Marvel’s Black Widow: Forever Red is the first book in The Black Widow Novels series by author Margaret Stohl.
Enter the world of the iconic master spy of the Avengers.

Natasha Romanoff is one of the most dangerous assassins in the world. As a child about the art of death and deception, Natasha was given the title Black Widow by Ivan Somodorov, her sadistic teacher at the Red Room, the notorious academy for agents in Moscow.

Ava Orlova is just trying to fit in as a normal Brooklyn teenager, but her life is far from normal. The daughter of a missing Russian quantum physicist, Ava was once the subject of a series of ruthless military experiments – until she was rescued by Black Widow and assigned to S.H.I.E.L.D. protection. Ava has always longed to reconnect with her mysterious savior. Black Widow really isn’t the big sister. Until now.

As children across Eastern Europe begin to go missing, and rumors of smuggled Red Room technology light up a dark web, Natasha suspects her former teacher is back – and Ava Orlova could be the one. Only one can stop him. To defeat the madman threatening their future, Natasha and Ava must unravel their past. They just discovered the truth about the black-eyed boy with the hourglass tattoo that haunts Ava’s dreams….

I’ve seen a lot of people say that this Black Widow book didn’t focus enough on Black Widow. I think it might be easier to just change what you’re expecting going into it.

It is a Black Widow story told primarily from the POV of people around her. Her POV makes up about 1/3 of the novel. If you have ever listened to the Wolverine podcast it is similar to that type of storytelling.

None of this is to say that I didn’t enjoy it. I thought it was a good story, the writing was there, the characters kept my interest. At the end of it all I was still interested and excited to read the sequel.

My main complaint I guess is that I felt like this story should have been a sequel story and not the first book in a series. I think starting with something more Natasha centered would have been a better jumping off point instead of introducing other characters immediately. But I haven’t read the sequel yet so maybe it was a great set up.

• Marvel’s Black Widow: Forever Red

• By: Margaret Stohl

Audiobookss audio player

Hi everyone, please be noticed that the Audio player doesn't play next track on IOS version < 15.6. If you are facing that issue, just upgrade your IOS to version 15.6 to fix it. Enjoy!