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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
I'll begin this review by stating that I've seen the movie before reading the book, and I absolutely loved it. The book, on the other hand, lacks everything I loved about that movie, including the ending.
First of all, what kind of genre is this? Spy-romance-cookbook?
Jason Matthews is not a good writer. Here and there, he was acceptable, but mostly, only bad writing faced me from the pages of this book. Whole sentences without predicates, awkward sex scenes, repetitions (at some point, in the same short paragraph, the author repeats three times, This is how good they were) lack of a fluent passing of time (at the beginning of a dialog scene the characters were walking down a street, and three exchanges later, they were home, after they finished dinner, with no mention of time passing in between), and often, the author made the switch between third-person narration and first-person narration without dialog tags. And every chapter ended with a recipe (this is actually the most unimportant part of the bad aspects because it could be easily ignored). This book can easily fit a top of the worst written books I've read, together with [b:Fifty Shades of Grey|10818853|Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1)|E.L. James|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385207843l/10818853._SX50_.jpg|15732562] and [b:The Selection|10507293|The Selection (The Selection, #1)|Kiera Cass|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1322103400l/10507293._SY75_.jpg|15413183].
What this book had, compared to the other two I've named, was a better story. The subject was interesting, and this made me push through. This, and my love for the movie, but as I got to the end, I discovered it was nothing like the powerful movie ending. It changed Dominika's whole character, from the powerful woman she is in the movie to... I don't know what. Maybe the book presents a more realistic situation, a person closer to reality, but I loved the Dominika is the movie so much, I feel disappointed. In the book, she spends a lot of time thinking about how much she loves Nate and how she'll like more than a work-related relationship.
Regarding the sex scenes, I want to make a mention. I don't know why the author, a man, tries to describe sex through the perspective of a woman. Bad idea, because he doesn't get it. Oh, and he talks about every female character that loves sex like she had something inside her, like it something not totally right with her. He doesn't mean it in a bad way (not necessarily), but I have news for him: women love sex. It's perfectly normal. If guys do, why women can't? Why should there be something special about them to do it? Stupid misogynistic view.
This book had been compared to [a:John le Carré|1411964|John le Carré|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234571122p2/1411964.jpg], but it's nothing like it. Carre is a good writer, Matthews isn't. But, besides it, the vibe of the book is different. If I am to compare him with another author of spy thrillers, I'd pick [a:Frederick Forsyth|36714|Frederick Forsyth|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1595729238p2/36714.jpg], especially his novel [b:Icon|109511|Icon|Frederick Forsyth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348221081l/109511._SY75_.jpg|1859346], although it was much better written than this one. But they have similarities.
Well, at least I got through this. I doubt I'll ever read the sequel.
First of all, what kind of genre is this? Spy-romance-cookbook?
Jason Matthews is not a good writer. Here and there, he was acceptable, but mostly, only bad writing faced me from the pages of this book. Whole sentences without predicates, awkward sex scenes, repetitions (at some point, in the same short paragraph, the author repeats three times, This is how good they were) lack of a fluent passing of time (at the beginning of a dialog scene the characters were walking down a street, and three exchanges later, they were home, after they finished dinner, with no mention of time passing in between), and often, the author made the switch between third-person narration and first-person narration without dialog tags. And every chapter ended with a recipe (this is actually the most unimportant part of the bad aspects because it could be easily ignored). This book can easily fit a top of the worst written books I've read, together with [b:Fifty Shades of Grey|10818853|Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1)|E.L. James|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385207843l/10818853._SX50_.jpg|15732562] and [b:The Selection|10507293|The Selection (The Selection, #1)|Kiera Cass|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1322103400l/10507293._SY75_.jpg|15413183].
What this book had, compared to the other two I've named, was a better story. The subject was interesting, and this made me push through. This, and my love for the movie, but as I got to the end, I discovered it was nothing like the powerful movie ending. It changed Dominika's whole character, from the powerful woman she is in the movie to... I don't know what. Maybe the book presents a more realistic situation, a person closer to reality, but I loved the Dominika is the movie so much, I feel disappointed. In the book, she spends a lot of time thinking about how much she loves Nate and how she'll like more than a work-related relationship.
Regarding the sex scenes, I want to make a mention. I don't know why the author, a man, tries to describe sex through the perspective of a woman. Bad idea, because he doesn't get it. Oh, and he talks about every female character that loves sex like she had something inside her, like it something not totally right with her. He doesn't mean it in a bad way (not necessarily), but I have news for him: women love sex. It's perfectly normal. If guys do, why women can't? Why should there be something special about them to do it? Stupid misogynistic view.
This book had been compared to [a:John le Carré|1411964|John le Carré|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234571122p2/1411964.jpg], but it's nothing like it. Carre is a good writer, Matthews isn't. But, besides it, the vibe of the book is different. If I am to compare him with another author of spy thrillers, I'd pick [a:Frederick Forsyth|36714|Frederick Forsyth|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1595729238p2/36714.jpg], especially his novel [b:Icon|109511|Icon|Frederick Forsyth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348221081l/109511._SY75_.jpg|1859346], although it was much better written than this one. But they have similarities.
Well, at least I got through this. I doubt I'll ever read the sequel.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
At some points, a page turner; at others, a drag. It’s a thoroughly OK novel… that’s about it, unfortunately.
This was billed as being in the tradition of Le Carre, so it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I enjoy spy novels, political thrillers and technothrillers. I grew up reading Robert Ludlum, John Le Carre, Tom Clancy, Dale Brown and the like and was hoping to find an author I enjoyed as much. I found Red Sparrow a good read, but it was at times slow and the characters could be infuriating. They often spent hours practicing tradecraft to get to meetings and these scenes were sometimes tediously detailed. Then they would jeopardize everything in seconds with their hot-headedness or horniness. Honey traps and sex are not new to the spy world, but I found some of the Sparrow school sex scenes and details in this book a little over the top. How was the fact that Dominika masturbated using the handle of a heirloom brush relevant to the story? Also, the recipes at the end of each chapter were interesting, but a touch gimmicky. And if your going to go to the trouble of including recipes, you might want to include little things like measurements, oven temperatures and cook times for the cooking impaired like me. The story was interesting enough for me to finish the book, but I'm not sure I'll continue any further with the trilogy.
Fantastic spy novel. One of the best books I've read in a long time. Red Sparrow was very tough to put down.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Having not had a chance to watch the film yet, I couldn't help but pick this up when I saw it nestled on one of the shelves of my work's lending library.
I was expecting a fairly standard thriller, action, adrenaline fuelled chase and fight scenes described in vivid, and sometimes confusing, detail, cliffhangers at the end of each chapter... This was not standard. While I still haven't figured out the purpose of the recipes at the end of each chapter (other than to make me hungry that is or, occasionally, give me ideas for recipes I could try), I liked the style of it. There was a good mix of chapters from the perspectives of both the male and female main characters and, although there was a risk of Dominika's voice becoming cliched, Matthew did a pretty good job of not letting it go that far. That's not to say there weren't times when her voice sounded a little overdone, but I've read worse descriptions from male authors of what they think women think, and feel.
I greatly look forward to seeing how it turned out when transferred to Hollywoodland.
I was expecting a fairly standard thriller, action, adrenaline fuelled chase and fight scenes described in vivid, and sometimes confusing, detail, cliffhangers at the end of each chapter... This was not standard. While I still haven't figured out the purpose of the recipes at the end of each chapter (other than to make me hungry that is or, occasionally, give me ideas for recipes I could try), I liked the style of it. There was a good mix of chapters from the perspectives of both the male and female main characters and, although there was a risk of Dominika's voice becoming cliched, Matthew did a pretty good job of not letting it go that far. That's not to say there weren't times when her voice sounded a little overdone, but I've read worse descriptions from male authors of what they think women think, and feel.
I greatly look forward to seeing how it turned out when transferred to Hollywoodland.
Sincer, mi-a plăcut mai mult filmul. Cartea e cam deșirată, multe informații care alcătuiesc micile povești din spatele plotului principal deturnează atenția de la acesta. Mai sunt și acele total inutile rețete de la finalul fiecărui capitol; probabil s-au dorit a fi o găselniță genială a autorului, dar de fapt au fost doar niște nuci în perete. Am sărit peste ele fără nicio remușcare.
Per ansamblu, e o carte bunicică, dar nu toți foștii spioni sunt mari scriitori. Cum ziceam, recomand mai mult filmul.
Per ansamblu, e o carte bunicică, dar nu toți foștii spioni sunt mari scriitori. Cum ziceam, recomand mai mult filmul.