The beginning of Mischling held the promise of a gripping tale of survival and loss. However, the narrative progresses so slowly that sometimes it became a struggle to continue reading, and that had nothing to do with the 'distressing' content - although for sensitive readers I'm sure that could be an issue. Stasha and Pearl are supposedly twelve but their characters are written and speak in such a way that had the word 'children' not been mentioned repeatedly I would have overlooked their age. The plot does have several clichés which I struggled to believe considering the situations they stemmed from. I connected more to Stasha as a character and her struggle with her own identity could be the most relatable aspect of the book. A promising start but it takes it's own determination to finish reading.