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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
the fact that pheobe waller-bridge found something to write out of this is shocking. also not a fan of the transphobia??? just don’t read this book
I suppose it's kind of unfair because it is impossible to read this book without imagining the Eve and Villanelle and Niko from the tv-series. On the other hand it is hard to imagine how the writers of (the first season of) Killing Eve could make such a great tv series out of this terrible book. It's got none of the charm or humour or chemistry (or plot) that made the tv-series great. It does have a lot of sex though.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This novella is so unengaging it took me nearly a year to finish it (like, I had to check it out from the library several times). Why did I finish? Mostly because it felt nuts to quit A NOVELLA.
Any book with a positive reference to Buffy and a negative one to Swindon is fine with me. Enjoyable, just too short!
I have been obsessed with this show since it aired last year and with season 2 already halfway through in USA and on its way to the UK I thought I should read the book it is based on. If you’re into spy novels then this is the book for you but if you have seen the TV show and think it’s going to be anything at all like that then you will be disappointed. Like I was. I give huge kudos to the TV writers that made something so amazingly original and outclassed the book the TV show is based on.
Meet Villanelle: the sociopathic assassin part of a top secret organisation who kills important business men in a number of different imaginative ways.
Meet Eve: the British Intelligence agent who makes it her mission to find the assassin.
It is split into 4 long chapters and each chapter is heavily descriptive of each mission Villanelle completes as we follow Eve trailing behind trying to figure out who this assassin is and her obsession of her start to take form. The book gives a lot more detail into Villanelle’s back story and how she came to be the world’s most dangerous female assassin which was interesting to read about as the TV show never gave us any insight into her training. After finishing the book I found out that the 4 chapters were originally 4 different short stories which have been put together to make this novel and I think if I knew that and read them as separate stories I may have enjoyed it slightly more.
We don’t meet Eve’s character until chapter 2 and the reader can see her obsession with the female assassin start to take form. The one line that relates the most to the TV show is: ‘I’ll hunt her down. Whatever it takes.’, where Eve swears to catch Villanelle no matter the consequences. Once Villanelle knows she is being chased she makes it into a game and the killing of one particular person makes this mission a lot more personal for Eve.
The book is written quite matter-of-factly but goes into a lot of detail about each mission Villanelle completes. There is not much emotion when talking about Villanelle which parallels Villanelle’s character; her mind and lack of feeling (sociopath). There are also a lot of sexual encounters throughout the book with both men and women which give Villanelle a brief high like her kills but she gets bored very quickly. The descriptions of the women characters were a bit repetitive throughout and the one thing that really bothered me about this book is that you can tell it’s written by a man from the constant referral to women’s breasts when describing all women characters.
I really hoped the book was going to be like the TV show in showing the obsessive dynamic between Villanelle and Eve but they do not even meet in this book and there is no overwhelming tension between them like in the series. Maybe the second in the series is better?
In my opinion if you want more of what the TV show offers I would stick to watching the series and forget about the book unless you enjoy reading spy novels.
Meet Villanelle: the sociopathic assassin part of a top secret organisation who kills important business men in a number of different imaginative ways.
Meet Eve: the British Intelligence agent who makes it her mission to find the assassin.
It is split into 4 long chapters and each chapter is heavily descriptive of each mission Villanelle completes as we follow Eve trailing behind trying to figure out who this assassin is and her obsession of her start to take form. The book gives a lot more detail into Villanelle’s back story and how she came to be the world’s most dangerous female assassin which was interesting to read about as the TV show never gave us any insight into her training. After finishing the book I found out that the 4 chapters were originally 4 different short stories which have been put together to make this novel and I think if I knew that and read them as separate stories I may have enjoyed it slightly more.
We don’t meet Eve’s character until chapter 2 and the reader can see her obsession with the female assassin start to take form. The one line that relates the most to the TV show is: ‘I’ll hunt her down. Whatever it takes.’, where Eve swears to catch Villanelle no matter the consequences. Once Villanelle knows she is being chased she makes it into a game and the killing of one particular person makes this mission a lot more personal for Eve.
The book is written quite matter-of-factly but goes into a lot of detail about each mission Villanelle completes. There is not much emotion when talking about Villanelle which parallels Villanelle’s character; her mind and lack of feeling (sociopath). There are also a lot of sexual encounters throughout the book with both men and women which give Villanelle a brief high like her kills but she gets bored very quickly. The descriptions of the women characters were a bit repetitive throughout and the one thing that really bothered me about this book is that you can tell it’s written by a man from the constant referral to women’s breasts when describing all women characters.
I really hoped the book was going to be like the TV show in showing the obsessive dynamic between Villanelle and Eve but they do not even meet in this book and there is no overwhelming tension between them like in the series. Maybe the second in the series is better?
In my opinion if you want more of what the TV show offers I would stick to watching the series and forget about the book unless you enjoy reading spy novels.
I DNF’d this it was bad and poorly written. You could tell a man wrote it by how much focus there was on everyone’s boobs all the time. The script writers for the show did an amazing job with such a dull novel.
After hearing so much about the TV show I was super excited to read this and it did not disappoint. Villanelle makes for a strange but interesting and fun character. Rather enjoyed this confusing but fast-paced and exciting read.
Makes you appreciate the tv series more , not bad and I will read the second instalment but just nowhere near as good as where Phoebe took it.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No