Rating: 
Summary: Worth reading, but doesn't live up to expectations
Review: War of the Rats gripped me during the first half of the book, with its captivating personal story of Zaitsev. After the mid-point mark it began dragging, a problem I attribute mainly to two shortcomings: First, the character of Tanya was an unnecessary and unconvincing distraction. The life and death struggles faced by Zaitsev and other soldiers in Stalingrad is compelling enough without trying to cram in an unnatural love story, especially one involving someone as unsympathetic and unlikely as Tanya. Second, Robbins does a poor job of developing the character of Thorvald. Here he is, the best sniper in the entire Third Reich, yet he is depicted as lazy and inattentive. He'd have been killed during his first day in Stalingrad if he were truly as inept as he is made out to be. Another complaint I have, but one which affects the entire book as opposed to just the second half, was that the book fails to adequately depict the true human suffering that occurred in Stalingrad. The physical desolation of the city itself is depicted well, but in terms of the sheer inhumanity and awfulness of the place I thought it fell short.Despite all this, I still think War of the Rats is worth reading. Just realize going into it that there are certain shortcomings that make this a good book rather than a great book and you should enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: worthwhile historical novel with addictive writing
Review: War of the Rats
David L. Robbins I don't read much fiction, but this is good historical fiction. I have some interest in war and guns, just enough to pursue a book like this, with the details of being a sniper interesting and holding my attention. But my major interest is in this novel as a window into the big picture, how humanity fights and dies. That is the value of novels, for they can (as this one does) reduce these big issues to two men hunting each other in the winter snow, waiting for the one shot which results in the death of the looser. I basically read the book in one sitting, addicted to get to the climax and see whose body it was freezing in the snow. And who won by picking the pockets and claiming the weapon of the looser. That is the judgement of a good book, do you read it greedily? War of the Rats passes this test. The second test is does it help you to think new thoughts, feel new emotions, identify with the characters and learn from the time spent? From the details: shooting through mortar shells, helmet on a brick rather than a stick, shoot then move, to the big items: 1.5 million Germans lost in Stalingrad, 30,000 made it back to Germany from 1948-1954, while 90K died in Soviet Gulags, the book weaves the issues together, forming a coherent and interesting whole. From the German as intellect and his Siberian counterpart as instinctual wolf hunter on the taiga, to the issues of walking dead they just don't know it yet, the book yields lots of paths where you can follow the author's reasonings and have hours of reflection to add to those pleasant hours with your head in this book. I do not really understand why humanity fights. Perhaps that is a lesson only those who have experienced it can really know. But as i reflect on what i learned from these few hours reading i sense that there is this awful imbalance. Of anger and hatred, fear of the other, the willingness to kill with just a thin veneir of civilization, love of neighbor, self-sacrifice to try to hold that evil in bay. From the moment the rage and insanity of war begin, to the walking shells of men dead to the world from their experiences, to the horror the survivors must feel when they see their burned and bombed out homes, the evil has the upper hand. A novel can drive these issues home in a way that history texts can not, for they enable you to try to feel what a character might have felt, to sympathize and identify to the point of being there. And that is the value of the time spent with a book like this, perhaps in some small way, we can see the horror of war and turn from the actuality of it in our real lives. I'd hope so.
Rating:
Summary: here it is quick and fast!
Review: Well it's a good war story. Lots of action and it goes into vast details of the Russians and the Germans soldiers though out the war. The story line deals with two snipers Russia's best and Germany's best. Pits man aggainst man to see who can out fox who. I'll cut it short very good book but then it gets drawn out. It's seems like the book never going to end.
Rating:
Summary: Worth reading, but doesn't live up to expectations
Review: When I got this book at the book store I wanted to learn about Stalingrad, and after reading it I was amazed at how much I learned and how much fun I had reading it. I'm only 14 but I would reccomend this book to anyone that enjoys World War 2 or just really good books. Anyway I thought that this was the second best book I have ever read (second only to Band of Brothers, which is also a great book).
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