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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
More and more, I judge books on the metric of is it enjoyable to read. I'm more than happy to ignore the didactic function of the novel and focus purely on the sheer joy of reading. If a book fails to provide that joy, than regardless of its other qualities it cannot be a great novel.
This book was enjoyable to read. It suffers from a small degree of issues that in another book could very well be fatal to one's enjoyment, but here they seem less major issues.
I particularly enjoyed that every chapter finished with a recipe for whatever food the characters ate during that chapter. It was a tremendous idea, and I'd be happy for more books to do something similar.
This book was enjoyable to read. It suffers from a small degree of issues that in another book could very well be fatal to one's enjoyment, but here they seem less major issues.
I particularly enjoyed that every chapter finished with a recipe for whatever food the characters ate during that chapter. It was a tremendous idea, and I'd be happy for more books to do something similar.
I totally dug this book. I’m a huge fan of the FX show “The Americans” so I thought I would give this modern day Russian spy novel a try. I was not disappointed and am looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.
How on Earth did this book become popular enough to sprout a trilogy and a film adaptation??
To be quite frank, it was not good. There is no clear plot, just meandering through one espionage mission to another. Not to mention the blatant misogyny. If only I had a dollar for every woman whose clothing happened to slip and reveal her breasts while she was being murdered, just ridiculous. It managed to be both confusing, as it had a large cast of underdeveloped and two-dimensional characters, and yet also predictable as the handler and his female agent start an elicit affair. There were parts in the first third, after sparrow school, where I had hopes it would pick up, but alas, it just fell back on tired old tropes and sexist stereotypes.
To be quite frank, it was not good. There is no clear plot, just meandering through one espionage mission to another. Not to mention the blatant misogyny. If only I had a dollar for every woman whose clothing happened to slip and reveal her breasts while she was being murdered, just ridiculous. It managed to be both confusing, as it had a large cast of underdeveloped and two-dimensional characters, and yet also predictable as the handler and his female agent start an elicit affair. There were parts in the first third, after sparrow school, where I had hopes it would pick up, but alas, it just fell back on tired old tropes and sexist stereotypes.
I think this gets 3.5 Stars. It took a long time to build but that cliffhanger! Gahhhhhh I almost want to start the next one right now. It was a bit hard to keep track of names and people and I guessed a big piece of the puzzle early on, but I’ll continue. Seeing the movie In a couple days.
i thought that the plot was interesting, & that the recipe cards were cute. however, the writing was very obviously done by an american Man, not realistically portraying the thoughts/feelings of a russian woman in my opinion. also the ending was underwhelming.
This is a tough one - on the one hand I actually really did enjoy the story, but on the other hand it was kind of a tough one to get through. When it comes to illicit affairs, strategizing on who can screw the other harder, and that flavor of crazy drama - I am THERE for it. But to be totally candid with you, I feel like that drama was there in this book but it was taken away from by endless "intelligence" talk. I know this is a story of espionage and how the agencies go about their business, and on the surface it probably does that very well. But for the average reader that cared more about the drama than the inner workings of government intelligence, it just didn't resonate with me.
Should you buy it? I'm gonna have to go with probably not on this one unless you're looking to read it before seeing the movie or you're really, really into how government spying works.
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Should you buy it? I'm gonna have to go with probably not on this one unless you're looking to read it before seeing the movie or you're really, really into how government spying works.
WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM
My feelings about this book are complex. I really loved Dominika. Her character is smart, resilient, and assertive. If the whole book was from her perspective I probably would have thrown all the stars at it. Buuuut… it wasn’t. The American point of view (what was his name again? Brad? Chad? Whatever) left a lot to be desired. They were built up as “the good guys” (that tracks *eye roll*) and I guess I was supposed to be rooting for them? Meh. They took away from my main girl and, in the end, turned her into something boring like them. Safe to say I really didn’t care for the ending. I did like the recipes between chapters, they were fun. The pace was alright, the writing was fine. So this book will get the very coveted rating of “I guess I kind of liked it?” and I probably won’t be seeking out the next book. But never say never.
My first spy novel & I loved it. It's set in modern day with modern political figures (e.g. Putin) -- written by a former CIA agent with 30 years experience, I was pretty fascinated. Seeing how it all could work, I am pretty darned sure these forces are still at play and would be really interested to hear what Matthews thinks the Russians have on 45....loved the characters, especially Nate and his chiefs in Finland, and Domenika was super intriguing as well. I liked her instinct of seeing color while most reviewers found out hokey. It even had a bit of romance thrown in for good measure. Looking forward to the other books in this series.
Wow I took a long time to finish this novel! It was an ok read, a pretty classic spy thriller in terms of effort you need to put in reading it. The idea of the strong female lead (the Russian spy) was slightly tainted by her being a misused and often abused sex spy. The romance between her and the American spy got tiring by the end, especially with them so quickly playing both sides of the spy equation. The ending was the real let-down, it wound up so quickly and left quite a few questions unanswered - it seemed too convenient.
Read for Book Riot’s 2018 “Read Harder” challenge - Task #5: A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa)