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chantaal 's review for:
Black Widow: Forever Red
by Margaret Stohl
Hmm, 2.75 rounded up? I'm going to have to think on this a bit as I write my review.
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Now that I've had some time to distance myself from the book, I'm dropping my initial review to 2 stars. Because this was just okay, but not terrible enough to warrant a 1 star. As a supposed tie in to the movie universe, this was disappointing.
Natasha Romanoff hated pierogies—but more than that, she hated lies.
This opening line of the novel represents everything that drove me crazy about it. First, the mention of pierogies; yes, there's a point to having it in there (or at least a theme is shoehorned in), but it seems like pierogies were settled on because they're appropriately Eastern European, and that's how most of this novel felt. There is so much Russian used, immediately followed by a translation of the Russian in English only a line later. What's the use in sprinkling Russian throughout if you're just going to awkwardly translate it right away? Let readers understand from context, or write English in italics to denote Russian being spoken. None of this awkward "look at the random Russian I looked up to sound authentic!" stuff.
Then there's the fact that the line reads as a complete non-sequitur, especially as an opening line. It's clunky, it's awkward, and almost all of the rest of the novel read exactly like that.
There's no distinguishing between the POVs of Natasha, Ava, or Alex. You could have done without Alex's POV entirely and still had a novel that made sense. Mostly.
The plot is paper thin, and relies too heavily on the teenagers being complete idiots. Yes, I know there's a reason Ava does what she does, but it drives me nuts when a plot is driven by teenagers not trusting adults or not waiting two seconds to listen to someone.
And then there's the instalove. Gag.
I'm also not sure where this is supposed to fall in the MCU, if it IS a tie-in to the MCU. (I feel like I read it is, but can't find the source.) If this is post-Avengers, since Natasha and Tony are friends and the alien invasion is mentioned, what is Coulson doing around? If this is pre-Avengers, which it reads like, then what is Tony doing around, and why is he so familiar with SHIELD? If this is part of the comic universe, that makes a touch more sense -- but again, Coulson? I know he's part of Marvel 616 now, but his relationship with Natasha here feels like their MCU relationship.
It's confusing.
Ultimately, this novel isn't really worthy of being called a Black Widow novel. Yes, it includes Natasha, but she's basically a secondary character here. The spotlight is on Ava, the plot revolves around Ava, Natasha's reactions and emergence of a feeling or two are because of Ava (and Alex), and at the end, we realize...this is Ava's origin story.
Good job, Marvel. You successfully pulled one over on me.
If you want a better comic book tie-in novel, try [b:Fallout|23110163|Fallout (Lois Lane, #1)|Gwenda Bond|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1418907660s/23110163.jpg|42657804], a Lois Lane story.
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Now that I've had some time to distance myself from the book, I'm dropping my initial review to 2 stars. Because this was just okay, but not terrible enough to warrant a 1 star. As a supposed tie in to the movie universe, this was disappointing.
Natasha Romanoff hated pierogies—but more than that, she hated lies.
This opening line of the novel represents everything that drove me crazy about it. First, the mention of pierogies; yes, there's a point to having it in there (or at least a theme is shoehorned in), but it seems like pierogies were settled on because they're appropriately Eastern European, and that's how most of this novel felt. There is so much Russian used, immediately followed by a translation of the Russian in English only a line later. What's the use in sprinkling Russian throughout if you're just going to awkwardly translate it right away? Let readers understand from context, or write English in italics to denote Russian being spoken. None of this awkward "look at the random Russian I looked up to sound authentic!" stuff.
Then there's the fact that the line reads as a complete non-sequitur, especially as an opening line. It's clunky, it's awkward, and almost all of the rest of the novel read exactly like that.
There's no distinguishing between the POVs of Natasha, Ava, or Alex. You could have done without Alex's POV entirely and still had a novel that made sense. Mostly.
The plot is paper thin, and relies too heavily on the teenagers being complete idiots. Yes, I know there's a reason Ava does what she does,
Spoiler
especially when her mind link to Natasha is in playAnd then there's the instalove. Gag.
I'm also not sure where this is supposed to fall in the MCU, if it IS a tie-in to the MCU. (I feel like I read it is, but can't find the source.) If this is post-Avengers, since Natasha and Tony are friends and the alien invasion is mentioned, what is Coulson doing around? If this is pre-Avengers, which it reads like, then what is Tony doing around, and why is he so familiar with SHIELD? If this is part of the comic universe, that makes a touch more sense -- but again, Coulson? I know he's part of Marvel 616 now, but his relationship with Natasha here feels like their MCU relationship.
It's confusing.
Ultimately, this novel isn't really worthy of being called a Black Widow novel. Yes, it includes Natasha, but she's basically a secondary character here. The spotlight is on Ava, the plot revolves around Ava, Natasha's reactions and emergence of a feeling or two are because of Ava (and Alex), and at the end, we realize...this is Ava's origin story.
Good job, Marvel. You successfully pulled one over on me.
If you want a better comic book tie-in novel, try [b:Fallout|23110163|Fallout (Lois Lane, #1)|Gwenda Bond|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1418907660s/23110163.jpg|42657804], a Lois Lane story.