Representation: N/A
Trigger warnings: Death and murder, dead bodies, physical assault and injury, blood depiction, military violence and war themes, World War Two, hospitalisation of a person, near-death experience, amputation (arm)
Score: Seven points out of ten.

I wanted to read The Winter Soldier: Cold Front for a while but I didn't get around till now. I saw it a few months back but someone transferred it. Months later, I transferred it back when it was finally time to read it. I glanced at the blurb, making it seem intriguing. I almost gave this one three stars, until it redeemed itself.

It starts with the first two characters I see, V, living in the Soviet Union in 1954 as a super soldier experiment, and Bucky Barnes, refusing to enlist for the US army in WWII in 1941, instead taking part in a special British mission, where he meets a woman who plays chess, and plays chess. The pacing is slow as nothing significant happens in the first 200 pages, but it soon picks up in the last 200. I initially found it tedious to read The Winter Soldier: Cold Front, as it switches between time to time and character to character, establishing a non-linear narrative structure, but at least it's not as disjointed as another fictional composition I've read. I didn't bother trying to connect or relate to the characters as Bucky was naïve and V was cold-hearted. It bored me so much I was about to say it disappointed me, but it didn't, because of one moment that changed everything. Bucky and V were the same person, only with a different identity between the years since Bucky was missing in action and the United States presumed him dead, only for the Soviet Union to retrieve and restore him but as another person, whose identity is now V. The action further increased as V tried to escape the lab, but there was a cliffhanger in the end where scientists wiped his mind so he forgets all the memories he had before he became the experiment. That is where the story earns its fourth star. ( )

First sentence from prologue: When you wake, the only thing you remember is dying.
First sentence from chapter one: The agent flinches when Rostova rips the hood from his head.

Premise/plot: Dual timelines of 1954 and 1941--both star the same man. (Well, "same" may be relative.) In 1941, Bucky Barnes is eager to join the war effort, but he's only sixteen. When he's offered an opportunity by the British SOE, he accepts despite protests from his guardian. His time in Britain will bring him into contact with an unforgettably-forgettable-unforgettable young woman who has burdens of her own. In 1954, the Winter Soldier is an Agent for who-knows-who. He's built--constructed--to do missions, to follow orders precisely and exactly. He's not built to ask questions, to show mercy, to bend the rules. So when someone (or two someones) recognizes him as Bucky, this is one confused Agent. Can he piece together who he is and how he came to be there...before it's too late???

My thoughts: Don't expect Bucky Barnes to be *the* Bucky Barnes from the Marvel Universe FILM franchise. The history you know from the Captain America movies (etc.) is not *this* Bucky Barnes. When I began to realize this, I sought out reviews from GoodReads. I came to the conclusion that this Bucky Barnes is more strongly influenced by the comic book version. (I'm not sure that there is one definitive story line. Perhaps Bucky Barnes is a character that keeps re-inventing in the comic books? I know some do. (Like Batman)). I have not sought out more on the comic strip version(s) of Winter Soldier and/or Bucky Barnes. So I decided just to read it as if it was my very first and only introduction to the character.

Bucky is YOUNG and idealistic, in some ways. I don't know that he has a full grasp on the horrors/terrors of war. (Does any young soldier?) He is thrilled that he may qualify for a super-top-secret program designed for young people around his own age. He can still serve "the good guys" (aka Allies) while being part of a super-secret-exclusive group. In some ways, this might be "even better" since not everyone is qualified and/or chosen. But he finds that "good guys" and "bad guys" are not as black and white as he might have first thought. There are some that would win at any cost--no matter the means, no matter the consequences.

Bucky meets a young woman, Imogen "Gimlet" Fleming. He will fall hard and fast for her. But she's layered, complex. (As he soon will be as the Winter Soldier). There is some romance. This romance gets a little heated. (Nothing above and beyond what you'd find in Marvel movies in general). But it is not a clean read.

The book is ultimately and predictably tragic. Because most readers will know that the Winter Soldier does not have a happily ever after ending....in 1954. ( )