After reading the first book and being completely disappointed, I'm not sure why I picked up this one other than the fact I bought them both at the saAfter reading the first book and being completely disappointed, I'm not sure why I picked up this one other than the fact I bought them both at the same time. In addition to being predictable, it ignored or forgot MCU canon at times and didn't have interesting action. The writing was mediocre and like the first book, I didn’t think the story was particularly well developed. It was a cliché storyline.
Book 2 follows the same format of book 1 with S.H.I.E.L.D. “case file” excerpts or transcripts at the start of each chapter. So you don’t even have to read the chapter. Just read the transcript or file page and you know exactly what happened.
Although Natasha has more of a role than I felt she had in book 1, her character here is still rather flat instead of the dynamic, complex character she is. And Ava has almost zero personality. Nothing about her shines through. She is merely the flat words on the page and she never connects, never has her own voice. The cameos of Tony Stark and Captain Marvel (aka Carol Danvers) was about the only good thing. The switching of POVs from Natasha and Ava didn't help the story. And then in the last third, Dante's POV was added, which I thought was unnecessary and didn't add any value to the story.
Overall, an unsatisfying novel that completely fell short of giving such a complex female character a story worthy of her. This book would’ve been better suited for a comic book or graphic novel format and I won't be reading any future continuations of this series....more
In a word, disappointing. I liked the novelization of the Wonder Woman movie w-a-y better than this book. And that’s just sad.
My main problem with thiIn a word, disappointing. I liked the novelization of the Wonder Woman movie w-a-y better than this book. And that’s just sad.
My main problem with this book is that Black Widow, aka Natasha Romanoff, despite being the title character, is secondary. The story focuses more on Ava (and to a lesser degree Alexei). Although we do get some of Natasha’s backstory, her backstory comes out through Ava’s story. And I didn’t think either was particularly well developed. It relied too much on bad Russian tropes and stereotypes.
I also didn’t care for the style of the book. After the prologue chapters, each chapter starts with S.H.I.E.L.D. “case file” or transcript. So you don’t even have to read the chapter. Just read the transcript or file page and you know exactly what happened. This book would’ve been better suited for a comic book or graphic novel format.
The writing mediocre, but that may be because the story lacks any substance or depth. At the end, I don’t feel as if I know anything more about Black Widow than I did when I started the book. I felt like this was a way for Marvel to claim they had given another female superhero a lead in a story without having to actually give the story any substance.
Overall, an unsatisfying novel that completely fell short of giving such a complex female character a story worthy of her....more