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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
tense
medium-paced
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Long. So very long. There were good shards in there, hidden under the rampant stereotypes and uninspired plot swirls. I liked it conceptually, but found myself speeding the book up in order to get through it just a little bit faster. I'm mildly curious, but won't continue the series, for fear they'll all have the same overwrought problem.s
I thought about giving this book a 1.5* star rating, but after sitting on it, no, it doesn't deserve the extra half-star. I'm not even sure if it warrants a full star.
What this story lacks in writing ability, it equally lacks in terms of plot coherency, believable characters, and distractingly bad sex scenes (one of which uses the verb "expand" four different times in a single paragraph). The first half of the book uses all sorts of CIA acronyms with no explanation, and the second half explains all of them (except the ones that came before), as if at some point his editor was like "Hey man, you really need to let us know what some of this shit means" and he was like "Right, noted!" and never went back to the stuff he'd already written.
The Russian characters all seem to intersperse their speech with random Russian words, which is... bizarre, since I assumed that they were speaking/thinking Russian to one another. For example, at one point, our main character, Dominika, says "This svekla, this beet, is almost cooked." As I assume she's speaking Russian, that would mean she actually said "This beet, this beet, is almost cooked." No wonder none of her coworkers take her seriously. In regards to her Russian/English, her English gets significantly worse in the last quarter of the book. As the last quarter of the book is filled with all sorts of issues (including a chapter made up entirely of sloppy, incoherent run-on sentences), I can only assume Matthews' editor (who apparently, according to his acknowledgements, held Matthews learn "to write good," [he didn't]) threw up his hands in disgust and just abandoned the rest of the project to its own fate.
The scene transitions are non-existent. You'll think you're in the middle of a scene, and suddenly it's two weeks later. He calls Pat Benetar a pop-singer, which she absolutely is not, and at one point he describes a female character with "dinner plate sized pectorals with nipples" as if men don't also have nipples on their pectorals (what?). We also know that, at times, Dominika felt angry and guilty because Matthews makes sure to tell us, word for word "she felt guilt and anger" but then does absolutely nothing to show this to us. But we know it. Because he told us. His omniscient POV is also sloppy and whiplash inducing.
Before I started the book, I had thought that the recipes at the end of every chapter were going to be like, fun spy code to try to crack it took me two chapters to disabuse myself of that notion.
They talk about how sexist and terrible the Russians are, and then, without a hint of irony, they'll have one of the Americas talk about the smell of "cunty fingers" - you know this American is "good," and not at all sexist like those super sexist Russians, because of his purple aura. You might, for a brief second, think that this is just the author's way of showing the fact that Russians and Americans maybe aren't so different from one another at their core, but then you immediately remember who you're talking about and realize Matthews isn't capable of that sort of parallel. No, Russians are just all evil (when they're not, they're actually American agents), and Americans are all good (when they're not, they're actually Russian agents).
Speaking of the weird auras - that's not how synesthesia works, and if it was meant as some sort of sci-fi telepathy power, it is never once utilized for any significant reason in the story.
There are fight scenes that are completely incomprehensible (possibly, again, because of the excessive run-on sentences), the main character, a fully-grown, adult female, still uses her family heirloom hairbrush to masturbate to, and the narrative is filled with random slut-shaming (when the character is bad), lines like "she was prurient and tender and shy and slutty" (when the character isn't bad), homophobia (when the characters are male and bad) or gross fetishization (when the characters are female and good).
And the author seems absolutely obsessed with shirtless Vladimir Putin, so... you know, if that's your jam, you'll probably be happy with that, at least.
SPOILER
Finally, I saw the MARBLE twist coming from a mile away. Not because of anything actually in the story. Just because MARBLE was the only Russian that Dominika met that wasn't an ~*~eBiL rUsSiAn~*~.
What this story lacks in writing ability, it equally lacks in terms of plot coherency, believable characters, and distractingly bad sex scenes (one of which uses the verb "expand" four different times in a single paragraph). The first half of the book uses all sorts of CIA acronyms with no explanation, and the second half explains all of them (except the ones that came before), as if at some point his editor was like "Hey man, you really need to let us know what some of this shit means" and he was like "Right, noted!" and never went back to the stuff he'd already written.
The Russian characters all seem to intersperse their speech with random Russian words, which is... bizarre, since I assumed that they were speaking/thinking Russian to one another. For example, at one point, our main character, Dominika, says "This svekla, this beet, is almost cooked." As I assume she's speaking Russian, that would mean she actually said "This beet, this beet, is almost cooked." No wonder none of her coworkers take her seriously. In regards to her Russian/English, her English gets significantly worse in the last quarter of the book. As the last quarter of the book is filled with all sorts of issues (including a chapter made up entirely of sloppy, incoherent run-on sentences), I can only assume Matthews' editor (who apparently, according to his acknowledgements, held Matthews learn "to write good," [he didn't]) threw up his hands in disgust and just abandoned the rest of the project to its own fate.
The scene transitions are non-existent. You'll think you're in the middle of a scene, and suddenly it's two weeks later. He calls Pat Benetar a pop-singer, which she absolutely is not, and at one point he describes a female character with "dinner plate sized pectorals with nipples" as if men don't also have nipples on their pectorals (what?). We also know that, at times, Dominika felt angry and guilty because Matthews makes sure to tell us, word for word "she felt guilt and anger" but then does absolutely nothing to show this to us. But we know it. Because he told us. His omniscient POV is also sloppy and whiplash inducing.
Before I started the book, I had thought that the recipes at the end of every chapter were going to be like, fun spy code to try to crack it took me two chapters to disabuse myself of that notion.
They talk about how sexist and terrible the Russians are, and then, without a hint of irony, they'll have one of the Americas talk about the smell of "cunty fingers" - you know this American is "good," and not at all sexist like those super sexist Russians, because of his purple aura. You might, for a brief second, think that this is just the author's way of showing the fact that Russians and Americans maybe aren't so different from one another at their core, but then you immediately remember who you're talking about and realize Matthews isn't capable of that sort of parallel. No, Russians are just all evil (when they're not, they're actually American agents), and Americans are all good (when they're not, they're actually Russian agents).
Speaking of the weird auras - that's not how synesthesia works, and if it was meant as some sort of sci-fi telepathy power, it is never once utilized for any significant reason in the story.
There are fight scenes that are completely incomprehensible (possibly, again, because of the excessive run-on sentences), the main character, a fully-grown, adult female, still uses her family heirloom hairbrush to masturbate to, and the narrative is filled with random slut-shaming (when the character is bad), lines like "she was prurient and tender and shy and slutty" (when the character isn't bad), homophobia (when the characters are male and bad) or gross fetishization (when the characters are female and good).
And the author seems absolutely obsessed with shirtless Vladimir Putin, so... you know, if that's your jam, you'll probably be happy with that, at least.
SPOILER
Finally, I saw the MARBLE twist coming from a mile away. Not because of anything actually in the story. Just because MARBLE was the only Russian that Dominika met that wasn't an ~*~eBiL rUsSiAn~*~.
Writing the review a year later, I definitely enjoyed the book and would maybe re-read it if I was on an airplane without any other books. Good sense of why we should care about the main character but for me the love interest part falls short.
Maybe it is the times we are living in(former Russian spy Nikolai Glushkov & his daughter we poisoned with nerve gas in the UK) but this was just the thriller for them! All characters are depicted as real people not the standard spy-fare. Hope the movie doea it justice. Ready to read volume 2!
I’ve never read a spy/espionage book before and this probably wasn’t the best one to start with. It took me an unnecessarily long time to keep all the names and characters straight. A lot of the spy tactics and rationales went over my head. It was just a lot of information to take in and my brain could not handle it.
Nate and Dominika’s relationship was fantastic in this book. It wasn’t a typical romance and the whole ending of it was completely ambiguous. Their handler/asset interactions were cute and a haven for them in a very tough job. I really enjoyed the scenes they had together.
Overall, I liked the book, but I’m not going to continue with the series. I’m just not interested in continuing—especially with the way this book ended. I am interested in seeing the movie though, and I’ll get around to watching it eventually.
Nate and Dominika’s relationship was fantastic in this book. It wasn’t a typical romance and the whole ending of it was completely ambiguous. Their handler/asset interactions were cute and a haven for them in a very tough job. I really enjoyed the scenes they had together.
Overall, I liked the book, but I’m not going to continue with the series. I’m just not interested in continuing—especially with the way this book ended. I am interested in seeing the movie though, and I’ll get around to watching it eventually.
This book was PHENOMENAL. I don't have anything negative to say. I am probably going to become OBSESSED with spy novels for the foreseeable future. I can't wait to read the next 2 books in this series.
The best part of this book was the recipes at the end of each chapter.
The best part of this book was the recipes at the end of each chapter.
I think this is the best spy novel I’ve read! Technical without being boring, lots of suspense and changing perspectives
Red Sparrow is an excellent mix of spies, fiction, and reality. Matthews takes you to a modern day Russia and walks you through Dominika's unusual training. She is such a strong character who outshines everyone else in this book. Her interactions with Nash, the young CIA officer, are well written and leave you eager to see who will win out over who.