You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I, too, picked up this book because I watched the show and was curious about the source material.
It's hypersexualized hot girl doing hot James Bond-esque girl shit. It's not like, good, but it is entertaining. This is the literacy equivalent of stuffing cotton candy in your face because you have a craving for sugar.
And, my goodness, this book was certainly written by a boob man. There about a billion mentions of breasts. I can't lie. I laughed out loud when one character recognized the other by her breasts, not her face. Peak trashy novel experience. Love it.
There's mysogintic moments and transphobia and some seriously horny writing (that last one is not a condemnation but the other two are) and yet I am still intrigued by what's there.
So, yeah. Not good but I had fun with it. My library has all the books so I will probably pick up the next one when I need some brain candy.
It's hypersexualized hot girl doing hot James Bond-esque girl shit. It's not like, good, but it is entertaining. This is the literacy equivalent of stuffing cotton candy in your face because you have a craving for sugar.
And, my goodness, this book was certainly written by a boob man. There about a billion mentions of breasts. I can't lie. I laughed out loud when one character recognized the other by her breasts, not her face. Peak trashy novel experience. Love it.
There's mysogintic moments and transphobia and some seriously horny writing (that last one is not a condemnation but the other two are) and yet I am still intrigued by what's there.
So, yeah. Not good but I had fun with it. My library has all the books so I will probably pick up the next one when I need some brain candy.
Having watched the Netflix series, Killing Eve, I wanted to see if the the source material was any good. I often enjoy seeing how film writers and directors rework thinks. I'll note from the outset I'm among the least qualified people for this particular review, as my usual fare is classics and literary fiction. In my head, this is a "trashy novel" read entirely for fun and as a break from any more serious pursuit. To me, novels of this sort are the literary equivalent of fast food. There's no crime in enjoying fast food, but no reasonable person eats it for every meal.
What first interested me about the series is the main character's name, Villanelle, which is the name of a particularly tricky poetic form I remember studying in school. Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art" is a popular example. That's a witty choice, and it's also very pretty word. So, I was intrigued.
Now that I have my elitism out of the way, let's consider the thing itself. The novel Codename Villanelle has an interesting publication history. It originated as four stories, each of which was published separately electronically. These were later combined and republished as the novel itself, first electronically and then in hardcover and paperback. It's the reverse of the normal course of things. But it clearly worked quite well. And there are two novels which have appeared since Codename Villanelle to continue the story.
My first reaction, as I dove into Codename Villanelle, was that the author, Luke Jennings, has an eye for detail and enjoys painting a scene. This generally serves him very well, as the novel (like the Netflix series) is set in a variety of interesting locations. But he sometimes abandons his gift and instead "describes" things merely by including the brand names of everything. He does this so much in places that I start to notice when he doesn't. I half expect him to tell me the particular brand name of the cultivar of the grass the characters walk on. I know that a certain amount of name-checking is useful for realism and, in places, to create an ambiance of sophistication, but, at many points, it becomes absurd and seems a lazy substitute from actually describing things, which is all the more sad given that describing things is Jennings chief gift.
Character development isn't his strength either. But the central characters are well enough drawn to be interesting, and Villanelle herself, while different, in some ways, from her character in the film version, is intriguing.
I don't want to spoil anything or go into too much detail here. I preferred the Netflix series to the novel upon which it was based. But I don't entirely regret taking a quick romp through the world of espionage and far too many brand names. Villanelle is an interesting character. And Jennings is not without talent as a storyteller. But I'm clearly not his demographic.
What first interested me about the series is the main character's name, Villanelle, which is the name of a particularly tricky poetic form I remember studying in school. Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art" is a popular example. That's a witty choice, and it's also very pretty word. So, I was intrigued.
Now that I have my elitism out of the way, let's consider the thing itself. The novel Codename Villanelle has an interesting publication history. It originated as four stories, each of which was published separately electronically. These were later combined and republished as the novel itself, first electronically and then in hardcover and paperback. It's the reverse of the normal course of things. But it clearly worked quite well. And there are two novels which have appeared since Codename Villanelle to continue the story.
My first reaction, as I dove into Codename Villanelle, was that the author, Luke Jennings, has an eye for detail and enjoys painting a scene. This generally serves him very well, as the novel (like the Netflix series) is set in a variety of interesting locations. But he sometimes abandons his gift and instead "describes" things merely by including the brand names of everything. He does this so much in places that I start to notice when he doesn't. I half expect him to tell me the particular brand name of the cultivar of the grass the characters walk on. I know that a certain amount of name-checking is useful for realism and, in places, to create an ambiance of sophistication, but, at many points, it becomes absurd and seems a lazy substitute from actually describing things, which is all the more sad given that describing things is Jennings chief gift.
Character development isn't his strength either. But the central characters are well enough drawn to be interesting, and Villanelle herself, while different, in some ways, from her character in the film version, is intriguing.
I don't want to spoil anything or go into too much detail here. I preferred the Netflix series to the novel upon which it was based. But I don't entirely regret taking a quick romp through the world of espionage and far too many brand names. Villanelle is an interesting character. And Jennings is not without talent as a storyteller. But I'm clearly not his demographic.
...well. I'm so curious to see what the show does with this book.
Things I liked:
-look, I don't read a lot of spy novels/thrillers, and picking this up was kinda like picking up a james bond movie but with ladies in every role.
-it's just that it also kept all the bog-standard sexism and terribleness
-Vilanelle is pretty terrible but I love her one-liners; the occasions the book finds to be funny I find deeply endearing
-Vilanelle also has the capacity to walk into a room and inspire everyone in eyesight to want to fuck her immediately, and then she murders them. this is, while i was laughing at and not with the book, also fun.
-it's fast and it's slick and while it's dumb it's also, like, readable.
Things I cared less for:
-holy shit the sexism. in all the most classic male writer-y ways, the obsession of female POV characters with their own breasts, literally everything about Eve's "i'm not taken seriously at work because i'm female" plot, the writing... generally
-the similarly kind of standard "sociopath" bisexual, transphobic language, just-- ugh just bad. a lot of cringe.
-the writing is sloppy. it's an omniscient third that dips into characters heads but forgets that when it does so that Certain Characters Shouldn't Know Certain Things. there's also no differentiation between who is talking- the character who wears sweatpants and "doesn't care to be pretty" still knows all her brand names, the namedropping of which takes up a significant portion of page real estate.
-this is a "my bad" part of the review but I kind of thought it would be over in one book - it certainly had room to be finished - but instead we end with which is not only hilariously bad, it was also infuriating.
Things I liked:
-look, I don't read a lot of spy novels/thrillers, and picking this up was kinda like picking up a james bond movie but with ladies in every role.
-it's just that it also kept all the bog-standard sexism and terribleness
-Vilanelle is pretty terrible but I love her one-liners; the occasions the book finds to be funny I find deeply endearing
-Vilanelle also has the capacity to walk into a room and inspire everyone in eyesight to want to fuck her immediately, and then she murders them. this is, while i was laughing at and not with the book, also fun.
-it's fast and it's slick and while it's dumb it's also, like, readable.
Things I cared less for:
-holy shit the sexism. in all the most classic male writer-y ways, the obsession of female POV characters with their own breasts, literally everything about Eve's "i'm not taken seriously at work because i'm female" plot, the writing... generally
-the similarly kind of standard "sociopath" bisexual, transphobic language, just-- ugh just bad. a lot of cringe.
-the writing is sloppy. it's an omniscient third that dips into characters heads but forgets that when it does so that Certain Characters Shouldn't Know Certain Things. there's also no differentiation between who is talking- the character who wears sweatpants and "doesn't care to be pretty" still knows all her brand names, the namedropping of which takes up a significant portion of page real estate.
-this is a "my bad" part of the review but I kind of thought it would be over in one book - it certainly had room to be finished - but instead we end with
Spoiler
"No, it's just beginning."
I enjoyed the heck out of this, and I’m almost done with the next. Loved the style of storytelling, short chunks of different POVs - fast paced. Love the subject matter. Love the little details that show how grimy and stupid life is sometimes. I need 18362836 more tales of Villanelle and Eve
i mean... this was okay, i guess. but, if i'm being honest: watch the show instead. it's got less "man attempts to write female characters; uninspired stereotypes ensue". also jodie comer is hot, so there.
this was kind of entertaining but the pacing is off and the characterization is pretty boring and surface level.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes