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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
This is just not my thing. I imagine it gets better, but at nearly 1/4 in it's just so depressing and boring, and I have no interest in either of the main characters (who've not met yet at 23% in).
It has been a while since I’ve have read a spy novel and I thought Red Sparrow was excellent. Set in An updated Russia with Putin at the helm. The Cold War may be over (or is it?), but their are still plenty of intrigues that take place between Super Powers. Can’t wait to see the movie and finish the series!
Enter now one of the best spy story realms. Nate Nash, Dominika, MARBLE, and the entire cast are professionals in the trade. This allowed me to underestimate the Russian Service. I actually spoke to the Author years ago about his work. He was knowledgeable and helpful. I figured his book would slant in favor of the American win, but he was balanced. Tragically balanced.
I have found a new favorite Author, and a new favorite series. I want this in a first edition now, just to say I own it.
I have found a new favorite Author, and a new favorite series. I want this in a first edition now, just to say I own it.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I am not usually into spy thrillers, but this book was engaging through most of it. I found there were a few slow parts that I had to re-read because I just wasn't interested enough to retain the information. Once through those though, the story itself was pretty exciting. The casual Russian would throw me off, sometimes the Russian would be translated by another character and sometimes it wouldn't which would really take me out of the story while I wondered what the heck was just said. I think I'll pick up the second book as there were quite a few unanswered questions at the end of this one and I would like to see where the story ends up.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
http://www.teklakonyvei.hu/2018/03/jason-matthews-voros-vereb-voros-vereb-1.html
Nagyon tetszett, hogy a cselekmény folyamatosan pörgött, és egy-két lassítás volt csak maximum a szövegben, de unalmas oldalakkal nem vesződött Matthews, helyette egy olyan könyvet írt, amit én személy szerint alig tudtam letenni. Minden és mindenki folyamatos mozgásban volt, és egy-két fordulatot leszámítva teljesen kiszámíthatatlan volt a történet – pont úgy, ahogyan az oroszokat elképzeljük, vagy ahogyan az amerikaiakat igyekezett nem beállítani Matthews, habár olyan érzésem volt, hogy azért ők sem olyan szentek, mint amit a könyv próbált helyenként sugallni.
Ez a folyamatos cselekmény pedig szerintem bravúrosan zárult, az utolsó fejezet gyakorlatilag feltette a pontot az i-re, Dominyika fejére pedig a képzeletbeli koronát a változásával kapcsolatban.
Nagyon tetszett, hogy a cselekmény folyamatosan pörgött, és egy-két lassítás volt csak maximum a szövegben, de unalmas oldalakkal nem vesződött Matthews, helyette egy olyan könyvet írt, amit én személy szerint alig tudtam letenni. Minden és mindenki folyamatos mozgásban volt, és egy-két fordulatot leszámítva teljesen kiszámíthatatlan volt a történet – pont úgy, ahogyan az oroszokat elképzeljük, vagy ahogyan az amerikaiakat igyekezett nem beállítani Matthews, habár olyan érzésem volt, hogy azért ők sem olyan szentek, mint amit a könyv próbált helyenként sugallni.
Ez a folyamatos cselekmény pedig szerintem bravúrosan zárult, az utolsó fejezet gyakorlatilag feltette a pontot az i-re, Dominyika fejére pedig a képzeletbeli koronát a változásával kapcsolatban.
This was (and I cannot stress this enough) one of the biggest reading regrets I’ve ever had.
In my pre-review, I said, “This might be a mistake but let’s go with it.” It was. It was such a giant mistake. I should have taken other reviews more seriously to realize this 100% was not for me.
This book is described as a thriller but not once did I care about anything enough to get close to thriller worthy. The plot was predictable as all get out with nearly everything foreshadowed so bluntly it was worse than being hit on the head. A thriller requires intrigue! For me this book held none. I got through this fairly quickly, but it was more so I could never have to look at it again and less because I was actually interested. I actively wanted to avoid picking this book up!! I will admit that in the latter third of this book the action ramps up but it was still hindered by the predictability and the fact that I didn’t care for most of the characters made me not care about most of the plot in general. For example, one of the characters almost dies and I almost wanted them to because it would go against my predictions. But alas.
The characters were incredibly unlikable. Nate was such a flat character that he felt like a self-insert for the male readers and Dominika was so cold and rage fueled with those seeming to be her only characteristics. Dominika’s synesthesia was actually a really rad concept that was stretched only to “people with this color are shady and people with this color are good.” The pacing dragged mostly due to recipes at the end of every chapter (??? maybe if this had been multi media but??? why) and the fact that Dominika’s body was described on what felt like every other page. The male-gazed focus on every woman in this book was infuriating at best and disgusting at worst. I don’t need Domi’s body described 7389 times to understand it’s one of her assets.
The sex scenes were... unmemorable at best, usually cringe worthily bad, and entirely focused on what men would want to see in it. They also often included intense violence that, while acceptable for the genre, could be quite triggering (ex. an attempted rape and literally having someone be killed while still in the heat of things with the woman) yet also falling tone flat with each chapter ending on a recipe that completely pulled you out of the book. The scene with Domi and Anya was laughably like a sexual fantasy and literally had no emotion in it. I was already quite uncomfortable with this book being written by a man yet (supposedly) focusing on a “sexually liberated” female main character for a majority of it. Yet she seemed to hate her own sexuality for most of the book? Her own sexual desires are her “secret self.” Wack.
She would scream if he told her she would have to seduce someone.
For Pete’s sake, Dominika’s own UNCLE viewed her as a sexual object only and completely disposable. Nearly every male character comments on Dominika’s body; even the character she dubs with the nickname brother makes a remark that implies he’d like to “taste” her which is weird as hell with a sprinkling of incestuous undertones when he kisses her forehead like a family member would not that much later. There is also a male character who revels in killing women by disrobing them and cutting them apart as a way to relive a sickening past memory of his - just women in this manner, mind you. The misogyny really jumped out with this particular line.
Marta had the rare combination of sublime allure and a superior intellect.
Mm. Because women can only be pretty or smart and not both and definitely not inherently full of value like men! How wonderful. Gag.
I’m mostly pissed because this concept could have been handled so much better. Imagine, if you will, Dominika, a mistreated, undervalued Russian Sparrow who takes great strength in her sexuality and hates being demeaned for it. She meets Naomi, an American agent appalled by Dominika’s treatment and uniting under girl power to benefit them both (with romance not needed but could be cool). But no, just typical male agent meets female agent and falls in love with typical spy drama.
”Please. There’s no such thing as a case officer falling in love with an agent. It’s not allowed. It cannot be done.”
Uh huh. Sure.
This book even would have been more interesting had it been written from the point of focus of General Korchnoi, the only guy who really seemed to see agent value in Dominika over her sex appeal. And of course he’s the character we saw and learned about the least. Of course.
I was interested in reading this purely based on seeing trailers for the movie a while back. I haven’t even seen the movie and I can tell you it probably fixed a lot of the issues I had just with pacing alone. But based on this source material, I still don’t have my hopes up.
This book was a waste of my time and I highly recommend you don’t let it waste yours without serious consideration.
In my pre-review, I said, “This might be a mistake but let’s go with it.” It was. It was such a giant mistake. I should have taken other reviews more seriously to realize this 100% was not for me.
This book is described as a thriller but not once did I care about anything enough to get close to thriller worthy. The plot was predictable as all get out with nearly everything foreshadowed so bluntly it was worse than being hit on the head. A thriller requires intrigue! For me this book held none. I got through this fairly quickly, but it was more so I could never have to look at it again and less because I was actually interested. I actively wanted to avoid picking this book up!! I will admit that in the latter third of this book the action ramps up but it was still hindered by the predictability and the fact that I didn’t care for most of the characters made me not care about most of the plot in general. For example, one of the characters almost dies and I almost wanted them to because it would go against my predictions. But alas.
The characters were incredibly unlikable. Nate was such a flat character that he felt like a self-insert for the male readers and Dominika was so cold and rage fueled with those seeming to be her only characteristics. Dominika’s synesthesia was actually a really rad concept that was stretched only to “people with this color are shady and people with this color are good.” The pacing dragged mostly due to recipes at the end of every chapter (??? maybe if this had been multi media but??? why) and the fact that Dominika’s body was described on what felt like every other page. The male-gazed focus on every woman in this book was infuriating at best and disgusting at worst. I don’t need Domi’s body described 7389 times to understand it’s one of her assets.
The sex scenes were... unmemorable at best, usually cringe worthily bad, and entirely focused on what men would want to see in it. They also often included intense violence that, while acceptable for the genre, could be quite triggering (ex. an attempted rape and literally having someone be killed while still in the heat of things with the woman) yet also falling tone flat with each chapter ending on a recipe that completely pulled you out of the book. The scene with Domi and Anya was laughably like a sexual fantasy and literally had no emotion in it. I was already quite uncomfortable with this book being written by a man yet (supposedly) focusing on a “sexually liberated” female main character for a majority of it. Yet she seemed to hate her own sexuality for most of the book? Her own sexual desires are her “secret self.” Wack.
She would scream if he told her she would have to seduce someone.
For Pete’s sake, Dominika’s own UNCLE viewed her as a sexual object only and completely disposable. Nearly every male character comments on Dominika’s body; even the character she dubs with the nickname brother makes a remark that implies he’d like to “taste” her which is weird as hell with a sprinkling of incestuous undertones when he kisses her forehead like a family member would not that much later. There is also a male character who revels in killing women by disrobing them and cutting them apart as a way to relive a sickening past memory of his - just women in this manner, mind you. The misogyny really jumped out with this particular line.
Marta had the rare combination of sublime allure and a superior intellect.
Mm. Because women can only be pretty or smart and not both and definitely not inherently full of value like men! How wonderful. Gag.
I’m mostly pissed because this concept could have been handled so much better. Imagine, if you will, Dominika, a mistreated, undervalued Russian Sparrow who takes great strength in her sexuality and hates being demeaned for it. She meets Naomi, an American agent appalled by Dominika’s treatment and uniting under girl power to benefit them both (with romance not needed but could be cool). But no, just typical male agent meets female agent and falls in love with typical spy drama.
”Please. There’s no such thing as a case officer falling in love with an agent. It’s not allowed. It cannot be done.”
Uh huh. Sure.
This book even would have been more interesting had it been written from the point of focus of General Korchnoi, the only guy who really seemed to see agent value in Dominika over her sex appeal. And of course he’s the character we saw and learned about the least. Of course.
I was interested in reading this purely based on seeing trailers for the movie a while back. I haven’t even seen the movie and I can tell you it probably fixed a lot of the issues I had just with pacing alone. But based on this source material, I still don’t have my hopes up.
This book was a waste of my time and I highly recommend you don’t let it waste yours without serious consideration.