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rachaelreads92 's review for:
Red Sparrow
by Jason Matthews
I bought this book on a whim from Kmart after remembering the movie trailer. I honestly didn't know if I would enjoy the novel- spy thrillers are not usually my forte- but it was on sale and I thought I would pick it up and give it a go.
It was a very long, detailed book (550 pages!) told from multiple POVs. The two main characters are a Russian spy, Dominika, and an American CIA agent, Nate.
The first third of the book took me awhile to finish. The imbedded Russian occasionally made the writing feel stilted and I kept needing to go back and read over the different acronyms so that I could keep them straight. This is when we meet the two main characters- Nate is working in Russia as a handler for a Russian spy known as MARBLE and we learn about his role in the CIA. Dominika is the niece of a member high in the SVR and eventually is trained as a Russian intelligence officer and is sent to Sparrow School.
The remainder of the book had some twists and turns and was quite slow paced, but still enjoyable. It is interesting that the author chose to call the novel 'Red Sparrow' when this is such a small part of the plot. Also, when you read the blurb, the focus is on "sexpionage" and sparrow school and therefore this is what I was expecting from the book. Sparrow school and sex is only a very minute part of the plot.
My only complaints with this book were that the chapters were very long and also, each chapter ended in a Russian recipe and I really didn't understand the purpose of this or what it added to the novel.
Overall, I would really recommend this book and I am looking forward to reading the rest in the series.
It was a very long, detailed book (550 pages!) told from multiple POVs. The two main characters are a Russian spy, Dominika, and an American CIA agent, Nate.
The first third of the book took me awhile to finish. The imbedded Russian occasionally made the writing feel stilted and I kept needing to go back and read over the different acronyms so that I could keep them straight. This is when we meet the two main characters- Nate is working in Russia as a handler for a Russian spy known as MARBLE and we learn about his role in the CIA. Dominika is the niece of a member high in the SVR and eventually is trained as a Russian intelligence officer and is sent to Sparrow School.
The remainder of the book had some twists and turns and was quite slow paced, but still enjoyable. It is interesting that the author chose to call the novel 'Red Sparrow' when this is such a small part of the plot. Also, when you read the blurb, the focus is on "sexpionage" and sparrow school and therefore this is what I was expecting from the book. Sparrow school and sex is only a very minute part of the plot.
My only complaints with this book were that the chapters were very long and also, each chapter ended in a Russian recipe and I really didn't understand the purpose of this or what it added to the novel.
Overall, I would really recommend this book and I am looking forward to reading the rest in the series.