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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
tl;dr Just re-watch the movie.
This book took me a really long time to read. And I mean, really long. I kept /not/ wanting to read it. It was so...boring. Such a massive 180 compared to the flick, which is non-stop action, movement, character, emotion, and plot all the way through. (And of course, a sex scene tossed in, I mean, what is Hollywood /without/ a sex scene.)
The first three chapters could've easily been tossed out or condensed into one. The best part of the book is chapters four to about six or so. (Basically whenever that action part ends, it's been so long, I can't remember now.) After that, it's like reading the first three chapters over and over. Nothing happens. I feel no suspense. The characters are all bland at have the same voice.
Speaking of. If anyone is doing research on how badly men typically write women characters, THIS is an excellent example. Why is the female character there? I don't know, she just is. Could the book be the same without her? Definitely. Is rape traumatizing? Nah. I mean, it's the worst thing that a woman could ever experience that no man could ever hope to understand (legit said in the book), but does it affect the survivor at all? I mean, that line said everything right? No need to address that ever again.
This woman is a robot. I don't know anything about her. I don't know how she thinks, feels, only what she does. Oh, and does she LOVE Jason. Of course. They're in love a day after meeting each other. Did I remind you that she loves Jason? Because she loves him. What does she love about him? Why does she love him? Who cares! She LOVES him. Probably because she is a woman, and women are supposed to love men, especially the main male character, obviously.
This book is more from Jason's POV, but it's not like the author doesn't give Marie any screen time. She talks and we read her thoughts. She is just literally a robot.
ATTENTION MALE SPECIES: How do you write a female character? By writing a character, and making them female. BAM. DONE! DON'T OVER THINK IT.
It read literally like a male trying to write a female character. (Has this guy ever met a woman? Like, ever? Or has he only ever read other books written by males who have no idea what the female species is like.)
Not only that, but her sole purpose, aside from female love interest, is basically the equivalent of the internet. She literally knows everything about everyone to the fine detail of Google searching. Had this book been written nowadays, Jason would've just used his phone to find out information on people. (And I am not kidding, the level of detail this robot with a vagina knows about everyone and everything is stupid.)
She wasn't the only robot, of course, just the most blatant one. Every other character was just as emotionless. It was awkward reading scenes where innocent people Jason interrogated were screaming because it was like...why? It was out of nowhere. It was like the author's intention was to showcase their fear, but it was empty and forced. Jason and more major characters were no different. The complete lack of any real emotion throughout the book made me feel so detached from everyone. I didn't care what happened to anyone. The only thing I /did/ care about was (Though if you've seen the movie, it's not a spoiler.)
Funnily enough, I felt more emotion (from the book, not my own) and character from the two inconsequential movers at the end of the book (the ones portrayed with an obvious jab at blue-collar workers) than anything else. It was so strikingly different and ironically better that it took me off guard. I was momentarily interested in the book there, ha!
All the twists and 'shocking' reveals fell flat on me. There were no hints that would've made the guessing fun, there was no emotion that made me care. The writing throughout the entire book was empty and dry. This book falls HEAVILY under the "telling not showing" issue. It took me a while to figure that out, because he blabs so much that it /felt/ like the author was 'showing' when he wasn't. Someone's hands are shaking with fear, I am told this but I don't /feel/ it.
Aside from that crap, as those annoyed me the most, (seriously, the MOVIE does it better!) the book is bloated with so much extra detail and unneeded text. Sometimes it works, but 90% of the time, it doesn't. It felt like this guy was aiming for a word count rather than trying to just write a decent book. (And I really feel like it's a word count thing. He spelled out a lot of numbers and words that normally aren't in the average novel.)
A minor complaint, compared to the rest at least, would be the inclusion of other languages, mostly French. This book is obviously directed towards an English audience. I don't mind dropping some French here and there, but sometimes those lines seem to be very important and are never translated. (Note to author, you can type in English and /say/ they're speaking French and I'll believe you, you don't actually have to type in French.)
I knew I'd be at least somewhat biased walking into this after having seen the movie many times throughout my life, but damn. I didn't expect to add this guy to the list of books that are (shockingly) worse than the movie. (Hello, Twilight! Yikes!)
The ending does pick up a bit on the ride to the conclusion. After reading so much crap, it wasn't much of a great ride since I'm so exhausted by this point. (Plus there is still the word bloated issue.) I've been wanting it over when I was less than a third of the way through. Attempting to add a cherry on top of a pile of shit doesn't help it much.
I do want to say that I find the general plot (though made out to be more stupidly complicated and bloated than its bare bones) was better than the movie. The movie really dumbed it down to standard Hollywood stuff and lost out on a lot of potential uniqueness that this book showed. That said, I don't think this book is worth reading to figure that out. Finding a synopsis is much more worth your time, if you were to spend it on this at all. Though for those wondering, the movie and book are almost entirely two different things. Really, only the first few bits of the book are the same.
Honestly, I feel like a mix of those chapters 4-6ish, parts of the ending (), and the movie are what's making me feel this book is worth 2/5 stars. While I'm glad they made the book into the movie, just so we can have a substantially better story told, I don't feel like this author deserved the success, if I'm to be an ass.
Won't be reading any of this guy's other books, that's for sure.
This book took me a really long time to read. And I mean, really long. I kept /not/ wanting to read it. It was so...boring. Such a massive 180 compared to the flick, which is non-stop action, movement, character, emotion, and plot all the way through. (And of course, a sex scene tossed in, I mean, what is Hollywood /without/ a sex scene.)
The first three chapters could've easily been tossed out or condensed into one. The best part of the book is chapters four to about six or so. (Basically whenever that action part ends, it's been so long, I can't remember now.) After that, it's like reading the first three chapters over and over. Nothing happens. I feel no suspense. The characters are all bland at have the same voice.
Speaking of. If anyone is doing research on how badly men typically write women characters, THIS is an excellent example. Why is the female character there? I don't know, she just is. Could the book be the same without her? Definitely. Is rape traumatizing? Nah. I mean, it's the worst thing that a woman could ever experience that no man could ever hope to understand (legit said in the book), but does it affect the survivor at all? I mean, that line said everything right? No need to address that ever again.
This woman is a robot. I don't know anything about her. I don't know how she thinks, feels, only what she does. Oh, and does she LOVE Jason. Of course. They're in love a day after meeting each other. Did I remind you that she loves Jason? Because she loves him. What does she love about him? Why does she love him? Who cares! She LOVES him. Probably because she is a woman, and women are supposed to love men, especially the main male character, obviously.
This book is more from Jason's POV, but it's not like the author doesn't give Marie any screen time. She talks and we read her thoughts. She is just literally a robot.
ATTENTION MALE SPECIES: How do you write a female character? By writing a character, and making them female. BAM. DONE! DON'T OVER THINK IT.
It read literally like a male trying to write a female character. (Has this guy ever met a woman? Like, ever? Or has he only ever read other books written by males who have no idea what the female species is like.)
Not only that, but her sole purpose, aside from female love interest, is basically the equivalent of the internet. She literally knows everything about everyone to the fine detail of Google searching. Had this book been written nowadays, Jason would've just used his phone to find out information on people. (And I am not kidding, the level of detail this robot with a vagina knows about everyone and everything is stupid.)
She wasn't the only robot, of course, just the most blatant one. Every other character was just as emotionless. It was awkward reading scenes where innocent people Jason interrogated were screaming because it was like...why? It was out of nowhere. It was like the author's intention was to showcase their fear, but it was empty and forced. Jason and more major characters were no different. The complete lack of any real emotion throughout the book made me feel so detached from everyone. I didn't care what happened to anyone. The only thing I /did/ care about was
Spoiler
the misunderstanding between Jason's amnesia and the Americans.Funnily enough, I felt more emotion (from the book, not my own) and character from the two inconsequential movers at the end of the book (the ones portrayed with an obvious jab at blue-collar workers) than anything else. It was so strikingly different and ironically better that it took me off guard. I was momentarily interested in the book there, ha!
All the twists and 'shocking' reveals fell flat on me. There were no hints that would've made the guessing fun, there was no emotion that made me care. The writing throughout the entire book was empty and dry. This book falls HEAVILY under the "telling not showing" issue. It took me a while to figure that out, because he blabs so much that it /felt/ like the author was 'showing' when he wasn't. Someone's hands are shaking with fear, I am told this but I don't /feel/ it.
Aside from that crap, as those annoyed me the most, (seriously, the MOVIE does it better!) the book is bloated with so much extra detail and unneeded text. Sometimes it works, but 90% of the time, it doesn't. It felt like this guy was aiming for a word count rather than trying to just write a decent book. (And I really feel like it's a word count thing. He spelled out a lot of numbers and words that normally aren't in the average novel.)
A minor complaint, compared to the rest at least, would be the inclusion of other languages, mostly French. This book is obviously directed towards an English audience. I don't mind dropping some French here and there, but sometimes those lines seem to be very important and are never translated. (Note to author, you can type in English and /say/ they're speaking French and I'll believe you, you don't actually have to type in French.)
I knew I'd be at least somewhat biased walking into this after having seen the movie many times throughout my life, but damn. I didn't expect to add this guy to the list of books that are (shockingly) worse than the movie. (Hello, Twilight! Yikes!)
The ending does pick up a bit on the ride to the conclusion. After reading so much crap, it wasn't much of a great ride since I'm so exhausted by this point. (Plus there is still the word bloated issue.) I've been wanting it over when I was less than a third of the way through. Attempting to add a cherry on top of a pile of shit doesn't help it much.
Spoiler
And even then, it ends with a cliffhanger. Yay. //sarcasm if it wasn't obvious.I do want to say that I find the general plot (though made out to be more stupidly complicated and bloated than its bare bones) was better than the movie. The movie really dumbed it down to standard Hollywood stuff and lost out on a lot of potential uniqueness that this book showed. That said, I don't think this book is worth reading to figure that out. Finding a synopsis is much more worth your time, if you were to spend it on this at all. Though for those wondering, the movie and book are almost entirely two different things. Really, only the first few bits of the book are the same.
Honestly, I feel like a mix of those chapters 4-6ish, parts of the ending (
Spoiler
the David scene of the last few lines was cuteWon't be reading any of this guy's other books, that's for sure.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ok, so I know that not every military/spy action-thriller writer will be a Clancy or Fleming, but after this, I don't think I will deviate from those two again.
The prose was rough. The inconsistent ballistics happening within so many scenes was rough. The use of incorrect phrases (clips instead of magazines, come on Robert), especially from the perspective of someone who would know the correct terms, was rough. The romance was rough.
I greatly prefer the movie adaptation, and that says a lot because there doesn't seem to honestly be that much carry over between this Jason Bourne and the one played by Matt Damon. I nearly put this down in the last 10% of the book, and that is despite Scott Brick being one of my favorite audiobook narrators, especially for this genre.
The prose was rough. The inconsistent ballistics happening within so many scenes was rough. The use of incorrect phrases (clips instead of magazines, come on Robert), especially from the perspective of someone who would know the correct terms, was rough. The romance was rough.
I greatly prefer the movie adaptation, and that says a lot because there doesn't seem to honestly be that much carry over between this Jason Bourne and the one played by Matt Damon. I nearly put this down in the last 10% of the book, and that is despite Scott Brick being one of my favorite audiobook narrators, especially for this genre.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Achei que ia ser mais parecido com o filme mas de igual eles só tem o Bourne mesmo. Gostei muito da pegada do livro e quero muito saber o que vai acontecer nas continuações
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I tried to read this years ago because, of course, I love the movies.
But I found the fight scenes incomprehensible - they're fun to watch, a total headache to read. I gave up early - during one that takes place in a car? I figured they would make up a lot of the book and I just did not have the patience.
But I found the fight scenes incomprehensible - they're fun to watch, a total headache to read. I gave up early - during one that takes place in a car? I figured they would make up a lot of the book and I just did not have the patience.
The trawler plunged into the angry swells of the dark, furious sea like an awkward animal trying desperately to break out of an impenetrable swamp.
I loved how the amnesia plotline was handled but this was waaay too long.
[part of my 12 recs by 12 friends challenge. recommended to me by my dad!]
[part of my 12 recs by 12 friends challenge. recommended to me by my dad!]
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated