A review by lokasreads
Codename Villanelle by Luke Jennings

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I enjoyed the writing style and the book itself and plan on reading the sequel, but the author struggled with telling instead of showing for almost anything that wasn't Villanelle's character/personality, most notably things centering Eve. Her character and personality was only proven much later in the book; her growing distance from Niko and mirrored growing obsession with Villanelle felt very abrupt, without basis, and I reread previous pages trying to see if there was something I missed that would explain it. This disjointedness was distracting enough to bring the overall rating of the book down.

Also, as someone coming to the book from the show, I wish we had more Konstantin.