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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
Liked it fine but don't think I recommend. Not really interested in returning to the rest of the trilogy.
It's so refreshing to read a spy novel from a current author that doesn't border on the absurd. If you're looking for a James Bond story,
look elsewhere. This has a focus on reality more than sniping with a pistol from 500 yards so you can make a pun. The settings feel real, the characters are well developed and you can tell the author knows more than the average armchair spy who learned everything from the movies.
This would have been five stars but for a few things: one, the recipe at the end of each chapter is pointless. Without being a full recipe, you can't do much with it, and none of them have any bearing on the story. The second thing that distracted me from an otherwise great read was the sensory/color/aura stuff the female character sees. The author says she can see auras, and each is a different color, and he goes to lengths to include it throughout, but it tends to feel like an afterthought, and the plot would be just fine without it.
All in all, it's one of the best spy novels I've read in a long time.
look elsewhere. This has a focus on reality more than sniping with a pistol from 500 yards so you can make a pun. The settings feel real, the characters are well developed and you can tell the author knows more than the average armchair spy who learned everything from the movies.
This would have been five stars but for a few things: one, the recipe at the end of each chapter is pointless. Without being a full recipe, you can't do much with it, and none of them have any bearing on the story. The second thing that distracted me from an otherwise great read was the sensory/color/aura stuff the female character sees. The author says she can see auras, and each is a different color, and he goes to lengths to include it throughout, but it tends to feel like an afterthought, and the plot would be just fine without it.
All in all, it's one of the best spy novels I've read in a long time.
Rare that I give popular fiction five stars, but I liked this one.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
4 Star only because it’s a slow book. This isn’t some action/explosion spy book but holy s the ending is fantastic
It took some time for me to get into this book but I’m glad I stuck with it long enough to reach that point. I found it to be almost an extension of The Americans, the FX show that I also enjoyed. Between that show, this book and the Trump-Putin summit, how much more entertainment can one stand?
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
My book review of Red Sparrow:
A spy book written by a man who loves america, food, and being fucked by women, of whom he believes are all shamefully sex crazed whores
A spy book written by a man who loves america, food, and being fucked by women, of whom he believes are all shamefully sex crazed whores
An entertaining spy novel that kept me turning pages. Dominika and Nate are on opposite sides of the spying racket and brought together as pawns in the bigger game. The characters mostly run around doing stuff, and then bad things happen. A lot of the story gets set in the quiet backwaters of Helsinki and there's a random little recipe at the end of each chapter.
I honestly just found it exhaustive and boring. When the best part of a “sexy spy thriller” is the little recipe at the end of each chapter then something is not working. Pity.