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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I enjoyed the light hearted tone. The book is full of wordy descriptions but they’re quite entertaining. On the down side; it is quite a confusing book and things just seem to happen to the protagonist without him having much agency until the end
Combines the the office politics aspects of Tinker Tailor with some of the action of James Bond, and maybe mixed with some hardboiled detective elements (especially the narrator's voice). I especially liked the humorous and somewhat suspect voice of the narrator.
Ugh. This is the worst kind of spy novel, where the spy is bounced around from chapter-to-chapter like a pinball and encounters new characters that appear and disappear into thin air (“thin” being a key word, as the characters are paper thin), who drop important information into his lap that he never seems to gather on his own.
“I have to track Raven!”
*random character appears*
“We’ve already found him, sir! Just go to this location…”
“Cheerio!”
Then we get the Cold War clichés piling up in a shaggy dog narrative...political assassinations, atomic bombs, mind control…I just didn’t care about any of it from the very beginning.
Spy novels are very hit-or-miss for me. I love Greene, Fleming, and the little I’ve read of Forsyth. The couple I’ve read from Ludlum, Clancy, and le Carré are ok. I rank this with the Buchan’s [b:The 39 Steps|153492|The 39 Steps (Richard Hannay, #1)|John Buchan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391320797l/153492._SY75_.jpg|2422487] and Childers’ [b:The Riddle of the Sands|406575|The Riddle of the Sands|Erskine Childers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320486384l/406575._SY75_.jpg|395911] as almost unbearably dull.
“I have to track Raven!”
*random character appears*
“We’ve already found him, sir! Just go to this location…”
“Cheerio!”
Then we get the Cold War clichés piling up in a shaggy dog narrative...political assassinations, atomic bombs, mind control…I just didn’t care about any of it from the very beginning.
Spy novels are very hit-or-miss for me. I love Greene, Fleming, and the little I’ve read of Forsyth. The couple I’ve read from Ludlum, Clancy, and le Carré are ok. I rank this with the Buchan’s [b:The 39 Steps|153492|The 39 Steps (Richard Hannay, #1)|John Buchan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391320797l/153492._SY75_.jpg|2422487] and Childers’ [b:The Riddle of the Sands|406575|The Riddle of the Sands|Erskine Childers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320486384l/406575._SY75_.jpg|395911] as almost unbearably dull.
adventurous
dark