Wymann dreams of becoming a fencer. It has been his only escape in his hard life first in an abusive home, then through five years in an abusive orphanage, and all the struggles with bullies, death, his heritage as a Jew, and abandonment in between. When his war-scarred cousin Lefty comes to claim him and ends up enlisting a drunk but great Russian fencing master Nikolai Vararinski to teach Cid to duel, as Lefty teaches him to fence, his dream finally comes true. As enemies both new and from his past show up, Cid has the chance to use his new skills and take his revenge.
I like this book. Cid’s exiting coming-of-age story is a good read about overcoming hardships featuring lots of fencing action and a little romance. From the very first chapter I felt a lot of sympathy toward Cid. He lived in an abusive home where his father and grandmother beat and blamed him for the death of his mother, and then his father, grandmother, best friends, and father figure abandoned him. There is a gap where the next five years are skipped, but I gathered he spent the time in an abusive and neglectful orphanage. He finally ended up with his cousin Lefty from England who was half-dead from mustard gas in the Great War in Passchendaele.
I didn’t like Lefty’s character at first, he struck me as just someone else who would hurt Cid, but I felt him growing on me as the novel progressed. The fencing terms and moves, although explained a bit while Cid is being taught, are also in a glossary in the back of the book for easy reference when a fight is underway and you need a reminder of what a riposte is. The romance between Cid and Betty adds some excitement to the story, and it was clean and cute. Open Wounds has a bittersweet ending and left me feeling satisfied.
- Author's Website: http://lunievicz.com/
- Publisher: Westside Books
- Publication Date: May 31, 2011
