#jason matthews

[swiftiereaders]

✨BOOK REVIEW✨ - Jen

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews 9/10

I was first drawn to this book, because I had seen the film starring Jennifer Lawrence several years ago and enjoyed it tremendously. This story centers around spies, espionage, forbidden love, and lots of action and thrilling moments. The main character, Dominika Egorova, finds her life shifted at a momentous moment in her career, plunging her into the world and chaos of spying for her country of Russia as well as considering working with the enemy. Through her adventures and training, she encounters both weak and strength in others as well as betrayal and love from places she both expects and does not expect. Her character is strong and willing and admirable, a female character I truly enjoyed getting to know. Her ability to read people and see their true character had me hooked from the beginning! Highly recommend for anyone interested in spies, thrillers, and action!

Taylor Swift songs that remind me of this story: mad woman, i did something bad

[whovian223]

Review - Twilight Struggle: Red Sea - Conflict in the Horn of Africa

Review - Twilight Struggle: Red Sea - Conflict in the Horn of Africa @gmtgames

Twilight Struggle is one of those long-standing classic wargames (oops…I don’t want to get into that argument) from GMT Games about the Cold War from 1945 to 1989. It’s long, it’s 2-player, but its gameplay has stood the test of time to make it a favourite among gamers. It was the #1 game on Boardgame Geek for a long time and is still #14. While I have played the app a number of times, the…

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Red Sparrow

Author: Jason Matthews

Series or standalone: series

Publication year: 2013

Genres: fiction, thriller, mystery, suspense, crime

Blurb: In a Russia ruled by the blue-eyed, unblinking President Vladimir Putin, Russian intelligence officer Dominika Egorova struggles to survive in the post-Soviet intelligence jungle. Ordered against her will to become a Sparrow - a trained seductress - Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a young CIA officer who handles the agency's most important Russian mole. Spies have long relied on the honey trap, whereby vulnerable men and women are intimately compromised. Dominika learns these techniques of espionage in Russia's secret Sparrow School hidden outside of Moscow. As the action careens between Russia, Finland, Greece, Italy, and the United States, Dominika and Nate soon collide in a duel of wills, tradecraft, and inevitably forbidden passion that threatens not just their lives, but those of others as well. As secret allegiances are made and broken, Dominika and Nate's game reaches a deadly crossroads. Soon, one of them begins a dangerous double existence in a life-and-death operation that consumes intelligence agencies from Moscow to Washington DC.

[thegaminggang]

Imperial Struggle | Review

Jeff dives in and shares his thoughts about the new two player strategy game Imperial Struggle from GMT Games.

[desencaixados-blog]

Resenha, Operação Red Sparrow | Desencaixados

Título: Operação Red Sparrow Autora: Jason Matthews Editora: Arqueiro Gênero: Policial Número de páginas: 432 SKOOB

Adquira aqui: Amazon 

Sinopse: Desde pequena, o sonho de Dominika Egorova era fazer parte do Bolshoi, o balé mais importante da Rússia. Após ser vítima de uma sabotagem, porém, ela vê sua promissora carreira se encerrar de forma abrupta. Logo em seguida, mais um golpe: a morte inesperada do pai, seu melhor amigo.

Desnorteada, Dominika cede à pressão do tio, vice-diretor do serviço secreto da Rússia, o SVR, e entra para a organização. Pouco tempo depois, é mandada à Escola de Pardais, um instituto onde homens e mulheres aprendem técnicas de sedução para fins de espionagem.

Em seus primeiros meses como pardal, ela recebe uma importante missão: conquistar o americano Nathaniel Nash, um jovem agente da CIA, responsável por um dos mais influentes informantes russos que a agência já teve. O objetivo é fazê-lo revelar a identidade do traidor, que pertence ao alto escalão do SVR.

Logo Dominika e Nate entram num duelo de inteligência e táticas operacionais, apimentado pela atração irresistível que sentem um pelo outro.

Vivendo em um mundo de completo caos político, nossa atualidade, com certeza, está longe de ser considerada entretenimento. Novas perspectivas, porém, encontram uma maneira de expor essa triste realidade em contextos de espionagem e jornadas pessoais, trazendo reflexão sobre governo juntamente com a emoção de estar inserido em uma história eletrizante. Operação Red Sparrow da editora Arqueiro oferece exatamente isso, com um aspecto político intenso, mas com uma trama boa o suficiente para o escapismo da realidade.

Construindo um mundo tenso inserido na vida de espionagem e conflitos políticos, o livro escrito por Jason Matthews estabelece um nicho específico de leitores já que se apoia bastante em muitos detalhes da política interna e do mundo burocrático que se passa. Este excesso de informações técnicas pode afastar parte do público que não está interessada nessa intensa atenção aos detalhes. Isso sendo dito, Operação Red Sparrow consegue explicar o bastante sobre procedimentos para ajudar o leitor a acompanhar a trama de intenso aspecto político. Durante a leitura a história se mescla aos detalhes, adquirindo um novo ritmo para os que aquentaram chegar até ali. O livro é antes de tudo um thriller político.

Dentro deste contexto, então, Jason Matthews explora alguns temas interessantes, voltando à paranoia do cinema dos anos 70, uma paranoia pós Guerra Fria, onde o grande inimigo é estrangeiro, isso tudo, porém sobre uma nova visão. Atualizando a temática ao capitalismo globalizado, Operação Red Sparrow inova esse conceito, explorando os dois lados dessa paranoia. As interessantes perspectivas sobre política expostas no livro conseguem balancear bem entre opinativo e objetivo, construindo uma história comentada dentro da realidade atual.

“A ironia disso tudo, diziam os professores, era que os Estados Unidos estavam em franca decadência, já não eram mais a potência de outros tempos. Depauperando-se com as guerras prolongadas, sofrendo com os indicadores econômicos, o suposto berço da igualdade vinha chafurdando em conflitos de classe e numa nociva política de ideologias conflitantes.”

Um ponto negativo do livro são os diálogos que, em contraste com a forte narrativa, são relativamente fracos. Nada muito absurdo, mas acompanhando uma visão bem construída entre descritiva e opinativa, as falas dos personagens não fazem jus a complexidade e sofisticação que foi estabelecida desde o começo. A interação entre as pessoas são eficazes, mas são os diálogos em si que pesam um pouco a tonalidade realista que o livro decide tomar.

Relatando objetivamente o passado, Operação Red Sparrow caracteriza bem todos os seus personagens, acompanhando desde a evolução de Dominika, até motivações mais obscuras de personagens coadjuvantes. Explorando um aspecto interessante sobre a habilidade da protagonista de conhecer a intensão das pessoas, o livro apresenta uma característica intrigante esta enxerga intensões como cores. Isso além de ajudar o leitor a entender como Dominika vê o mundo, é também uma técnica muito eficiente para sair das descrições que estamos acostumados, implantando um diferencial dentro da própria história.

“(…) observou o tom alaranjado das parábolas que se formavam em torno dos ombros do oligarca e pensou: interessante, o amarelo da falsidade misturado ao vermelho da paixão. Zhitvotnoe. Animal.”

Existe sim um aspecto sexual no livro, mas tudo é lidado muito bem. As descrições são condizentes com o restante da trama, explorando não somente a vida das pessoas que estão inseridas nesse mundo, mas também um lado pessoal na história de Dominika. Durante os treinamentos e acontecimentos, conseguimos entender que a personagem vai muito mais além de sua beleza e sensualidade, provando desde o começo suas habilidades de persuasão e manipulação.

“Enquanto se tornava cada vez mais forte e flexível, Dominika percebia algo novo brotar em seu corpo, uma consciência da própria feminilidade. Não era exatamente lascívia, uma vez que guardava a própria sexualidade apenas para si.”

Sem entrar em mais detalhes sobre a trama, Operação Red Sparrow é um livro que merece ser experienciado sem spoilers, pois apoia bastante nas reviravoltas para funcionar até o final. A leitura é um pouco pesada devido ao grande número de páginas e narrativa detalhada, porém a fonte do texto ajuda a fluir com bastante conforto. Entre as perspectivas disponibilizadas pelo livro e os próprios elementos da história, esta nova edição disponibilizada pela Arqueiro com certeza vale a pena dar uma conferida!

Por Amanda Barros

[footballinberkshire]

Double Isthmian League awards for Bracknell Town

Double Isthmian League awards for Bracknell Town

A good night on the pitch on Tuesday night was made better by a good night off it as the club won the BetVictor Isthmian League South Central Division One Manager of the Month and Golden Glove award.

The latter came with a caveat owing to Bracknellusing two goalkeepers during January, but the manager of the month award was all Bobby Wilkinson as the Robins won three of four league games,…

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Red Sparrow | Author: Jason Matthews | Publisher: Pocket Books (2018)

[filmjrnl365]

#138 Red Sparrow (2018)

Director: Francis Lawrence

USA

I hate to hear “the book was better.” I always rolled my eyes at that, but in the case of Red Sparrow, it is exactly how I would approach any kind of analysis of this film. Jason Matthews, the author of the trilogy, is a former CIA analyst. So the reading material is crammed with tradecraft minutia; information that the film simply won’t have time to delve into. This holds equally true for character development. The two main characters that the movie (and books) revolve around are not given enough time to reveal a lot of the subtleties that makes them interesting. So, my suggestion is to read the trilogy, then watch the movie – and you can see where the film has done a nice job of furnishing some memorable visuals, and also where it has glossed over some crucial passages.

With this disclaimer, I actually really like this film. It is visually rich in coloration and tone, able to convey the stark Russian landscape, the opulence of its traditional settings, and the weathered, anemic Cold War settings that drive the central conflict in the story. Red Sparrow takes the global intrigue and secrecy of espionage to a very personal space. Yes, there are larger geo-political and ideological techtonics that shape this spy narrative, but they are played out at the level of personal danger and sacrifice. Spies by nature need to be invisible, so obvious as to mingle into the background noise. But Jason Matthews has with exquisite detail filled in the missing cues and procedures relevant to staying alive and undetected.

If there is one criticism of the film (and again this will go back to the books); this movie could have been much bleaker and more sinister than what emerges on screen. Jason Matthews has created some truly evil sociopaths in his trilogy, and the depth of their sadistic ingenuity is barely touched upon in the film. Jennifer Lawrence was well cast for the role of the trilogy’s central heroine, Dominika Egorova. While the ethics of recent movies would probably cringe at promoting a central female character that plies her sexuality as a weapon of the state, this reality is at the core of Dominika’s emotional conflict. She endures the abuse by and for a state system in order to protect her ailing mother. It’s at best a calculated wager, and in some ways, she has no choice at all.

Red Sparrow is an excellent story. This film could stand as a “realistic” counterbalance to the James Bond myth, the illusion of the gentleman spy. Bond is a caricature of the past; a bow tied agent operating at a time when state departments, and the attending foreign diplomatic social scene, provided the genteel camouflage for spying on the other guy while chatting it up in some Baroque ballroom. Present day spies (according to Matthews) done really work that way anymore. More than likely, they look like the rest of us with all our shortcomings and frumpy clothing. But the money and the information changes hands, and everyone thinks their doing the dirty work for all the right reasons.

Spy movies, especially from the Cold War are a particular favorite of mine. It is interesting to see where the film process takes its creative liberties and separates itself from the banal, but dangerous truth of espionage. But in a post 9 /11 world, the spy story is apropos to the world we live in. Identities are stolen and traded, entire nations run massive covert operations to infiltrate and disrupt the very ideologies they have issue with. Whether it’s Stuxnet sabotaging the centrifuges for Iranian nuclear enrichment, or Russia pressing its finger on the scales of the American election process, spying and fucking with your enemy is alive and well in the 21st century. Thing is, in the 21st century, covert operations have become religious and they have become lucrative. There was always a bit of zealotry involved, but it has all come above ground, tradecraft has emerged as part of everyday business in a globally connected world.

Red Sparrow is a love story caught in the middle of all this shadow play. It’s a human story: erotic, hurtful, vengeful, corrupt and cautious. Try not to forget this as the movie takes you through the sordid and dangerous situations that the shapely and beautiful Dominka Egorova has to navigate to survive. And no matter what happens, never forget, that’s what it’s all about: survival.

 https://filmjrnl365.tumblr.com

[ileximcninjauniverse]

Do you ever get to the end of a series and just feel so betrayed?!?! Like I’m sorry I stuck through this whole fucking thing and you betray me like that?!?! I patiently waited for my happy ending and you just go and rip my heart out? Not cool. UGH!!

[thepreciousmoments]

"Palace of Treason" Book Club Book Review

“Palace of Treason” Book Club Book Review

“…it would be their mortal shared secret, the sheathed knife on the table between them.” – Chapter 30, Page 412

Title: Palace of Treason Author: Jason Matthews Published By: Simon & Schuster, 2015 Reviewed By: Jessica B

Genre: Spy Pages: 578 Pages (Mass Market Paperback)

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Palace of Treason is Jason Matthews’ second novel in the Red Sparrow trilogy. He continues strengthening the…

[whovian223]

Twilight Struggle: South Asian Monsoon Coming From GMT in 2024

Twilight Struggle: South Asian Monsoon Coming From @gmtgames in 2024

Lots of GMT Games news this weekend! As I was looking up yesterday’s Time of Crisis post on Twitter, I saw another tweet that GMT RT’d talking about a new Twilight Struggle game coming out in 2024. Probably not the actual cover… Twilight Struggle: South Asian Monsoon is another game designed by Jason Carr and Jason Matthews that will make Twilight Struggle fans catch their breath. Unlike the…

[speeshblog]

Review: Palace of Treason - Jason Matthews

Review: Palace of Treason – Jason Matthews

Series: Red Sparrow 2

My version: Hardback Genre: Fiction Spy, USA, Russia Publisher: Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House) First published: 2015 Bought, signed

From the cover:

Paris A young woman is cornered on a deserted boulevard. Moments later she walks away leaving her assailant for dead. Athens An elderly man walks into the American embassy with a story to tell. Moscow The most unlikely of…

[thegaminggang]

Unboxing Imperial Struggle from GMT Games on The Daily Dope #502 - June 23rd, 2020

Rather than the usual tabletop gaming news, tonight Jeff shares a live unboxing of the highly anticipated Imperial Struggle from GMT Games.

[thekimdelacreme]

Finished reading The Kremlin’s Candidate yesterday.

[soliduncertainty]

What happens to two scorpions in a brandy glass? They can't get traction so they get face-to-face, lock pincers and sting each other over and over. They're immune to their own venom. It's a fucking metaphor for marriage.

Jason Matthews - Palace of Treason

[coverspy]

Red Sparrow, Jason Matthews (M, 40s, brown hair and beard, black quilted jacket, library book, holding closed book and reading a newspaper, R train, 2018)