (and many others) is execution. But when Colonel Grechko confronts Lev and Kolya, a Russian army deserter also facing execution, he spares them on the condition that they acquire a dozen eggs for the colonel's daughter's wedding cake. Their mission exposes them to the most ghoulish acts of the starved populace and takes them behind enemy lines to the Russian countryside. There, Lev and Kolya take on an even more daring objective: to kill the commander of the local occupying German forces. A wry and sympathetic observer of the devastation around him, Lev is an engaging and self-deprecating narrator who finds unexpected reserves of courage at the crucial moment and forms an unlikely friendship with Kolya, a flamboyant ladies' man who is coolly reckless in the face of danger. Benioff blends tense adventure, a bittersweet coming-of-age and an oddly touching buddy narrative to craft a smart crowd-pleaser.
Customer Reviews
Amazing
This is my favorite book of all time! It combines the horrors of the war with the innocence and stupidity of teenage boys. A must read for all who appreciate great books!
City of Theives
I don’t have enough superlatives for this book but let’s say it was brilliant at the very least. Kolya and Lev were unlikely ‘bed-fellows,’ one very worldly for his young age and the other just coming of age. The setting is during the Russian and German conflict during the harshest of times when survival was day to day. The author was knowledgeable of the times. He had me spell bound. His words flowed like river trout in a fast moving stream. Vika’s character was engrossing. Best book I’ve read in many years. Can’t wait to read the next one.
A great read
Really quite a short book or maybe it just seems that way as it is engaging and entertaining.