Book Review - Black Widow: Forever Red by Margaret Stohl (No spoilers)

Because I have not had time* to do a BEA review post, and now it would be sort of pointless, I'm going to review the first ARC (that I have finished) from my BEA haul:

DRUMROLL PLEASE

Margaret Stohl's Black Widow: Forever Red 

it's so (appropriately) mysterious that the Goodreads blurb is only this:

"This novel features all the thrilling adventure readers will expect from the Marvel brand, backed up by the young-adult cred of #1 New York Times bestselling author Margaret Stohl. Uncover a new side of the Marvel Universe, accessible to old fans and new readers alike, as Stohl weaves an unforgettable story through the world of the Black Widow." 

First: This cover is GORGEOUS. My cover is sort of boring (still cool though), without this fabulous artwork ------->



<--------But more importantly, it's a signed copy ;) I can forgive it for lacking the awesome art.

  And yes, this ARC was generously given to me by the lovely people at Disney and Marvel press in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Gifs are from Tumblr.com and belong to respective copyright holders.

When I first heard this was happening, I was so excited. Natasha Romanov a.k.a. Natalia Romanova a.k.a Natasha Romanoff a.k.a you get the picture, is one of my favorite Marvel characters (comics and movies) in both the classic and modern Marvel storylines. Her no-nonsense efficiency, her awesome skills, and her troubled past make for a fabulous character in the right hands.

Which leads in to the next part: I read three chapters of Beautiful Creatures once. Suffice it to say that I am not a fan.

I don't do sappy, drippy, really drippy witch/teenage-angst novels. Period. So I was all, Marvel, really? 

But then I met Margaret Stohl at BEA. She was fabulous - humble - and filled with trepidation about the general populace reading her take on Black Widow. That made me feel a little better. And she geeked out with us about how awesome Black Widow is in the comics, and then she signed my book.

And honestly, I shouldn't have worried so much, because I really liked the book.

So people of the world, here is a brief, spoiler free summary of Black Widow: Forever Red

Forever Red starts in Ukraine, 8 years in the past (you can actually read the beginning online). The Black Widow is hunting down her old mentor/trainer, Ivan Somodorov. The mission goes south, but not before Natasha rescues the girl that Ivan was experimenting on, turns the girl over to S.H.I.E.L.D., promises she'll come if the girl needs her, and leaves.

8 years later, we are introduced to the primary characters (other than Natasha): teenagers Alex Manor and Ava Orlova. Ava is, of course, the little girl that Natasha rescued eight years earlier. Ava had been living in a (dreadful sounding) secure S.H.I.E.L.D. facility before she escaped, and she currently lives in the bottom of a Brooklyn YWCA. Both of them have strange dreams, but Ava's are about Alex (she's never met him). Ava has also nurtured hatred against the woman who saved her life, and then left her to fend for herself in a strange world.

But children are disappearing again, and the Black Widow suspects that Ivan survived their confrontation. That means he is after her, and after Ava, so Natasha heads back into the field, and back into Ava's life. However, things are far more tangled than Natasha realized: her memories are leaking into Ava's head, thanks to Ivan's experiments in "quantum entanglement." Ava absorbs Natasha's skills, and the Black Widow can't feel it. As frustrating as this is, it's also incredibly dangerous. They aren't the only Entangled pair that Ivan left behind.

To disentangle themselves, Ava and Natasha must find Ivan, face their childhoods, and go back to where it all began. And what does Alex Manor have to do with everything?

My thoughts - without spoilers

5 things that worked:

1. I loved the book's format. Each present-day chapter is followed by a S.H.I.E.L.D. Line-Of-Duty Death (L.O.D.D.) case document. They are interviews (often with Natasha) and other files that tie into several plot threads. I love how these were worked in to the story

2. Margaret Stohl does a great job with Natasha's character. She's the hard edged, sensible, and capable assassin/spy we all love, but she's also human (but with a very messed up past).

3. Ava and Alex were both likable (surprisingly so), and I was interested in their character arcs. Ava as Natasha's "mini-me" provided some humor and insight into the Black Widow.

4. The plot. It was old-school spy stuff with gadgets, disguises, mad scientists, and chase scenes, but with an awesome heroine instead of a suave, suit wearing James Bond type.

5. The covert peeks into Natasha's classified past. Black Widow is mysterious, and that's one of the things I always liked. I was worried that a novelization would take away too much of that mystery, but it didn't. Natasha is given just enough history, just enough name-dropping (I didn't grin stupidly at everyone in the airport when I read a certain case note**), to both reconcile her comic/cinematic character, and leave a lot of interesting openings. Oh, and Coulson is in there a bit :)

BONUS: The Russian. I never forgot that I was reading about Russian characters, and it gave both realism and grounding to a book with a crazy mind-meld plot.

5 things that didn't work as well:

Image Credit

1. While I liked Ava and Alex, and was rooting for them, but they weren't why I was reading the book. I just didn't care as much, and I was far more engaged when Natasha was on the scene.

2. This was a minor part of the book, but the predictable Alex/Ava romance (while believable) didn't do anything for me. Sure, they were cute and not annoying, but (see above), I didn't really care. But hey, they're kids.

3. I felt like it occasionally suffered from trying to be too cryptic and mysterious. There were a few details that needed further explanation/examination for the plot's sake. The only major example of this was all the disappearing children.***

4. Ivan. He had a bit of Marvel Movie Villain Syndrome: Ivan was evil, sadistic, and had quite the past, and yet he felt a little flat. But again, only Loki and Wilson Fisk (Daredevil) have truly escaped this.****

5. This one is 50/50 for me (because sometimes it worked better than others): the constant reminders that we are in a very normal, modern, but alternate Earth where superheroes are an acknowledged thing and Avengers destroyed/saved New York once.

Overall:

4 out of 5 Spiders. 

I'm just one of those annoying people who wanted more Black Widow. Maybe a novel that takes place in the past now? With Winter Soldier or Daredevil cameos?<---YES

Footnotes:

*I know that having time and making time are directly related.

**(not really a spoiler but just to be safe) Black Widow's file has her age redacted. And there is a footnote that says to reference the files of Rogers, Steve and Barnes, James. Which means that they haven't thrown out her backstory from the comics. There is still a chance that Natasha will be more like her real age (just rewritten every time) and has trained under the Winter Soldier. So I grinned at strangers ( I was reading in a busy airport, people).

***Seriously, where did all those kids go? If this was really addressed in the book, I must have missed it. I think it was just mentioned in passing toward the end.

****If you count the Winter Soldier as a villain [which in CA:TWS he technically is), then that makes three.

So, have you read this? Will my review be whisked away into secret S.H.I.E.L.D. files even though I avoided spoilers? 

Do you love Black Widow, or think she was less deserving of a novel than other Marvel ladies? 

How do you feel about her treatment in the movies? Would you like to see a Black Widow and Daredevil or Winter Soldier team up in the cinematic/novel/TV universe?

Tra la, It's May . . . Oh, Wait, It's Already May? Hey!

(Note: This post was written for yesterday. Alas, I was crazy busy and it didn't quite make it)


I blame Camelot.* That song drives me crazy every May 1st. In the musical, Queen Guinevere sings a trilling, suggestive ditty about the things people get up to on May Day. May Day is, of course, the traditional spring festival in Britain (and several other places). There is a lot of history and custom involved, including the iconic maypole, and the usual Catholic/Celtic/Pagan roots debate. None of that has anything to do with this post, so I'll leave it there.

The point is, I cannot get that song out of my head.

Now that I got it out of my system, Happy May Day! Do you have any plans for the month?
My first plan involved Avengers, but I'll get to that in a moment.

Before that, we have the really awesome May Event:
At the end of May, I am going to BEA (Book Expo America) for the first time, and I am so excited! (and overwhelmed, but mostly excited)

Excitedexcitedexcited

Anyhow, if you don't know what BEA is, here is an official description (which I took from the above link):

"BookExpo America (BEA) 2015 is THE show for booksellers—both independent and chain. There's no better place to find the next big author, book, or trend in the publishing world.

With world-class education, networking, and the latest trends in the publishing industry, you’re sure to leave BEA armed with what you need to make your bookstore thrive.

• Access the largest show floor in North America with exhibitors showcasing their upcoming books—covering every genre, from across the country and around the world.
• Discover the latest books and get advanced copies.
• Meet and get autographs from 600+ popular and upcoming authors.
• Attend education sessions where you’ll learn how to differentiate your bookstore, maximize your business, and thrive in today’s challenging world of books and publishing.
• See the latest digital products, technologies, and trends first-hand to help you become knowledgeable about where the industry is heading.
• Network with professionals from every aspect of the publishing industry. Make valuable connections that can make your business more efficient and profitable." (quote from bookexpoamerica.com)

So, as a bookseller, you can see why it would be useful, right? As a book lover, I am spazzing out. And I am not normally that excitable. 

                                                   (you know, like this guy ^^^^^^^^^^^ )

In the mean time, I have to plan my strategy for signings and education sessions, galley giveaways, and everything else. Also, I'm going to be in NEW YORK, so I'd like to spend the post-BEA hours exploring Manhattan. So, it is spreadsheet and list making time. However, I also have 5 reviews due to the periodical I write for, a book camp to plan for the store, books to read for June, my job, and all grown-up bills to pay before I get there. That's where the overwhelmed comes in.

So, to get away from all of that, I went and saw Avengers: Age of Ultron instead. 

If you don't have a tv, or a computer (then how are you reading this?), or have been hidden away in a compound to protect yourself from enemy agents, you probably know that the first Avengers was a thing. A very profitable thing. It was also (surprising critics but not us fans), really awesome. So it was not without trepidation that I sallied forth into the second pre-showing last night.

My verdict: I loved it! So it wasn't The Dark Knight, or Chariots of Fire, or Return of the King, or _______ (fill in the blanks with your best movie ever), but it was really fun, and it pulled a bunch of diverse Marvel characters together in a comprehensible way. And I love Joss Whedon's snappy battle wit and snarky dialogue, and I had not trouble telling the characters apart. 

So, no serious spoilers here, but a quick rundown of what worked/did not work:

5 Things I liked:

1. Hawkeye. I love him in the comics, and I appreciated his screentime and snappy quips. He's the normal guy, the one we relate to, and Jeremy Renner did a lovely job with it.
2. THE VISION. Everything involving the Vision. Particularly when they also involved Thor.
3. Battle humor. Like I mentioned above, the sharp, witty dialogue that Whedon is known for is in full blast here. We re-meet the Avengers as a team who has started to get to know each other, and they are a lot like a crazy family.
4. Black Widow. I love Black Widow-she is smart, versatile, funny, nuanced, talented, and at her core, a damaged human being with a complex past. Age of Ultron built on the arc she took through Winter Soldier.
5. The revamped Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch. Ditching Wanda's comic look was a mercy to everyone, in my opinion. They stayed true to her quirky, gypsy roots, and said goodbye to the 80's swimsuit and pink tights (and whatever she was wearing on her head). On a deeper level, their characters were adapted well, and I think the new team will bring interest to the MCU.

And this is one of her less offensive ensembles . . .
(image credit: comicbookresources.com)

5 Things I didn't like as much:

1. Black Widow and Hulk? I have no issue with this as a plot point, but it was clumsy and there wasn't much of a foundation. It's like there was this whole developing relationship between Avengers 1 and 2, and we missed it. Personally, I like the absence of side romances in the Avengers movies, and it is fine with me if it stays that way. I think any plot that is so emotion heavy is better off in the solo movies, such as Iron Man or Thor, etc, and that there just isn't room in the ensemble pieces.
2. No Winter Soldier.** Okay, Bucky wouldn't have fit in the movie, and he has nothing to do with anything, but I am trying to find things I didn't like here!
3. They didn't show what Hulk was seeing during the Hulkbuster fight. He was the only one, and it wasn't a real plot twist, so at least they could have shown us what the big guy thought he was doing. For clarity.
4. We could have had a little more Ultron exposition, and a little less action (edit that bit in Wakanda,*** maybe?). I thought Ultron was creepy and interesting, and James Spader was great, but I felt like he lacked depth (a typical Marvel movie complaint, but what can you do?).
5. I am really digging deep, as I loved the movie, but my final nit to pick is: editing. I am astonished that anyone can pull of a giant movie with a full cast, but I think the editors could have made the movie flow a little better. It dragged in strange places, and some of the early movie action could have been scrapped to help the flow.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars. It wasn't perfect (Winter Soldier is still my favorite MCU outing to date), but I still loved it.

Did you see Age of Ultron? Are all things Marvel strange to you? Are you a comic purist? Sound off in the comments below :)

Cheers!

Footnotes:

*Camelot basically destroyed me as a kid. I was a huge King Arthur buff, and it was so depressing. Even though I actually liked it.

** I love James Buchanan Barnes. I love Ed Brubaker's Winter Soldier arc. I love that movie. 'nuff said.

***I also love Black Panther. But this is not his movie, and that awesomeness isn't out yet.