Trigger warnings: Military violence and war themes, death of a sister, death of a child, explosions, blood depiction

8/10, after reading a book in the same genre as this called Harmony which kind of let me down a bit mainly because it got boring quickly I was hoping that I would enjoy this as well and I'm so glad I read this, it was just a massive step up and just a brilliant read in general so where do I begin? Did I mention this won a Children's Book Council of Australia Award in 2022? It deserves it. It starts with the main character Sasha and the starting pages of the book were quite harrowing when his home was invaded and the soldiers took his sister I think and now he is all alone with his village gone. Not to mention that the title is absolute genius since each word is a hint to what happens during the story which I liked. Not long after he was found by a group of soldiers and I get to see those characters for the majority of the novel except for the ending which I'll get to later. Sasha bonds with the soldiers and I enjoyed all their character dynamics like when one soldier told Sasha about honour which were all really heartwarming but there's also a touch of sadness woven in as well as Sasha discusses the horrors of war and even if they won it still wouldn't feel great. The pacing is just great as some of the scenes were really action-packed while sometimes it can slow down to allow characters to really grow on me, in the end, it was rather bittersweet as a mine explodes at the end of Sasha's journey from Russia to Berlin and some soldiers were killed off; despite this Sasha is an entirely different person now, few books pull off character development like this. This is one of them, if you like war stories pick this. ( )

Oh, this book was beautiful. It reminded me a little of Morris Gleitzman's "Once" series, but better. Written for middle school readers, "Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief" will appeal to all ages. I adored Sasha, he was a shining light in a period of darkness and he brought tenderness, hope and love to everyone he met.

The title is a clever one as the reader gradually comes to realise the significance of each word. I loved this book! Sasha brought me to tears and I was so impressed with the author's writing. "Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief "was an emotional read and, considering what is happening between Russia and Ukraine, a relevant one. Highly recommended! ( )