Fearless by Erin O’Reilly is a work of historical fiction about the brave members of the Auxiliary Transport Authority who ferried planes during World War II. Delivering aircraft from the factories to Royal Air Force stations throughout the United Kingdom, ATA pilots flew in the face of danger on a daily basis. This book follows pilots of the first all women’s ferry pool at Hatfield.

Now, let me tell you: I wanted to like this book. I really did. Who doesn’t love a tale of scrappy lesbian underdogs? And badass, evil-fighting pilots, at that? Alas, it was not to be.

There were too many characters. Waaaaay too many characters. They were “strong” characters, from a variety of social, economic, and cultural backgrounds, but still. Unnecessary. Most cross center stage just once for their introduction, then fade into the background. After 100 pages of this, you just want to skip past it all.

Worse, perhaps, than the glut of characters was when they actually opened their mouths to speak. To call it “stilted” would be a grievous understatement; the writing quality read like highbrow fanfiction. The characterization had potential, but you could tell the work lacked serious editing. Grammatical errors and typos littered the pages, especially towards the end.

The one thing O’Reilly got right was the research — there were great historical details worked in, however awkwardly — but it wasn’t enough to redeem the rest. For me, the preface was more interesting than the actual plot. So if you’re interested, do yourself a favor on this one: skip the story and go straight to the source material.

You’re welcome.