I couldn't get through the book. I DNF'd around 10% into the book. I really wanted to like this book! I'm a sucker for teen spy books and adventurous stories. Unfortunately, I have no idea what tone this book is going for. 1920s pulp, a serious war story with fantastical elements, a silly but comforting read? I don't know. I do know that I was immediately met with info-dumps instead of actual worldbuilding. It felt more like reading a summary than the story itself. I get that worldbuilding is hard but when I don't know the book's tone, it was jarring. Even as I got further along, I was hit with these info-dumps and I wished Donald would have shown me more than he told me all of these things.
The same applies to Raymond himself. I also don't know who the lead is on a personal level. Yes, Raymond Calvert is 16 and looking for his father but that's all I got from him other than some sarcastic comments now and then.
I know giving up at 10% feels a bit hasty but I had emotionally checked out by then. With a book like this, I need to care about the characters and their journeys and I didn't care about Raymond and Helen.
Overall, I'm not saying Donald is a bad writer but I do think this book could have done with a few more edits.
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