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biblionnoisseur's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.0
sjj169's review against another edition
3.0
I'm going to do a spoiler tag for info on the Book of the month club stuff, which is where I got this book.
sucker curious so I signed up for the three month trial.
I had never heard of this club but obviously it's been around a long time. (yes, I live in a cave)
What happened was at the first of the month I received an email that told me to go pick out the book I wanted for the month.
There were five choices:
[b:Palace of Treason|22609257|Palace of Treason|Jason Matthews|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1430083996s/22609257.jpg|42099137] by [a:Jason Matthews|6903512|Jason Matthews|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1358892941p2/6903512.jpg]-
[b:Once Upon a Time in Russia: The Rise of the Oligarchs—A True Story of Ambition, Wealth, Betrayal, and Murder|23846393|Once Upon a Time in Russia The Rise of the Oligarchs—A True Story of Ambition, Wealth, Betrayal, and Murder|Ben Mezrich|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1429097053s/23846393.jpg|43456633] by [a:Ben Mezrich|2850|Ben Mezrich|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1405445508p2/2850.jpg]-[b:The Marriage of Opposites|23492741|The Marriage of Opposites|Alice Hoffman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438581390s/23492741.jpg|43082583] by [a:Alice Hoffman|3502|Alice Hoffman|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1390431605p2/3502.jpg]-[b:We Never Asked for Wings|24041443|We Never Asked for Wings|Vanessa Diffenbaugh|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1432153065s/24041443.jpg|43446244] by [a:Vanessa Diffenbaugh|4537214|Vanessa Diffenbaugh|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1435783290p2/4537214.jpg] and [b:Saint Mazie|23245422|Saint Mazie|Jami Attenberg|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410979685s/23245422.jpg|42788710] by [a:Jami Attenberg|215765|Jami Attenberg|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1199074343p2/215765.jpg]
I thought I would go out on a limb and pick something that I normally wouldn't read and give it a shot.
Now I received the book just a couple of days later. (Really fast service) and I have to say...that the packaging used was some of the best book packaging that I have ever received. Bravo on that!
The book is also a really nice edition. They include a little note from the "judge" that picked this particular book for the month to the readers.
Now the fact that I wasn't crazy about this book was completely not the fault of the book club. Thanks Book of the Month club. I'll post the two more reviews in the next couple of months and let you guys know how it goes as it happens.
I spent a whole lot of time reading this book and most of that time was spent confused. I really don't think it was completely the books fault. This is just not my cup of tea.
There is a ton of espionage storyline and I admit that much of it was totally over my head. There is double crossing and tons of Russian language. BUT there is a main character that I actually liked.
Captain Dominika Egorova, this woman does as she pleases. She works for the Russians or so they think. Turns out she gets fired up at them for destroying her country and becomes a mole for the CIA.
Now get this..she is not your ordinary woman. She has the talent of being an synesthete. She can see people's aura's colors and judge their feelings from them.
Oh by the way..she is also trained as a "Sparrow", in the art of 'sexpionage'.
She could hear the droning clinical lectures on human sexuality and love. She could see the jumpy, roiling films of coitus and perversion. The lists of sexual techniques, numbered in the hundreds, endlessly memorized and practiced- No. 88: "Butterfly wings"; No. 42, "String of Pearls"; No. 32, "the carpet tack"
We won't discuss how long I tried to figure out those techniques.
The verdict on the book for me was that I liked some parts of it and some parts I snoozed on. If you are interested in Cold War tactics, lots of Russian dialogue and a kick ass female..this could be your book.
And guess what? I'm giving my copy away. The first person (that lives in the US-sorry I can't afford shipping rates for other countries) that wants this book just let me know and I'll send it your way. spoken for :)
For this book I'm choosing my friend Marilyn to spotlight. She was one of my very first goodreads friends and I trust her tastes in books completely. She did love this one so I honestly think it was just me on the two star thing. I steal a bunch of my TBR from her.
Spoiler
A few weeks ago several of us on Goodreads got an PM offering us a trial run on bookofthemonthclub.com. I wasI had never heard of this club but obviously it's been around a long time. (yes, I live in a cave)
What happened was at the first of the month I received an email that told me to go pick out the book I wanted for the month.
There were five choices:
[b:Palace of Treason|22609257|Palace of Treason|Jason Matthews|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1430083996s/22609257.jpg|42099137] by [a:Jason Matthews|6903512|Jason Matthews|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1358892941p2/6903512.jpg]-
[b:Once Upon a Time in Russia: The Rise of the Oligarchs—A True Story of Ambition, Wealth, Betrayal, and Murder|23846393|Once Upon a Time in Russia The Rise of the Oligarchs—A True Story of Ambition, Wealth, Betrayal, and Murder|Ben Mezrich|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1429097053s/23846393.jpg|43456633] by [a:Ben Mezrich|2850|Ben Mezrich|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1405445508p2/2850.jpg]-[b:The Marriage of Opposites|23492741|The Marriage of Opposites|Alice Hoffman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438581390s/23492741.jpg|43082583] by [a:Alice Hoffman|3502|Alice Hoffman|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1390431605p2/3502.jpg]-[b:We Never Asked for Wings|24041443|We Never Asked for Wings|Vanessa Diffenbaugh|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1432153065s/24041443.jpg|43446244] by [a:Vanessa Diffenbaugh|4537214|Vanessa Diffenbaugh|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1435783290p2/4537214.jpg] and [b:Saint Mazie|23245422|Saint Mazie|Jami Attenberg|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410979685s/23245422.jpg|42788710] by [a:Jami Attenberg|215765|Jami Attenberg|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1199074343p2/215765.jpg]
I thought I would go out on a limb and pick something that I normally wouldn't read and give it a shot.
Now I received the book just a couple of days later. (Really fast service) and I have to say...that the packaging used was some of the best book packaging that I have ever received. Bravo on that!
The book is also a really nice edition. They include a little note from the "judge" that picked this particular book for the month to the readers.
Now the fact that I wasn't crazy about this book was completely not the fault of the book club. Thanks Book of the Month club. I'll post the two more reviews in the next couple of months and let you guys know how it goes as it happens.
I spent a whole lot of time reading this book and most of that time was spent confused. I really don't think it was completely the books fault. This is just not my cup of tea.
There is a ton of espionage storyline and I admit that much of it was totally over my head. There is double crossing and tons of Russian language. BUT there is a main character that I actually liked.
Captain Dominika Egorova, this woman does as she pleases. She works for the Russians or so they think. Turns out she gets fired up at them for destroying her country and becomes a mole for the CIA.
Now get this..she is not your ordinary woman. She has the talent of being an synesthete. She can see people's aura's colors and judge their feelings from them.
Oh by the way..she is also trained as a "Sparrow", in the art of 'sexpionage'.
She could hear the droning clinical lectures on human sexuality and love. She could see the jumpy, roiling films of coitus and perversion. The lists of sexual techniques, numbered in the hundreds, endlessly memorized and practiced- No. 88: "Butterfly wings"; No. 42, "String of Pearls"; No. 32, "the carpet tack"
We won't discuss how long I tried to figure out those techniques.
The verdict on the book for me was that I liked some parts of it and some parts I snoozed on. If you are interested in Cold War tactics, lots of Russian dialogue and a kick ass female..this could be your book.
For this book I'm choosing my friend Marilyn to spotlight. She was one of my very first goodreads friends and I trust her tastes in books completely. She did love this one so I honestly think it was just me on the two star thing. I steal a bunch of my TBR from her.
klertmen's review against another edition
5.0
Well-written spy novel - even better than Red Sparrow.
allyphant42's review against another edition
3.0
Great story if you can get past all the unnecessary and often jarring descriptions of every female characters chest.
eldiente's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty good spy novel with a recipe for a food item mentioned in the previous chapter. Interested to see what the author is going to do with the main character next.
linda_rose's review against another edition
3.0
Got about 50% through and gave up. Maybe could have finished but more intetesting books came up in my queue. I might try to finish in the future.
jefecarpenter's review against another edition
4.0
Quite good; addictive, really. And he gets into an interesting parallel leapfrogging story technique that's magic.
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
5.0
A 2015 staff favorite recommended by Jane.
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Show%20to%20start%20a%20fire%20lutz__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Show%20to%20start%20a%20fire%20lutz__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
ericwheeler's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
5.0