There are some aspects of the novel I found almost too hard to believe: the existence of Sparrow School and Dominika's ability to sense the trustworthiness of people based on the color of an aura chief among them. But the novel does a good job with tradecraft. Many of the supporting characters (Benford, Gable, Korchnoi) I found more interesting than the main protagonists. The ending of the novel is thrilling. Just outstanding. Great stuff for spy novel fans. If you can get past the implausibilities, you've got yourself a fantastic spy novel read. Highly recommended for thriller fans. ( )

I've read worse books, however, the storyline was very 1-dimensional and there was very little character development. I found the book to be quite a chore to finish. ( )

Quality story.

Excellent writing and research, with superb characterisation throughout, clever descriptive intelligent storytelling from first to last page. A real page turner with an authentic feel unsurprising with the Author's background. A ballsy brave fearless heroine on a par with my all time favourite female character Lisbeth Salander.
Completely and utterly recommended. ( )

I don't read many spy thrillers, but I liked this a lot. The author is, apparently, a spy or former spy and the story details do seem realistic. The sex and fights only resemble reality in some vague way, but I suppose most real spys don't spend a lot of time banging each other. It has recipes in it [!], and I think they added an extra dimension. ( )

This is no Tom Clancy. Is it fair to compare every espionage thriller to Mr Clancy? Probably not. I love espionage thrillers. Many women love romance novels, I love spy stuff. Red Sparrow is a decent read but I probably won't remember the name of the book or author in a few months.

The story is about a women's journey to become a spy, her handlers, the deception, and adventure. Dominika is a very good character. Nice back story. She has an interesting biological lie detector called synesthy... something. She can assess the motives of people and of course this is really handy when you're a spy.

I got really confused with all the characters coming into and out of her life. I am glad Kindle lets you write notes.

I see a problem with many writers not following through the whole book with the same enthusiasm for complete story. Mr Matthew's isn't the worst I have seen but the story gets lost about half way through. It does come back together about 80% into the book. ( )