Book Review: Spy x Family: Family Portrait (Spy x Family Family Novels) by Aya Yajima

Spy x Family: Family Portrait (Spy x Family Novels     

Author: Aya Yajima

Publisher: Viz Media

American release date: February 20, 2024

Format/Genre/Length: Paperback/YA Light Novel/Comedy/208 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★

 

The best spy in Westalis is the secret agent whose code name is Twilight, his real name unknown. He is indeed a master of disguise. His new assignment concerns a high-level minister in Ostania, Donovan Desmond, who is believed to be a warmonger. Twilight must find out what Desmond’s plans are before they can come to fruition. But the man is elusive, and rarely goes out among other people. The only sure way to get to him is through the prestigious Eden Academy, which his son attends. But to do so, Twilight needs a wife and child, neither of which he possesses!  And so Twilight has become Loid Forger, and he finds a wife and child – Yor and Anya – both of whom possess skills he is unaware of. The mission is on.

Mission 1:  Anya’s class at Eden Academy is going on an overnight camping trip! While Yor is apprehensive, as Anya hasn’t been anywhere overnight before, Anya realizes this could be very important for her Papa (Anya is a telepath, unknown to both Loid and Yor, and knows about Operation Strix). Anya comes up with her own plan, calling it Operation Camp Friends. But she is also a bit scatterbrained and, by the time they arrive at camp, the plan is forgotten. Everything Anya does seems to irritate Donovan Desmond’s son, Damian. The worst comes when they are assigned to partner for a task and, thanks to Anya, they get lost in the woods!

Mission 2: Yuri Briar is Yor’s younger brother. Yuri adores Yor, who raised him since he was little and sacrificed much for him. He’d do anything for her and is very unhappy with her marriage to Loid Forger, which he doesn’t realize is fake. He also isn’t especially fond of Anya, but he really hates Loid. When Yor asks him to come over, he is overjoyed… until he discovers the reason. But he can’t turn her down, which is how he ends up babysitting Anya.

Mission 3: Franky is in the spy business, an associate of Twilight, who provides him with intel, equipment, and whatever else he might need. But he resents that Loid treats him more like a personal assistant and assumes much, including having Franky walk the family dog, Bond (who can see the future, by the way, unknown to everyone but Anya, who can read his mind).  Franky (who Anya calls Scruffy) finds himself seeing a doctor at the hospital after his last interaction with Twilight. But leaving the hospital, he gets lost and ends up in a courtyard where he hears someone singing. He follows the voice to find a beautiful young woman. Afraid to talk to her at first, he discovers that she is blind, so he grows bolder, and they begin a friendship. Considering the nature of what Franky does, though, can their relationship last?

Mission 4: Loid has to make sure his family looks like a normal family to outsiders, so sometimes they have to do typical family things. Today he is taking them to the park for a picnic. While there, they are approached by a young art student, who wants to paint them. When he tells Loid his name, Loid recognizes it at once. This young man is actually a famous artist! Loid is afraid that any painting of the fake Forger family might end up in a very public place, seen by many people, and someone just might be able to blow their cover. What is he to do?

Short Story: In a quaint restaurant in Ostania, some of the staff discuss their feelings about the customers they serve, and how appearances can be deceiving. One of those regulars just happens to be the Forger family.

This book is a novelization of the Spy x Family manga/anime.  As such, I was skeptical but I bought it anyway because, well, it’s Twilight and he is amazing (I have a little Twilight figurine by my laptop 😊) And yes, there is a lot of exposition, because the author couldn’t assume everyone has read the manga and would know everything. Novelizations don’t tend to be as good as the original by nature of being written by someone other than the author. But as I was reading, I found myself slipping deeper and deeper into the way she portrayed the characters. These are not stories we saw in the manga, so it’s fresh material, and I enjoyed them greatly, especially Mission 2, which is saying a lot because I am not a fan of Yuri Briar. Mostly because he wants to kill Loid lol  If he only realized that Loid is Twilight, well…

At any rate, I ended up really liking this book a lot and I hope they do more of these. I understand there are novelizations of other series, such as Demon Slayer and Blue Exorcist, both of which manga I’ve read. I might have to look for those. I do recommend this if you are a fan of Spy X Family. 

 

Silverview         

Author: John Le Carré

Publisher: Viking

American release date: October 12, 2021

Format/Genre/Length: Hardback/Espionage/224 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

 

Julian has left life in the big city to run his own bookshop in a small English seaside town. After a chance visit from a local resident, Edward Avon, aka Teddy, he learns that Avon was a friend of his father and had worked with him at one time. Edward is a very agreeable fellow and is delighted to share his ideas with the younger man, including plans for a sort of literary paradise to be located in the basement of the shop. And thus the idea for the Republic of Literature is born.

Unsure of just how to take Edward, Julian questions another shopkeeper, Celia, who is very fond of Edward, and gives him a great deal of information. Edward’s wife is very ill, and she and Teddy aren’t on the best of terms. Her late father bequeathed her a great deal of money, as well as the house now known as Silverview. Teddy changed the name after he became fascinated by Nietzsche. The couple have a daughter named Lily.

Stewart Proctor receives a letter from the daughter of one of his agents. The information it contains is very disturbing, and so he begins his own investigation to check into the accusations contained therein. In the meantime, Teddy has graciously installed computers in the future Republic and has begun to search for just the right books they will need to fill its shelves when the time comes.

Proctor uses the cover story of using retired agents as potential training instructors for future hires to questions them on various subjects. In particular, a spy whose code name was Florian, who was active during the Bosnian crisis and who was deeply affected by events that happened then.

The more Julian learns about Edward, the less he knows. He meets his dying wife Deborah, herself once an agent, and their daughter Lily. There is some sort of spark between him and Lily… maybe.  But as events begin to unfold, Julian finds himself in the middle of something he never dreamed he’d ever be a part of.

John Le Carre’s SIlverview is like a tapestry. It starts out with a number of loose threads, but as you keep reading the threads begin to wind themselves about one another until they form a picture. It’s a fascinating story about spies as people, and some of the aftermath of their experiences and how those affect them.  I like Julian and found him an astute and sympathetic observer, but the true star of this book is Edward, aka “Teddy”, aka Florian. A very likeable and complex man whose life of professional deception has carried over into his actual personal life, to the point where it’s hard to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. Is he who he seems to be? Was he ever?

If the ending isn’t quite as clear-cut as one might like, well, that’s life. It’s clear enough to those who are left behind. After all, life doesn’t always wrap up nicely and neatly, much as we wish it might. But we have a clear idea of what lies ahead for the characters we’ve come to care about. Can one ask for anything more?

John Le Carre is truly the master of spy fiction, and I think his final work is a testament to his craft and well worth reading.

Virtual Book Tour: Seven Year Itch by SD Skye

Please welcome today author S.D. Skye who is doing a virtual book tour for her new release, Seven Year Itch, a J.J. McCall novel in the FBI series. S.D. is going to tell us about her book, but first she has answered my infamous Rick Reed questions. Make yourself at home, and we'll get started! Don't forget to read to the end to find out about the giveaway!

 The Questions

1)      You’re marooned on a small island with one person and one item of your choice—who is that person and what item do you have?

My man and a solar-powered MacBook. As long as I can love and write, what else could I possibly need?

2)      Which musical would you say best exemplifies your life – and which character in that musical are you?

Mary Poppins. Firm but fair. Sensible. Sweet as sugar…at least until you cross or me or try to pull the wool over my eyes. Then you should pray for a spoonful of sugar. However, I can’t sing worth diddly…although I did involuntarily attempt a graceless flight with an umbrella in the middle of a monsoon once.

   3)   Take these three words and give me a 100 word or less scenario using them:  customary, ethical, ran.

I ran my fingers through my hair to relieve my frustration.  For while it may be customary to ask “uncaffeinated” writers to strain their brains at the butt-crack of dawn and devise a scenario for three random, unconnected words, I’m quite certain it is not ethical. J

4)      You’ve just been let loose in the world of fiction, with permission to do anyone you want. Who do you fuck first and why?

Mr. Darcy. He seriously needed to loosen up and I think a little hot, sweaty sex would’ve done the trick.

5)      What is your idea of how to spend romantic time with your significant other?

For me, romance isn’t about where we are or what we do, but how we feel. Sitting together in front of a cozy fire, cuddled up on the couch, laughing, joking, and sharing our feelings (as a precursor to the hot, sweaty sex of course) would be ideal for me. It’s very hard these days to find people who you can do nothing with and be happy together in all of that nothingness.

6)      When you start a new story, do you begin with a character, or a plot?

Usually characters come to me first. I hear voices…but in a good, non-psychotic way. Then I faces usually appear in the form of movie stars. After that I just watch, listen, and follow to see where they go, what kind of trouble they get into, and how they manage to get themselves out of it…and transcribe along the way. From this process grows my best story ideas.

7)      If they were to make the story of your life into a movie, who should play you?

I think I should play me. If offered the part, I could hear a choir of stars say, “Uhhh…this chick is crazy with the voices in her head. Thanks, but no thanks!”

8)      Who’s your favorite horror villain and why?

Chucky. It always amused me that people would be scared of a psycho doll. If I were in the movie, it would end about 20 seconds after it began because I’d stomp that sucker to death and call it a day.

   9)    Do you have an historical crush and if so, who is it?

It’s a toss-up between JFK and RFK. As a life-long Redskins fan, I’m leaning toward RFK because I have a strong affinity for the stadium.

10)   Is there a story that you’d like to tell but you think the world isn’t ready to receive it?

Oh yes. I’m writing it as we speak. My new series, beginning with the Seven Year Itch, is probably a little before it’s time. It features an alcoholic female African American FBI Agent with a Black Panther father, who falls in love with her Italian partner from a prominent mafia crime family. They recruit and catch Russian spies. Oh, by the way, her family was cursed by a Creole magic worker so she’s also a lie detector.

I swear, I wasn’t smoking the wacky weed when I came up with this story idea. It is the result of mostly lucid thoughts. And if that doesn’t scare you, you will probably love these books. 

The Seven Year Itch

 (A J.J. McCall Novel – the FBI Series)

by S. D. Skye

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Her Family Was Vexed With a Generational Curse. Now for Lie Detecting FBI Spy Catcher J.J. McCall, the Truth is in The Seven Year Itch.

FBI Special Agent J.J. McCall is a born lie detector who recruits foreign spies to catch American traitors. She and co-case agent Tony Donato have lost two of their most critical Russian sources in the past two years, and they may lose another in just a few short days if they don’t catch him, The ICE PHANTOM, a rumored insider spy more insidious and elusive than Ames and Hanssen combined. They suspect he might be burrowed deep inside FBI counterintelligence—and his body count is going up.

Drawn into an unsanctioned mole hunt, they have a week to catch him, save a key source’s life—and their own. While J.J.’s lie detecting ability helps them narrow down the list of suspects, the lie she tells to herself may help the ICE PHANTOM defect to Moscow and get away with the murder of the man she loves.

Skye's debut FBI Series, filled with mystery, espionage, romance, and suspense, will keep you burning through the pages until J.J. catches the very last spy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT:

J.J searched for serenity in bottom of a Belvedere bottle. The wait for his sugar-coated lies had dragged on for too long, and she’d lost patience. After glancing around the small reception area to ensure no one was watching, she removed from her purse a silver flask and smiled. It was filled to the brim with relief. One small gulp and the soothing burn slipped down her throat, calming her prickly nerves. Inside she felt on the brink of dissolution. The 10 am swallow was just a necessary evil. It would get her through the meeting, until time for her next dose of repose.

Another dead source. She couldn’t stomach the thought of his demise. Two had been more than her fair share. The unceasing cycle of loss had worn her resolve thin. She’d refused to let another family suffer that pain if she could in any way prevent it. J.J. wanted to tell the FBI where to stick her badge and gun, but she had promises to keep. Promises to Viktor. Promises to herself. No matter what Cartwright said, she’d see her case through until the end. And the end was as near as nightfall because the op was simple and would go off without a hitch.

J.J. stiffened her back and squared her shoulders as the elixir took effect. Her posture mirrored that of the powerful yet graceful eagle perched atop her FBI badge. She’d eyed it, waiting for the carefully choreographed denial and deception ritual to begin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Author Bio and any links you want to include (Website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, as well as buy links for your book, etc) in an attached .doc or .rtf file

S.D. Skye is a former FBI Russian Counterintelligence Program Intelligence Analyst and supported several key cases during her 12-year tenure at the Bureau. She has personally witnessed the blowback the Intelligence Community suffered due to the most significant compromises in U.S. history, including the arrests of former CIA Case Officer Aldrich Ames and two of the Bureau's own--FBI Agents Earl Pitts and Robert Hanssen. She has spent 20 years supporting counterintelligence, intelligence, and military missions in the U.S. Intelligence Community.

An award-winning author of romantic comedies in her other life, Skye is a member of the Maryland Writer's Association, Romance Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers. She's addicted to writing and chocolate--not necessarily in that order--and currently lives in the Washington D.C. area with her son. Skye is hard at work on the next installment of the series.

www.facebook.com/authorsdskye

www.twitter.com/sdskye1

www.authorsdskye.com

Buy Links

Ebook

http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Year-McCall-Novel-ebook/dp/B00AM4HVT2/ref=la_B00AMAUFK8_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355625857&sr=1-1

Paperback

http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Year-Itch-McCall-Novel/dp/0983920230/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355625984&sr=1-3&keywords=s.d.+skye

  Now for the giveaway I mentioned earlier:

S.D. will be awarding a Kindle Fire and a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. (US and Canada only). The more you enter, the better your chances. If you want to follow the rest of the tour, go here!

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie

Skyfall Review

Skyfall    

Director/Studio/Author: Sam Mendes/Twentieth Century Fox/John Logan

American release date: November 9, 2012

Format, Genre and length: Theatre/Action Adventure/143 minutes

Publisher/Industry Age Rating: R

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

Someone has broken into the most secret files of MI6 and stolen a very important list which, if released, would compromise a great many agents—a list of agents who have infiltrated and are spying on certain terrorist groups around the world. Bond must get that list, or else. But when he finds himself grappling with the thief on top of a train that is about to enter a tunnel, an order from M to a field agent on the ground below sends Bond plummeting to what appears to be certain death in the waters below.

Synopsis:

Assuming Bond is dead, M has problems of her own, starting with new boss Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), who gives her two months to tie things up and take her well-deserved retirement. Out with the old, in with the new. And the fact that someone has hacked into her private files is most disturbing, someone who keeps asking if she’s ready to atone for her sins. Perhaps someone from her past?

Bond returns (of course he’s not dead, what kind of Bond film would that be?) after learning of a terrorist assault on MI6. One that was not calculated to kill M, but to be a message to her. Their relationship is rocky—he can’t forget the sound of her voice saying, “Take the shot.” Although he does find it in his heart to forgive the lovely agent who made the shot. James’ physical condition is of concern as well, as he learns when he is forced to re-test in order to be let back out into the field, and his shooting skills suck, and his stamina isn’t what it used to be.

When M releases Bond for duty, he is sent to Shanghai, after the man who stole the list. His pursuit leads him to a casino in Macau, and a frightened woman who wants the mastermind of the plot to die—if James can survive to do it. They both end up as hostages of Silva (a blond Javier Bardem), a former agent from M’s days in Hong Kong.

And then, of course, the plot thickens.

Commentary:

I loved every minute of this film. I didn’t even realize it was almost 2 ½ hours long until after I left the theater, riveted on the screen and unmindful of the passage of time. There is no doubt in my mind (if there ever was any, which I don’t think there was) that Daniel Craig is the best Bond and this is the best Bond film ever.

One of the things that makes Craig the best is his performance. He makes James real, not just another pretty face (although he is that too). He gives him depth and fleshes him out in a way that no one else ever has (sorry, Sean Connery, you’re my second favorite Bond, though).

In Skyfall, we’re dealing with issues and themes that are never really touched on in the other films, such as the fact that James is getting older (as is, of course, M). In the other films, it’s like they want to pretend that he’s ageless, when we know better, so it’s refreshing to see it mentioned, and see that James is not invincible—he’s just damn good at what he does. The inevitable changing of the guard comes into play too, which is what generally happens when new management comes in, and even M is not immune to being taken out of the picture.

The new Q is young and computer savvy, and he’s also afraid of flying, a great foil against the older, more mature Bond, who looks at him at their first meeting like, are you kidding me? I hope to see more of this Q in future, and I suspect we will. It was also great to see Albert Finney, as an old acquaintance of Bond’s.

What can I say about Javier Bardem? Most awesome, sexiest villain ever. And for those of you enjoy such things (for example me) there is a scene with the most deliciously homo-erotic content between Silva and Bond. And some of the best lines.

Bond to Silva after an exchange filled with innuendo and double entendres: “What makes you think it’s my first time?”

Priceless, I tell you, priceless!

Plenty of action, hot men, beautiful women, intrigue… you name it, Skyfall’s got it. Including a glimpse into Mr. Bond’s mysterious past, and questions that are answered. The movie starts with the obligatory chase scene that is a hallmark of the series. Twists and turns you won’t see coming, and things I won’t give away.

I loved every minute of this film, and can’t wait to see it again! Daniel Craig is James Bond. I can’t wait for the next installment, and it can’t come too soon for me!