REBECCA LANGHAM
  • Home
  • Rebecca Langham
    • Bio
    • BOOKS: The Outsider Project
    • BOOKS: Fairy Tales
    • Interviews
    • Contact & Newsletter
  • KARA RIPLEY
    • About Kara
    • Romance Stories
  • BLOGS & REVIEWS
    • ceLEStial book reviews
    • ceLEStial books - Writing & Publishing

REVIEW: Seven-Sided Spy by Hannah Carmack

25/12/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
In the midst of the cold war, the CIA’s finest and most fatal female agent, Diana Riley, vanishes. Kidnapped by the KGB and taken to the backcountry of North Carolina, she and her team of unsavory partners are forced to undergo illegal experimentation.

But, when the experiments leave them horribly deformed and unable to reenter society without someone crying monster, the previously glamorous and high-maintenance spies must escape KGB captivity and avoid recapture at the hands of Nikola, a ruthless KGB agent with an intense and well-justified grudge against her former flame.


Reviewed by Rebecca
​RATING: 3.5 Stars

​Seven-Sided Spy is an action-packed story of hunters and prey. Though the question begs: who is truly the prey? This novel doesn't deal in absolutes or black-and-white good guys and bad guys as is often the case in CIA vs KGB stories (I think...). Everyone's just doing what they can to survive. 

This is not my usual genre, and so I must admit that I may not be the best person to provide a fair review of a historical spy novel, but I'll do my best.

The story engages with several different narratives through both a forward-moving plot and an array of flashbacks. A key cast of about seven characters is not an easy juggling act for any author, but Carmack pulls it off fairly well. 

If you're interested in books that are not particularly male or female dominated, but provide close to equal time to both, then this novel is one for you.  I personally think it's a good thing to see more books out there that aren't confined by the sometimes rigid expectations of "lesfic" or "M/M". 

That said, for me the blurb and the cover image combined set me up with a somewhat unrealistic expectation, as Diana is not explored in any more depth than the other characters in the story. Her F/F relationship also has probably the least amount of time-on-the-page of any of the diverse relationships, both sexual and otherwise.  I don't see that as much of a problem as the blurb gives a really accurate feel for the thriller elements, but readers should realise that the book is not *only* about Diana and her ex-flame, but she is one equal part of a varied cast of characters that are male, female, gay, straight, and - though not explicitly labelled - an array of identities in between. I think this is a strength, and we need more books like this out there, but I also know that some people prefer a more traditional style of romance thriller, and this is not the type of book that you'll find in Seven-Sided Spy.

One of the other real strengths of this book is its action scenes, of which there are plenty. I'm terrible at following such sequences in most books, I usually just kind of bluff my way to the end of a fight scene and hope I can guess who's won from whatever happens after, but I didn't need to do that here. I could imagine the fighting play out in my head quite clearly. 

Be prepared to be a little confused at times because of the large cast of characters, all of whom have two names (a real name and a code name), but stick with it because I had a pretty good grasp of who everyone was by the end. As someone who doesn't have much love for thrillers, and I am one of those few people out there who really doesn't like James Bond, this book did a surprisingly good job of holding my interest. A really solid debut novel from Hannah Carmack. 

***I received an ARC of this novel***

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    ABOUT C.B.

    Book reviews, Author Q&As and more as shared by an Australian lesbian. My core interests lie in genre fiction: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror etc.
    ​
    My aim is to help provide more exposure to those books that  may not fit neatly into the usual "lesfic" boxes (EG: pansexual women who engage with different aspects of their sexuality, non-binary characters, books with very little romance etc.) or books that don't conform to the most popular tropes that tend to dominate the LGBTIQ+ publishing world.

    That said, I'll put up pretty much any review that I'd like to share. Most will have some sort of rainbow content, but not all. I am a reader who likes to talk about books -- that's really what this little corner of the web is for, to talk about books.

    ​Email: celestialbooks [AT] rebeccalangham.com.au

    Twitter: @ceLEStialsff

    Archives

    August 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    January 2017
    July 2016

    Categories

    All
    1. # Submit A Book
    Ace Rep
    Action/Adventure
    Anime & Manga
    Anthologies
    Australian Author
    Author Q&A
    BDSM
    Beneath The Surface
    Bisexual
    Bisexual F/F
    Bisexual M/F
    Bisexual M/M
    Blog Post
    Book Review
    Book Trailer
    Book Updates
    Comic Books/Graphic Novels
    Contemporary Fiction
    Cops
    Crime Fiction
    Dystopian
    Fade To Black
    Fairy Tales
    Fantasy
    F/F/F
    Five Stars
    Gender Neutral
    Give Away
    Guest Blog
    Historical Fiction
    Horror Novels
    Intersex Characters
    Journalists
    Kara Ripley
    Lesbian Sci Fi
    Literary Fiction
    Love Triangle
    M/M/F
    M/M Fiction
    MPREG
    Mystery
    Mythology
    New Release
    NineStar Press
    Non Binary
    No Pairing
    Pansexual
    Paranormal
    Pirates
    Polyamorous
    Post-Apocalyptic
    Release Day Blitz
    Religious Themes
    Reviews By Kaelan
    Reviews By L.A.
    Reviews By Rebecca
    Romance Novels
    Science Fiction
    Self-Published
    Space Opera
    Speculative Fiction
    Spy Stories
    Superheroes
    Third Gender
    Thriller
    Time Travel
    Trans Rep
    Urban Fantasy
    Vampires
    Western
    Wolves
    Writing
    Young Adult
    Zombies

    RSS Feed

    Picture
Contact us
Assisted by Web IT Easy & Blue Mountains Computers