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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
Never heard of the Black Widow before I read this book and nobody can take Catwomans space as my number one but she is definitely in second place.
adventurous
fast-paced
You can read the full review (and experience all the fabulous gifs) on my blog: http://rlhendrian.blogspot.com/2015/06/book-review-black-widow-forever-red-by.html
Forever Red starts in Ukraine, 8 years in the past (you can actually read the beginning online). The Black Widow is hunting down her old mentor/trainer, Ivan Somodorov. The mission goes south, but not before Natasha rescues the girl that Ivan was experimenting on, turns the girl over to S.H.I.E.L.D., promises she'll come if the girl needs her, and leaves.
8 years later, we are introduced to the primary characters (other than Natasha): teenagers Alex Manor and Ava Orlova. Ava is, of course, the little girl that Natasha rescued eight years earlier. Ava had been living in a (dreadful sounding) secure S.H.I.E.L.D. facility before she escaped, and she currently lives in the bottom of a Brooklyn YWCA. Both of them have strange dreams, but Ava's are about Alex (she's never met him). Ava has also nurtured hatred against the woman who saved her life, and then left her to fend for herself in a strange world.
But children are disappearing again, and the Black Widow suspects that Ivan survived their confrontation. That means he is after her, and after Ava, so Natasha heads back into the field, and back into Ava's life. However, things are far more tangled than Natasha realized: her memories are leaking into Ava's head, thanks to Ivan's experiments in "quantum entanglement." Ava absorbs Natasha's skills, and the Black Widow can't feel it. As frustrating as this is, it's also incredibly dangerous. They aren't the only Entangled pair that Ivan left behind.
To disentangle themselves, Ava and Natasha must find Ivan, face their childhoods, and go back to where it all began. And what does Alex Manor have to do with everything?
5 things that worked:
1. I loved the book's format. Each present-day chapter is followed by a S.H.I.E.L.D. Line-Of-Duty Death (L.O.D.D.) case document. They are interviews (often with Natasha) and other files that tie into several plot threads. I love how these were worked in to the story
2. Margaret Stohl does a great job with Natasha's character. She's the hard edged, sensible, and capable assassin/spy we all love, but she's also human (but with a very messed up past).
3. Ava and Alex were both likable (surprisingly so), and I was interested in their character arcs. Ava as Natasha's "mini-me" provided some humor and insight into the Black Widow.
4. The plot. It was old-school spy stuff with gadgets, disguises, mad scientists, and chase scenes, but with an awesome heroine instead of a suave, suit wearing James Bond type.
5. The covert peeks into Natasha's classified past. Black Widow is mysterious, and that's one of the things I always liked. I was worried that a novelization would take away too much of that mystery, but it didn't. Natasha is given just enough history, just enough name-dropping (I didn't grin stupidly at everyone in the airport when I read a certain case note**), to both reconcile her comic/cinematic character, and leave a lot of interesting openings. Oh, and Coulson is in there a bit :)
BONUS: The Russian. I never forgot that I was reading about Russian characters, and it gave both realism and grounding to a book with a crazy mind-meld plot.
5 things that didn't work as well:
1. While I liked Ava and Alex, and was rooting for them, but they weren't why I was reading the book. I just didn't care as much, and I was far more engaged when Natasha was on the scene.
2. This was a minor part of the book, but the predictable Alex/Ava romance (while believable) didn't do anything for me. Sure, they were cute and not annoying, but (see above), I didn't really care. But hey, they're kids.
3. I felt like it occasionally suffered from trying to be too cryptic and mysterious. There were a few details that needed further explanation/examination for the plot's sake. The only major example of this was all the disappearing children.***
4. Ivan. He had a bit of Marvel Movie Villain Syndrome: Ivan was evil, sadistic, and had quite the past, and yet he felt a little flat. But again, only Loki and Wilson Fisk (Daredevil) have truly escaped this.****
5. This one is 50/50 for me (because sometimes it worked better than others): the constant reminders that we are in a very normal, modern, but alternate Earth where superheroes are an acknowledged thing and Avengers destroyed/saved New York once.
Overall: 4 out of 5 Spiders.
Footnotes:
*I know that having time and making time are directly related.
**(not really a spoiler but just to be safe) Black Widow's file has her age redacted. And there is a footnote that says to reference the files of Rogers, Steve and Barnes, James. Which means that they haven't thrown out her backstory from the comics. There is still a chance that Natasha will be more like her real age (just rewritten every time) and has trained under the Winter Soldier. So I grinned at strangers ( I was reading in a busy airport, people).
***Seriously, where did all those kids go? If this was really addressed in the book, I must have missed it. I think it was just mentioned in passing toward the end.
****If you count the Winter Soldier as a villain [which in CA:TWS he technically is), then that makes three.
Forever Red starts in Ukraine, 8 years in the past (you can actually read the beginning online). The Black Widow is hunting down her old mentor/trainer, Ivan Somodorov. The mission goes south, but not before Natasha rescues the girl that Ivan was experimenting on, turns the girl over to S.H.I.E.L.D., promises she'll come if the girl needs her, and leaves.
8 years later, we are introduced to the primary characters (other than Natasha): teenagers Alex Manor and Ava Orlova. Ava is, of course, the little girl that Natasha rescued eight years earlier. Ava had been living in a (dreadful sounding) secure S.H.I.E.L.D. facility before she escaped, and she currently lives in the bottom of a Brooklyn YWCA. Both of them have strange dreams, but Ava's are about Alex (she's never met him). Ava has also nurtured hatred against the woman who saved her life, and then left her to fend for herself in a strange world.
But children are disappearing again, and the Black Widow suspects that Ivan survived their confrontation. That means he is after her, and after Ava, so Natasha heads back into the field, and back into Ava's life. However, things are far more tangled than Natasha realized: her memories are leaking into Ava's head, thanks to Ivan's experiments in "quantum entanglement." Ava absorbs Natasha's skills, and the Black Widow can't feel it. As frustrating as this is, it's also incredibly dangerous. They aren't the only Entangled pair that Ivan left behind.
To disentangle themselves, Ava and Natasha must find Ivan, face their childhoods, and go back to where it all began. And what does Alex Manor have to do with everything?
5 things that worked:
1. I loved the book's format. Each present-day chapter is followed by a S.H.I.E.L.D. Line-Of-Duty Death (L.O.D.D.) case document. They are interviews (often with Natasha) and other files that tie into several plot threads. I love how these were worked in to the story
2. Margaret Stohl does a great job with Natasha's character. She's the hard edged, sensible, and capable assassin/spy we all love, but she's also human (but with a very messed up past).
3. Ava and Alex were both likable (surprisingly so), and I was interested in their character arcs. Ava as Natasha's "mini-me" provided some humor and insight into the Black Widow.
4. The plot. It was old-school spy stuff with gadgets, disguises, mad scientists, and chase scenes, but with an awesome heroine instead of a suave, suit wearing James Bond type.
5. The covert peeks into Natasha's classified past. Black Widow is mysterious, and that's one of the things I always liked. I was worried that a novelization would take away too much of that mystery, but it didn't. Natasha is given just enough history, just enough name-dropping (I didn't grin stupidly at everyone in the airport when I read a certain case note**), to both reconcile her comic/cinematic character, and leave a lot of interesting openings. Oh, and Coulson is in there a bit :)
BONUS: The Russian. I never forgot that I was reading about Russian characters, and it gave both realism and grounding to a book with a crazy mind-meld plot.
5 things that didn't work as well:
1. While I liked Ava and Alex, and was rooting for them, but they weren't why I was reading the book. I just didn't care as much, and I was far more engaged when Natasha was on the scene.
2. This was a minor part of the book, but the predictable Alex/Ava romance (while believable) didn't do anything for me. Sure, they were cute and not annoying, but (see above), I didn't really care. But hey, they're kids.
3. I felt like it occasionally suffered from trying to be too cryptic and mysterious. There were a few details that needed further explanation/examination for the plot's sake. The only major example of this was all the disappearing children.***
4. Ivan. He had a bit of Marvel Movie Villain Syndrome: Ivan was evil, sadistic, and had quite the past, and yet he felt a little flat. But again, only Loki and Wilson Fisk (Daredevil) have truly escaped this.****
5. This one is 50/50 for me (because sometimes it worked better than others): the constant reminders that we are in a very normal, modern, but alternate Earth where superheroes are an acknowledged thing and Avengers destroyed/saved New York once.
Overall: 4 out of 5 Spiders.
Footnotes:
*I know that having time and making time are directly related.
**(not really a spoiler but just to be safe) Black Widow's file has her age redacted. And there is a footnote that says to reference the files of Rogers, Steve and Barnes, James. Which means that they haven't thrown out her backstory from the comics. There is still a chance that Natasha will be more like her real age (just rewritten every time) and has trained under the Winter Soldier. So I grinned at strangers ( I was reading in a busy airport, people).
***Seriously, where did all those kids go? If this was really addressed in the book, I must have missed it. I think it was just mentioned in passing toward the end.
****If you count the Winter Soldier as a villain [which in CA:TWS he technically is), then that makes three.
Natasha Romanoff the Black Widow now a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a lethal assassin on the constant hunt for Ivan Somodorov, the brutal teacher of the Red Room academy, a school where children are trained to be the next Russian assassins.
She has unwilling has encountered help from two very resourceful teenagers Ava and Alex. Each with a unique gift and each has a secretive link to the Black Widow. Bonds are forged reluctantly
between them in the same cause to take down and destroy the Red Room and Ivan from ever hurting children for the sake of raising assassins.
She has unwilling has encountered help from two very resourceful teenagers Ava and Alex. Each with a unique gift and each has a secretive link to the Black Widow. Bonds are forged reluctantly
between them in the same cause to take down and destroy the Red Room and Ivan from ever hurting children for the sake of raising assassins.
A Black Widow book series???? Yes, please. Not only was this a fantastic marvel novel, but i love that it gave more inside to the character of Natasha. Not just that but we have a new young female hero, that doesn't need a feminist agenda to get her point across as strong and Independant.
I half feel that Ava is the replacement widow. For those of you not in the know, Black Widow as killed off in 616 universe. As of now, she's actually dead. The timeline reboot did not bring her back. They showed her funeral. So, i feel Ava night be the new Widow from here on out. I see no word on a solo comic series, but i digress.
The story was fantastic with good pacing, once i really got into it i couldn't stop. Ava is one of my favorite characters to date in the marvel universe. The espionage content was very well written, and easy to follow.
If you are a fan of the marvel universe as a whole, I'd highly recommend reading this series.
I half feel that Ava is the replacement widow. For those of you not in the know, Black Widow as killed off in 616 universe. As of now, she's actually dead. The timeline reboot did not bring her back. They showed her funeral. So, i feel Ava night be the new Widow from here on out. I see no word on a solo comic series, but i digress.
The story was fantastic with good pacing, once i really got into it i couldn't stop. Ava is one of my favorite characters to date in the marvel universe. The espionage content was very well written, and easy to follow.
If you are a fan of the marvel universe as a whole, I'd highly recommend reading this series.
Black Widow: Forever Red had been sitting on my embarrassingly large started-but-not-finished pile for some time until I picked it up yesterday, in search of a quick, fun read while I was sick in bed. It filled that niche well - this is a fast-paced book with an action-filled plot, congenial characters and some fun interactions between Natasha Romanov and Tony Stark, which might have been the best part. The science bits of the plot were entirely the reverse of those in [b:The Martian|18007564|The Martian|Andy Weir|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1413706054s/18007564.jpg|21825181] - which is to say, not even trying for realism - but it's all right, I think the parts of my brain that complain about that in Marvel stories were permanently burnt out after the horror that was Iron Man 2. ("I created a new element in my basement! And it's a triangle!" I'm not going to shut up about that flipping triangle any time soon, sorry.)
I was also turned off initially by the mysterious dreams plotline, because I dislike mixing paranormal elements into non-fantasy stories. I know there are psi-powered/magical heroes in the Marvel Universe, but Black Widow isn't one of them so I wasn't expecting that kind of thing here. Pseudoscientific though it was, the explanation behind Ava's dreams relieved me of that annoyance, and it was used well to gradually reveal the hidden backstory.
As far as that goes, I was disappointed by the reveal that Alexei was Natasha's long-lost brother. I'm very tired of the trope that blood ties and bloodlines trump everything else, and of stories where new characters have to be related to older ones to have legitimacy. Natasha's constant references, after the relationship was discovered, to her and Alexei being Romanovs felt forced and out of character. Given that she learnt all her skills in the Red Room programme (and he acquired his somewhere similar), their blood relationship was pretty irrelevant in that regard. Also, the introduction and then sudden death of this new brother made the whole thing feel rushed.
My biggest irritation with Forever Red, however, was the idea that as soon as the narrative steps behind the Iron Curtain, the calendar flips backwards several decades. In what feels like an increasing number of films and books, including this one, we're supposed to believe that the Cold War never stopped - at least in the (former?) USSR. In the current MCU timeline, Natasha Romanov was born in 1984. I'm not sure what soldiers would have been marching, and shooting, through the streets of Stalingrad in the early 1990s when she was a child. (Stalingrad has been called Volgograd since 1961, anyway, though there is apparently still some fondness for the old name among citizens there.) Still more baffling are the photographs that Ava finds in the hidden facility by the Odessa docks. This story presumably takes place in the 2010s and she is 17 years old, so why are her childhood pictures, taken ten years before, all in black and white? This confused timeline is partly the result of Marvel having to tailor 70 years of comics history to its current offerings, which is a tough job, but when it means messing with real-world history I find it very annoying.
Apart from the few issues mentioned above, I enjoyed >Forever Red and came to really like Ava and her relationship with Natasha. It would still have been nice to spend more time with the Black Widow herself, with less "babysitting" (Tony Stark's word). As an origin story for, though, this is great.
Spoiler
Still, there were other parts of this book that didn't go down quite as easily. Some of my complaints, I think, come down to the fact that this is a YA novel, like the focus on the two teenage characters, Ava and Alexei. That made the first part of the book drag a bit for me and is the reason I let it sit for a while. I also wasn't much into the romance aspect to the plot. It didn't bother me as much as some of the other reviewers here, who considered it instalove: I thought Ava falling quickly for Alexei made some sense, given her many dreams about him, and both of them were swept off into a strange and dangerous situation, which amped up their feelings for one another. (I don't read much YA or romance, though, so I can't compare this with similar novels.)I was also turned off initially by the mysterious dreams plotline, because I dislike mixing paranormal elements into non-fantasy stories. I know there are psi-powered/magical heroes in the Marvel Universe, but Black Widow isn't one of them so I wasn't expecting that kind of thing here. Pseudoscientific though it was, the explanation behind Ava's dreams relieved me of that annoyance, and it was used well to gradually reveal the hidden backstory.
As far as that goes, I was disappointed by the reveal that Alexei was Natasha's long-lost brother. I'm very tired of the trope that blood ties and bloodlines trump everything else, and of stories where new characters have to be related to older ones to have legitimacy. Natasha's constant references, after the relationship was discovered, to her and Alexei being Romanovs felt forced and out of character. Given that she learnt all her skills in the Red Room programme (and he acquired his somewhere similar), their blood relationship was pretty irrelevant in that regard. Also, the introduction and then sudden death of this new brother made the whole thing feel rushed.
My biggest irritation with Forever Red, however, was the idea that as soon as the narrative steps behind the Iron Curtain, the calendar flips backwards several decades. In what feels like an increasing number of films and books, including this one, we're supposed to believe that the Cold War never stopped - at least in the (former?) USSR. In the current MCU timeline, Natasha Romanov was born in 1984. I'm not sure what soldiers would have been marching, and shooting, through the streets of Stalingrad in the early 1990s when she was a child. (Stalingrad has been called Volgograd since 1961, anyway, though there is apparently still some fondness for the old name among citizens there.) Still more baffling are the photographs that Ava finds in the hidden facility by the Odessa docks. This story presumably takes place in the 2010s and she is 17 years old, so why are her childhood pictures, taken ten years before, all in black and white? This confused timeline is partly the result of Marvel having to tailor 70 years of comics history to its current offerings, which is a tough job, but when it means messing with real-world history I find it very annoying.
Apart from the few issues mentioned above, I enjoyed >Forever Red and came to really like Ava and her relationship with Natasha. It would still have been nice to spend more time with the Black Widow herself, with less "babysitting" (Tony Stark's word). As an origin story for
Spoiler
the Red Widow
I've always loved nat so to be able to read about her was amazing. It was kinda confusing that alexei is her brother because in the 'black widow' movie thats her 'father's name. But overall an amazing read and would definitely recommend
Not exactly what I was expecting when I started this book, however the storytelling was great. This Black Widow book also had a fun and interesting storyline. Can’t wait to start the next one! (3,8⭐️)