I am so excited to be kicking off the BLACK WIDOW: FOREVER RED blog tour with my review! Before I get to it, let me tell you a bit about the book.
Release Date: October 13, 2015
Pages: 304
Publisher: Marvel Press
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook
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Enter the world of the Avengers’ iconic master spy. Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.
MY REVIEW
Most of your probably know how into comics I am, and, like most of the world, I’m a big fan of superhero movies, so when I found out there was going to be a novel about one of the Avengers (particularly one I believe deserves more attention), I was pretty pumped. I hadn’t read a Margaret Stohl book before, but I wasn’t disappointed. Here are my favorite things about the book:
- Black Widow: I loved learning more about Natasha Romanov. I’ve always thought she was fascinating in that she is so human. She doesn’t have any special powers/technology/etc. She’s so engaging in this book, and I was totally engrossed in all of her scenes. I honestly didn’t think there were enough scenes with her.
- Interview transcripts: You guys know how much I like alternate storytelling methods, and we get part of an interview transcript at the end of every chapter, which was so cool. It kept me reading, wanting to know what the interview was about and who had been the line-of-duty death they were discussing.
- The voices: Stohl nailed the voices of Natasha, Tony Stark, and Agent Coulson, especially for MCU fans – they are spot on. Stark is arrogant and Coulson is a nerd, and it’s so great.
- Ava: She’s a pretty cool character. Tough but vulnerable, bitter, and tough. She does what she has to do, and I thought she was pretty badass.
There were a few things I wasn’t as big on:
- The length: For comic book fans, Black Widow: Forever Red is going to run pretty long. I’m used to 24-page single issues or 120-150 page trades, so a novel about a comic book character coming in at just over 300 pages was a little long and felt somewhat drawn out.
- MORE Natasha: As much as I enjoyed Ava, the main character, I was hoping for more scenes with Natasha, as she was the most engaging part of the book for me.
- Instalove: There was a mild case of instalove/too hot too fast, which didn’t fit with who Ava was previously. It felt a little out of character for her.
The bottom line: Overall, this was a fun, action-packed, kick-ass novel about a comic character that I felt deserved more attention. Natasha was hard, tough, bitter, and awesome, and I thought the well-known comic book characters were spot-on. It’s a little long but I still enjoyed it.
Rating: 7 – pretty good
ABOUT MARGARET
Margaret Stohl is the #1 New York Times Bestselling co-author of the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES Novels and DANGEROUS CREATURES novels, as well as the author of BLACK WIDOW: FOREVER RED forthcoming from Marvel Press (Marvel YA), and the ICONS Novels.
She is the USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Indie-Bound, Wall Street Journal and Internationally Bestselling author of nine YA novels, and has been published in 37 languages and 48 countries. BEAUTIFUL CREATURES was adapted into a film (2013) by Warner Brothers and Alcon Entertainment, and was an ALA William C. Morris YA Debut Award finalist in 2010, as well as a SCIBA award finalist, a NYPL Book for the Teen Age, and a YALSA Teen Top Ten Pick. Beautiful Creatures was named the #1 Teen Pick from Amazon in 2009, and the #5 Editors Pick, Overall.
Prior to becoming an author, Margaret worked in the video game industry as a writer and lead designer for sixteen years, eventually co-founding 7 Studios game developer with her husband, Lewis Peterson. She is also the co-founder of YALLFEST (Charleston, SC) and YALLWEST (Santa Monica, CA), two of the biggest kid/teen book festivals in the country. An alumnus of Amherst College, Stanford University, and Yale University, Margaret lives in Santa Monica with her family, two rescue cats, and two bad beagles.
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THE GIVEAWAY
3 winners will receive a finished copy of BLACK WIDOW: FORVER RED. US Only.
CHECK OUT THE REST OF THE TOUR
Week One:
10/5/2015- Caught Read Handed– Review
10/6/2015- Mundie Moms– Interview
10/7/2015- Novel Novice– Review
10/8/2015- IceyBooks– Guest Post
10/9/2015- Word Spelunking– Review
Week Two:
10/12/2015- Fangirlish– Interview
10/13/2015- Wishful Endings– Review
10/14/2015- Nerdophiles– Guest Post
10/15/2015- Chapter by Chapter– Review
10/16/2015- The Reading Nook Reviews– Interview
Caught Read Handed 