Once We Were Here

Cosmos’s action-packed if jingoistic debut celebrates the Greek resistance to the Axis invasion in WWII. Nineteen-year-old best friends Alexei and Costa enthusiastically volunteer to fight against the Italian invasion in 1940. After an unexpected victory, Costa leverages a war wound to pick up women until he falls in love, while Alexei marries childhood sweetheart Philia. After Germany launches an assault in 1941, the men return to the front and join the ragtag resistance following a crushing defeat. Back in Alexei and Costa’s hometown of Agria, Philia and her father are forced to garrison a German commander, and residents strain under the slim rations allowed by the occupying forces. When Costa and Alexei return home, they hatch a scheme—to avenge Agria by sabotaging a bridge, then flee to unconquered Athens—that puts them in danger from the onslaught of encroaching Germans. The near escapes of the protagonists and sound effect-filled battle scenes (“Bang bang bang bang!”; “And then mortars from the Italians. Kaboom kaboom kaboom!!!”) are exciting, but the only nuance in this depiction of robotically cruel Germans and valiant Greeks is a brief, belated moment of self-reflection from Alexei. Readers who don’t mind black-and-white WWII adventures will enjoy this take on a lesser-known part of the war. (Oct.)