Mark

Spying with extra senses on a post cold-war divide

Red Sparrow is a captivating spy story with many captivating twists and a splash of romance for flavor. It took me a whole to get into the story, but when I did, I eagerly dived into the complex but easy to grasp story and floated along for the ride. With the 3rd person narrator we get a glimpse into both sides of the post cold war, as well as the minds of the players, both small and large. The good guys are good and the bad guys are bad, except for the ones who straddle the line as double agents and their handlers. Dominika and Nate are agents on opposite sides of the divide. Their dance leads to a well paced adventure that had me eagerly listening at every free moment! There are some bad reviews (not sure why), but I really enjoyed the ride and look forward to reading more from this ex-CIA author.

One of the only issues I had with the story is that the main protagonist is a synesthete - 1 star removed. In the story she can see other people's feelings, intentions and moods - read their auras. Synesthesia is close to that but what the author is describing is more of a empath. A synesthete can not ‘feel' anything another is feeling, or sense what they are thinking. People effected by this perceptual phenomenon experience these ‘mis-mappings' only inside their own head - they do not sense other people's states or see auras as Dominika did. I have read a biography about this in the past. I am not a neuroscientist, but synesthesia is the condition where the person effected had biology that incorrect maps sensory inputs. So they experience feelings and emotions associated with colors, sounds, tactile and other responses to inputs like numbers, letters, words, colors, shapes and a whole list of other mappings. They literally see colors when counting numbers and can do math with those colors. For example they can only see a red colored 1 when they think about the number 1. Every number and letter is mapped to a color permanently. It is actually a lot more in-depth so do a google search to find out more about this fascinating condition.
None of this takes away from the story!

This is by far one of the best, most well realized and breathtaking series that I have ever read. The other was the Hyperion Cantos (4 books) by Dan Simmons. The magic system is solid and very well conceptualized, right up until the end. It all managed to hold on to itself, not like others I have read that leave gaping holes. I took me so many hours to finish, including 1 international trip, over 30 hours of flights, and felt like one continuous story - but the hours literally melted away. I wish more audiobooks had the power to engross me like this series had. Like the other reviewers, I feel like I have list a group of good friends completing the last book. I strongly recommend that you listen to them all in order.