Deadly Skies (Warpath) [Paperback]

Deadly skies is a marvellous book to read. It describes what it was really like to fly a plane during the Battle Of Britain with some sad parts and some exciting parts.This is one of the best out of the Warpath collection. Make sure you buy it!

This book is absolutely the best book I have ever read in my whole life. It made my heart beat twice as fast and you really think that you are that pilot. And when you crash you think you're injured too!

Over half term I read the book Deadly Skies. The book had been recommended to me by some friends. It was really exciting and I couldn't put the book down, I stayed up every night for four days to read it.

The story is about a man called John Smith. He was a brave fighter pilot in the 2nd world war. He joined the RAF when he was 18, the youngest age possible, and he flew a spitfire. His father wanted him to join the fusiliers or the family regiment as he called it, but John Smith had other ideas. He had been in an aeroplane when he was at university and he had really enjoyed flying. John did join the RAF and because of this, his father and him were always arguing and never got along well. John had two friends who were in the same squad as he was. They were called Tug Banks and Dob Masters, they also flew spitfires.

After about three or four battles Dob made a mistake and a Messherschmitt BF109 shot him. John got really angry with that pilot and shot him down but in doing that he was surrounded and he got shot! His spitfire started to burn, just in time John smashed the top of the spitfire off and parachuted out. He was found by a man living near the coast and he got a lift back to the base, where he found out that Dob Masters was killed. The next day a man called Scotty Mcburn replaced him. He joined the RNZAF when he was 18 and he didn't have much fighting experience.

Soon afterwards his family heard tragic news, a letter arrived saying "We regret to inform you that your son Edward Smith is missing in action". The sort of letter that usually meant only one thing, that John Smith's brother was dead. It only gets worse John got leave and found out about Edward but their house had been bombed. Luckily the family were in next door's air raid shelter when it happened so none of them were hurt. John's mother was in tears and next morning she and John set out to the bombed house to look for a picture of Edward. When they got back carrying a large silver framed photo of him John and his father had another argument which made John's mother burst into tears.

I don't want to give away the rest of the book but I can tell you that the rest is just as exciting as what I have written here. Here are some of my thoughts on the book.

I think the book was well written, there was never a dull moment. The book was also truthful, all the facts about air raids and dogfights were true. Also the characters were
realistic and acted in a normal manner they didn't do unbelievable things. I think the book is suitable for ages 8 and a half to 14 years old. In the centre of the book there were some pages of facts about the aircraft, they were really interesting.

There was nothing I didn't like about the book and if you enjoyed reading this book too I would advise reading The Machine Gunners which is also based on the 2nd world war. I haven't read any other books about air battles but I have read lots of adventure books and Deadly Skies is one of my favourites because the action goes on from page to page all through the book instead of having all the action in the middle like most other adventure stories. There is no boring introduction or ending as well.

I hope this review has made you want to buy and read this book.

(James, aged 10)