War is apt to reduce everything it encounters to shreds—buildings, families, futures, and even individuals’ very sense of self. Under the constant threat of violence, the task isn’t merely survival—it’s remaining human. In Is It Ever Right to Kill? by James Myles, we accompany Robyn Rowbotham, a young British medic student, out of her secure existence into a world where brutality is commonplace and compassion is a stuttering flame.
Robyn’s adventure starts with one gut-wrenching phone call from her best friend, Kat. Her parents have disappeared in Ukraine amidst the Russian invasion. For Robyn, Kat is not just a friend—she’s family. And that love is the push behind a choice that would turn Robyn’s world upside down and propel her into the heart of war.
Robyn doesn’t travel to fight, though. She travels to heal. She works as a medic with the International Brigade, hoping to utilize her skills to change things, even if it is just in little things. But the minute she gets to the camp in Lviv, she’s confronted with something far more gruesome and emotionally painful than she’d ever envisioned. Bombings, shrapnel injuries, screams at night—there are no soft hearts here. And still, Robyn won’t let hers turn hard.
It is this that makes her tale so remarkable.
Is It Ever Right to Kill? Does not romanticize heroism. It depicts it in sweat, blood, and tears. Robyn is not ideal—she’s scared, stunned, and always wondering if she has done the right thing. But in every instant of horror, she clings to her humanity. Whether it’s comforting a stranger in agony, preserving the dignity of the hurt, or just staying to assist when others would flee—Robyn acts on empathy time and again.
In combat, where life is counted by seconds and choices by repercussions, Robyn’s subtle defiance is remarkable. She refuses to become numb. And that’s no mean accomplishment. To remain human within an environment intended to crush the spirit takes a tremendous amount of strength—not of the type hammered out in muscles, but of moral strength and emotional toughness.
One of the most poignant things about James Myles’s book is how he unveils the internal battle. Robyn isn’t merely avoiding rockets—she’s wrestling with uncertainty, loss, and the nagging question: Is it ever appropriate to kill? From her perspective, we view that sometimes the most difficult conflict is the one we wage within ourselves.
Robyn’s tale is a reminder that being human in inhuman circumstances is an act of courage. In choosing compassion over convenience, duty over protection, and love over fear in each moment, she becomes a symbol of hope—not only for those in her life but for anyone ever to feel helpless in the face of injustice.
Off the battlefield, Robyn battles to remain intact. And through it all, she teaches us the real cost—and the profound, unshaking beauty—of human existence.
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