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A review by bigbear73
Black Widow: Forever Red by Margaret Stohl
3.0
Okay, here's the deal. I've been a Marvel fan since, well, I could read on my own. So a novelization of anything Marvel? I'm at least gonna look at it. A novelization of one of my faves, like Black Widow? Get me in line. The negative, of course, that I'll have super high expectations, but that's a bullet you'll have to take when writing about characters this well known. So I excitedly got my hands on Black Widow: Forever Red, and expected the moon and stars.
Well, I got a nice view of them anyways.
This is a decent book, it really is. It took me awhile to decide why I didn't love it, actually, and it came down to two things.
1. It doesn't feel like it's really about Natasha Romanoff. It feels like its about things around her, at most. I know she's tricky to deal with, because half of who she is is her mysterious past, but she still needs to be the focus, and it never really felt that way. It felt like another episode of Avengers where she is the awesome one doing the cool stuff, and all anyone wants to talk about is Thor's biceps or Tony's snark. She's stage left somehow.
Basically, if your view of The Black Widow stems entirely from the movies, and that's what you know of the character, this book will be fine for you. Or for anyone looking for a good adventure/spy novel. Anyone looking for a fully realized Natasha should probably look somewhere else.
Well, I got a nice view of them anyways.
This is a decent book, it really is. It took me awhile to decide why I didn't love it, actually, and it came down to two things.
1. It doesn't feel like it's really about Natasha Romanoff. It feels like its about things around her, at most. I know she's tricky to deal with, because half of who she is is her mysterious past, but she still needs to be the focus, and it never really felt that way. It felt like another episode of Avengers where she is the awesome one doing the cool stuff, and all anyone wants to talk about is Thor's biceps or Tony's snark. She's stage left somehow.
Spoiler
2. There is an insane, nonsensical love story. Which isn't probably entirely fair for me to say, as it ended better than it began. But the whole thing just felt like it was there make sure one existed, and just nagged at me most of the book.Basically, if your view of The Black Widow stems entirely from the movies, and that's what you know of the character, this book will be fine for you. Or for anyone looking for a good adventure/spy novel. Anyone looking for a fully realized Natasha should probably look somewhere else.