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Marvel Press Novels
The Winter Soldier: Cold Front
1954: The Winter Soldier is the Soviet Union’s greatest weapon. Assigned the most dangerous covert missions from the USSR’s secret military branch, and guided by a handler who knows him better than he knows himself, he has only one purpose: to obey orders.
But he wasn’t always the Winter Soldier . . .
1941: As World War II begins, sixteen-yearold Bucky Barnes is determined to enlist in the US army—if only the local commander will stop getting in his way. When Bucky is offered enrollment in a training program with the British Special Operations Executive—the UK’s secret service—he leaps at the chance to become a hero. But Bucky has hardly touched down in London when he finds himself running from a mysterious assassin and accompanied by an English chess champion fond of red lipstick and double crosses. She’s in possession of a secret every side is desperate to get their hands on. If only they knew what it was . . .
Decades later, the Winter Soldier struggles to solve the same mystery Bucky is just beginning to uncover. As their missions intersect across time, their lives collide too—in a way that neither of them would have expected, and that will change the course of their respective wars.
In The Winter Soldier: Cold Front, on-sale on February 7, 2023, New York Times best-selling author Mackenzi Lee explores the youth of one of Marvel’s most compelling characters, James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes—and the enemy soldier he is forced to become.
But he wasn’t always the Winter Soldier . . .
1941: As World War II begins, sixteen-yearold Bucky Barnes is determined to enlist in the US army—if only the local commander will stop getting in his way. When Bucky is offered enrollment in a training program with the British Special Operations Executive—the UK’s secret service—he leaps at the chance to become a hero. But Bucky has hardly touched down in London when he finds himself running from a mysterious assassin and accompanied by an English chess champion fond of red lipstick and double crosses. She’s in possession of a secret every side is desperate to get their hands on. If only they knew what it was . . .
Decades later, the Winter Soldier struggles to solve the same mystery Bucky is just beginning to uncover. As their missions intersect across time, their lives collide too—in a way that neither of them would have expected, and that will change the course of their respective wars.
In The Winter Soldier: Cold Front, on-sale on February 7, 2023, New York Times best-selling author Mackenzi Lee explores the youth of one of Marvel’s most compelling characters, James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes—and the enemy soldier he is forced to become.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published February 7, 2023
660 people are currently reading
6386 people want to read
About the author
Mackenzi Lee
19 books8,525 followersMackenzi Lee writes books you might have read. And she no longer uses Goodreads or accepts friend requests.
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Want to read
June 9, 2022Did somebody say BUCKY BARNES??
February 16, 2023
*sobs* This is quite possibly the most heart-breaking book I've ever read and I've read a lot of heartbreaking books. Maybe it's because I care so much about Bucky's story- whether it's his character in the comics, in the MCU, or in this book.
I loved this re-imagining/AU of Bucky's story, but let me just say... IT HURTS. IT HURTS SO BAD. I keep sobbing just thinking about it (like, real tears.)
If you're expecting a happy, satisfying ending... don't. Just don't. It hurts. This whole book *hurts*. I just want to wrap poor Bucky in bubble wrap and protect him from all the pain. 😭
I have more thoughts, but right now I'm still processing what I just read. 😭😭😭 So... just go read this book if you're a Bucky fan and then come back to this so that we can sob together.
I loved this re-imagining/AU of Bucky's story, but let me just say... IT HURTS. IT HURTS SO BAD. I keep sobbing just thinking about it (like, real tears.)
If you're expecting a happy, satisfying ending... don't. Just don't. It hurts. This whole book *hurts*. I just want to wrap poor Bucky in bubble wrap and protect him from all the pain. 😭
I have more thoughts, but right now I'm still processing what I just read. 😭😭😭 So... just go read this book if you're a Bucky fan and then come back to this so that we can sob together.
Want to read
June 8, 2022If you know me at all you know that much like Steve Rogers, I too would start a civil war for James Buchanan Barnes...so like I'm very excited about this news. Also, the cover is just something else. I CANNOT wait to get my hands on this book and devour it!!!
July 30, 2025
3.5 ⭐️
If you’ve been begging for a Bucky Barnes solo movie (like me), this will scratch that itch! Don’t expect MCU Bucky, because the story is not alike his in the movies at all. BUT do expect to be wrecked if you love Bucky.
What does it say about me that he’s my comfort MCU character 🙃
If you’ve been begging for a Bucky Barnes solo movie (like me), this will scratch that itch! Don’t expect MCU Bucky, because the story is not alike his in the movies at all. BUT do expect to be wrecked if you love Bucky.
What does it say about me that he’s my comfort MCU character 🙃
April 26, 2023
"Three."
And the standing water in your boots...
Your mother's purple hydrangeas shedding petals across the lawn...
The bleached sheets in the motel in Queens, the first time you woke up screaming and Ginny held you...
Remember who you were.
Remember who you are...
"Two."
Don't let them take it again. Don't let them—
"One."
Oh, the relief I feel that this was good is bittersweet, as my heart seizes with a familiar ache.
Hi, my name is Cassie, and I am your local Bucky Barnes enthusiast. And this review will contain spoilers.
I went into this book extremely apprehensive. I fully expected it to suck. A lot of officially sanctioned Bucky Barnes content sucks lately. I think the fact that they decided to use Comic!Bucky rather than MCU!Bucky really helped matters here. Especially since Comic!Bucky is arguably the more tragic figure.
This book is split between two timelines: 1941 and 1954. The 1941 timeline follows a 17 year old James Buchanan Barnes, desperate to be a soldier and have a purpose. The 1954 timeline follows the Winter Soldier, codenamed V or Vronsky, as he is put on a mission that begins to unravel the tentative sense of self he has—or at least the one he has been assigned.
What follows is a mystery that spans over a decade, unraveling before the reader's eyes as we try to connect the past to the present, or the future to the present. Whichever way you wish to interpret the timeline of events.
It's actually a fairly ingenious way to plot out the book. Really the only key piece of information we as the reader have is that the Winter Soldier is Bucky, so it leaves the rest of the events completely up in the air and for us to try to connect the dots along with our main character. It actually lends an even more tragic edge to an already tragic character: we know how this ends up. We know Bucky becomes the Winter Soldier. We know the Winter Soldier is doomed to live as such for at least another 50 years. All of this struggling and fighting is for naught.
And yet you can't look away, and you hope it might end differently. Just this once. Maybe Bucky Barnes can finally regain the life that had been stolen from him.
Not to post spoilers, but it doesn't end differently. And Bucky is locked in the life of a flickering shadow.
What really helps in my enjoying this as much as I did is that it doubled as a historical fiction novel. The Bucky we meet is from 1941, before the Unites States enters World War II, but with the war in full swing in Europe. The catalyst to '41 Bucky's plot is that he crosses paths with a member of the SOE (Special Operations Executive, a very real spy organization in England during WWII), who recruits him. And then we have '54 Winter Soldier, who is dealing with the direct aftermath of the war and the rise of the USSR. It was basically the perfect storm for me. I love Bucky Barnes. I love WWII historical fiction. Meshing the two was all I ever wanted.
And because it was partly historical fiction, that means that the echoes of The Great War are also present throughout the novel.
Which actually brings me to the next thing I adored.
The thread throughout the book is the idea of memories and their hold on a person and how they make a person who they are. Your memories from your childhood make you the adult you are. You look back fondly on the times you spent with your siblings. Or you remember the one time your distant parent decided to show an interest in your hobbies. "Shell shock" or "combat fatigue" follows a soldier beyond the battlefield, the memory of the trauma inflicted by the horrors they've seen and the violence they partook in nigh inescapable. And for some, it is truly inescapable.
I use those long out of date terms for PTSD on purpose, as it wound up being a key piece of the plot in the book. Bucky meets a girl on his first SOE assignment who turns out to be the daughter of a neuroscientist that had worked on Project Rebirth—aka the project that made Captain America. His purpose was to create a way to block out unpleasant memories, as those working on Project Rebirth felt that the process of undergoing the super-soldier enhancements would be so traumatic, that the subject would be unable to function.
However, this girl's dad (her name is Imogen "Ginny" Flemming) had started his work in order to find a way to help the surviving soldiers of the Great War, and any wars that followed, overcome their shell shock:
“I thought you said [your dad] survived the war.”
“He came home.” She picked up her knight, twirling it absently between her fingers as she studied the board. “That’s not really the same, though, is it? He might have been the greatest chess player in the world, but the first tournament he enrolled in after France, he just sat there, staring at the board.”
“What was the matter with him?”
She shrugged. “Nothing. Not bodily, anyway. But in his mind, the war didn’t end.” She set the knight on her board, then looked up at Bucky. “The first year he was home, my father went to five funerals for men in his company. By the time I was born, more men he served with had died back in England than had in France. His best friend shot himself through the head at a Veteran’s Parade in Birmingham. My father was there—I was there. It’s the only thing I remember clearly from childhood.”
“Geez,” Bucky murmured.
She glared at the board, though the rattle of her cuffs against the table betrayed her shaking hands. “My father gave up chess. He went to university to study chemistry. He started working on a way to implant memories in the brain—and, the flip side of that coin, how to remove them. He hoped it could be used to treat shell shock.”
An altruistic notion, motivated by grief and trauma and the need to save others from such profound suffering. But once Captain America was created and Project Rebirth a success, no one was interested in funding such work. At least the way Ginny's dad had wanted it to be applied. The idea of being able to remove and implant memories was attractive to any government, and could be useful in making dedicated, driven soldiers.
So Ginny's dad fled. And with a head full of Classified secrets that neither the Nazis, nor anyone else, could get their hands on.
And so the SOE had him killed.
But in a terrible twist, Ginny's father had implanted the entirety of his work and studies and all of the nasty, unethical things that were done along the way into his daughter's head, all without her knowledge. In order to dredge up those "files," for lack of a better word, one had to read key words out of a chess book he had given his daughter. Upon the reading of these words, Ginny would be triggered to rattle off subject names, the success rate, the casualties, and everything else related to his work.
A terrible thing to learn your already distant father did, hm? Especially under the guise of showing an interest in your hobby.
And to rub some salt in that wound, before he died, Ginny's father left her with a mysterious pill. She never knew what it was, only that she was instructed to take it "when it was over" and that she'd know what that meant once the time came.
And it turned out that her father had basically sold her to Hydra, and that he would use her to rattle off all the information they had paid for, and that she would take that little pill in order to forget the ultimate betrayal he had inflicted upon her.
And the kicker? In the end, the Winter Soldier inadvertently is put on a mission that ends in the retrieval of this pill, and this pill is reverse engineered to ensure that Russia's unstable, but efficient, "perfect soldier" never relapses again. That his memories, what makes Bucky Bucky, can never again resurface.
Uuaaagghhhh. I'm feeling things all over again.
It was a fairly well-laid theme throughout the book. I cannot tell if having the idea of "memories," both good and bad, being a prevailing theme throughout was on purpose, but man did it strike a chord in me. Especially the idea that The Winter Soldier's creation had its origins in wanting to ease the pain of soldiers who had suffered so greatly even after finally coming home. I absolutely adore a terrible, dramatic irony.
And even if none of that convinces you, the ending chunk was worth the price of admission. Basically it amounts to all of the pieces falling into place for Bucky, and a last ditch attempt at regaining his freedom.
Ugh. I weep.
Anyway, the one thing I have to complain about isn't even about the book itself. There are a disturbing amount of reviews for this book that amount to "They changed too much!!! Why isn't Bucky in his mid-twenties anymore??" and "Where is Steve!!! There isn't enough Steve!!!!! :((" and "How could they change so much?? I didn't know this was an AU!! Why is he from Indiana and not from Brooklyn??? Why isn't he friends with Steve?? And why is he 17!!"
I was absolutely flabbergasted. Not to be a raging bitch, but oh my God, MCU stans. How are you not aware of Bucky's comic origins? How can you look me in the eye, see that he is 17, and that he was born in Indiana, and is currently living on a base in Arlington, Virgina, and tell me that it did not click in your head that this is Comic!Bucky's story.
This is not an AU, you uneducated plebs. This is the original. There would be no dashing 25 year old, best friends with Steve since childhood Bucky without this Bucky. Comic!Bucky ran so MCU!Bucky could walk.
And yes, I phrased it that way on purpose.
And even casting aside the fact that this is a Comic!Bucky story, which is vastly different from MCU!Bucky, why are you complaining about the lack of Steve Rogers? This is a Bucky Barnes book. I don't see Steve's name anywhere on the cover. Let the man have his own story. For the love of God.
And none of this would annoy me so much if THOSE REASONS weren't why they gave the book anywhere from one to three stars. Like oh my GOD a quick google search would have brought up that this was simply the story of a different Bucky (THE ORIGINAL BUCKY!!!!). Why are you rating a book one star because you can't read?
Anyway, I love this book. And after having written this review, I realized I loved it more than I thought I did.
February 20, 2023
I was in denial literally the whole time I was reading this, like maybe this time he’ll make it out maybe this time this time this time- NO
September 20, 2023
I know this probably isn't the purpose of these books, but I was hoping the story would somehow be more related to the MCU. Anyway, I still enjoyed learning a bit more about Bucky aka The Winter Soldier and would recommend this to any Marvel fan.
February 23, 2023
I really wanted to enjoy this. My favorite Marvel character in book form? Yes, please. But it's entirely different! If they had mentioned it as an alternate universe Bucky or sm it would've been fine, but instead there are people I don't even know or care about. Little to no interactions with Steve. It was just okay, but they diminished my favorite character to the point where he was barely recognizable. They made him a bumbling idiot instead of the charming himbo we all know and love. Again, would've been okay with it if it had been introduced that way.
Want to read
October 15, 2022If Bucky doesn’t act exactly the way I have imagined in my head (aka every fic I’ve ever read) I don’t want it😶
Want to read
June 14, 2022"Bucky... finds himself running from a mysterious assassin and accompanied by an English chess champion fond of red lipstick and double crosses. She’s in possession of a secret every side is desperate to get their hands ."
PEGGY ?? PLEASE BE PEGGY ! 🤯🤩😭
PEGGY ?? PLEASE BE PEGGY ! 🤯🤩😭
December 22, 2024
i did NOT care about 1941
April 17, 2023
In 1941, a teenage Bucky Barnes gets recruited for a spy program and shipped off to London, but his first assignment brings him face to face with a girl named Ginny and a dead body, and soon he's in over his head. In 1954, V is the Winter Soldier, an assassin who knows little about his own identity. Then V meets Ginny, and he begins to remember...
I was hesitant to read this but couldn't resist a book about Winter Soldier, especially since I enjoy this author. I should have listened to that hesitation.
Now, I've seen all the Marvel movies and TV series, and I've also read many Captain America comics and the Winter Soldier comics. I'm aware that in the comics Bucky's origin story was as a teen sidekick to Captain America. But what I didn't get was why this story didn't focus on Bucky and Steve's relationship AT ALL and made it all about this Ginny person - is she an original character or from older comics I haven't read? - or why there also was no interaction with Black Widow - I half-expected V's handler Rostova to be Black Widow but I was wrong. The flashbacks to 1941 did very little for me, especially when Ginny . The things I love about Winter Soldier (his friendship with Cap, his being a mysterious badass) were all gone. He speaks the infamous line, "Who the hell is Bucky?" to Ginny, and it just felt so wrong. Captain America doesn't even make an appearance until the last few chapters and by then it was too little, too late for me.
I was hesitant to read this but couldn't resist a book about Winter Soldier, especially since I enjoy this author. I should have listened to that hesitation.
Now, I've seen all the Marvel movies and TV series, and I've also read many Captain America comics and the Winter Soldier comics. I'm aware that in the comics Bucky's origin story was as a teen sidekick to Captain America. But what I didn't get was why this story didn't focus on Bucky and Steve's relationship AT ALL and made it all about this Ginny person - is she an original character or from older comics I haven't read? - or why there also was no interaction with Black Widow - I half-expected V's handler Rostova to be Black Widow but I was wrong. The flashbacks to 1941 did very little for me, especially when Ginny . The things I love about Winter Soldier (his friendship with Cap, his being a mysterious badass) were all gone. He speaks the infamous line, "Who the hell is Bucky?" to Ginny, and it just felt so wrong. Captain America doesn't even make an appearance until the last few chapters and by then it was too little, too late for me.
January 19, 2023
"Do you know what a desperado is? In chess? A desperado is a piece you know you can't save, so you do as much damage with it as possible before it dies. That's what I told you I was, in one of our letters. You told me I had a very grand opinion of myself. Which I did. You weren't wrong. But every gambit requires a sacrifice."
--Imogen "Gimlet" Fleming
"All that means is you've realized the world can't be neatly divided into good guys and bad guys. That's the first step. Now you can quit worrying about doing what's right and start focusing on doing what's needed."
--Steve "Captain America" Rogers
TL;DR: An action-packed, fast-paced doozy of a spy-thriller-chess gambit, which rounds out Mackenzi Lee's "anti-hero" series for Marvel. And if she wants to, Marvel, please let her write more.
Lee scaffolds two timelines following Bucky Barnes -- 1941 at the start of his military/superhero career and 1954 as the Winter Soldier used as the "perfect weapon" used by the Russian government. The two narratives work to establish Bucky as Steve's foil, but also his equal -- and give some insight into his character which (I believe) is fully developed in the comics, but glossed over in the MCU.
Worth noting: unlike Lee's other two Marvel novels, this one is not MCU canon. That is, Lee's Bucky is an amalgamation of the MCU/Comics versions of Bucky, so keep that in mind before reading. Lee's Bucky is not, for example, childhood friends with Steve/Cap, and I found this summary of his character to be really helpful.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC from Netgalley & Disney Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
Vibes: MCU meets The Queen's Gambit, with a dash of Tolstoy and James Bond
Genre: MCU / Marvel companion novelization
**I'd say the darkest of the three Lee has written for Marvel -- which tracks, as Bucky's history is pretty dark.
Romance Meter: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 ♡
Doomed Lovers Trope. Much of Bucky's relationship is implied -- we see him meet Gimlet and fall for her, but aside from one fairly chaste kiss, most of their relationship is lost to memory inhibition compounds and Bucky (and the reader) only get glimpses and flashes of it.
Plus some Steve/Bucky subtext is there, if you want it to be.
Character MVP: Gimlet/Ginny/Imogen. I *love* Bucky, and was 100% on board for this, whatever direction Mackenzi Lee took it, but Gimlet is just a fantastic character. Complex and atypical and smart and funny and tragic.
In my head, she looks like Natalie Dormer -- probably because she has a bit role in Captain America, but the blond pin curls and red lipstick made me think of her character -- but she is definitely related to Felicity from Lee's Montague Siblings series. And I stan a complex female character.
Verdict: 5 stars, hands down.
Disclaimer: Mackenzi Lee is an autobuy author for me. I love her work, and I think she is an amazing writer. Seriously, with descriptions like these:
"The sparse bulbs are shaded in amber, turning the light warm-toned and syrupy, like the bar sits in the belly of a whiskey bottle."
"...Bucky could see it perfectly in his head, the knife across the woman's throat, the blood unfurling down her front like unbolted silk."
But she's not just a descriptive writer.
Her plot action packed and well-paced -- she seamlessly moved between the two timelines and the pacing never faltered -- and she unraveled the "mystery" perfectly. (I say "mystery" because if you have any comics/MCU knowledge, you know V's history; the "mystery" is him uncovering it. Although the reader isn't quite sure how Gimlet fits in, so it works on that level as well.)
And her characters -- oh Mackenzi Lee, your characters. They're always so fleshed out and unique, with different voices and personality quirks -- I felt for all of them, despite - or maybe because of - the sense of impending tragedy. Every time Bucky got his hope up and fought valiantly to be free...broke my heart.
The biggest complaints I've seen are (1) that the two timelines don't sync up / mesh well together (which, NO) and (2) that the character here "isn't Bucky." And, if your only experience with Bucky is Sebastian Stan's *excellent* portrayal of him in the MCU, I get that.
But, this isn't the MCU's Bucky -- from what I understand, this is somewhere between the MCU and the comics. Here, like in the comics, Bucky is from Indiana; his parents die and he moves to Virginia to Camp Lehigh, and he's recruited by the SOE. He does work alongside Steve Rogers, but he's captured not by Hydra, but by the Russians who still turn him into the Winter Soldier. (Although it's more of a bionic/memory thing than a super soldier serum thing.) And it's not quite the comics since, as I understand it, in Russia Bucky meets Natasha/Black Widow, which doesn't happen in Lee's story (although it seems she lobbied for it; womp womp).
If anything, I thought taking a step back from the MCU's version of Bucky allowed Lee to play with/explore why Cap and Bucky are good together. In the MCU, they're childhood friends, and there's a big brother dynamic to Bucky's relationship with Steve in that he's always looking out for him, since he knows pre-super-soldier-serum-Steve.
But here, we get to see Bucky-outside-of-Steve, in the time before he becomes the Winter Soldier. And I thought Mackenzi Lee did a really good job of showing us that Bucky, just like Steve, has an acute sense of right vs. wrong. Steve/Cap might be a super-stickler for the rules (at least pre-Civil-War in the MCU), and Bucky might show a certain disregard for them, but they're rooted in the same overarching morality. Which makes Bucky -- knowing what we know of the Winter Soldier -- a good foil for Steve -- like a yin-and-yang thing.
And his relationship with Gimlet is sort of a parallel-yet-twisted version of Steve & Peggy's relationship: American soldier falls for a sharp-tongued & empowered British woman. Both Peggy and Gimlet are affiliated with the military/spy-work, but much like the men they fall for, Gimlet is more of an antiheroine with a disregard for the rules just as Peggy is a little bit of a stickler for them.
One of the reasons Mackenzi Lee is an autobuy author for me is because there's more to her stories than just the plot and characters: there are thoughtful, intentional layers beneath the surface-level plot action that just gives her work such depth -- which I definitely appreciate. (And which is (one of) my main issues with the Disney books by Serena Valentino: there's very little, if any, depth or substance beneath the (messy) surface-level plot.) More Marvel books from Mackenzi Lee, Disney!
--Imogen "Gimlet" Fleming
"All that means is you've realized the world can't be neatly divided into good guys and bad guys. That's the first step. Now you can quit worrying about doing what's right and start focusing on doing what's needed."
--Steve "Captain America" Rogers
TL;DR: An action-packed, fast-paced doozy of a spy-thriller-chess gambit, which rounds out Mackenzi Lee's "anti-hero" series for Marvel. And if she wants to, Marvel, please let her write more.
Lee scaffolds two timelines following Bucky Barnes -- 1941 at the start of his military/superhero career and 1954 as the Winter Soldier used as the "perfect weapon" used by the Russian government. The two narratives work to establish Bucky as Steve's foil, but also his equal -- and give some insight into his character which (I believe) is fully developed in the comics, but glossed over in the MCU.
Worth noting: unlike Lee's other two Marvel novels, this one is not MCU canon. That is, Lee's Bucky is an amalgamation of the MCU/Comics versions of Bucky, so keep that in mind before reading. Lee's Bucky is not, for example, childhood friends with Steve/Cap, and I found this summary of his character to be really helpful.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC from Netgalley & Disney Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
Vibes: MCU meets The Queen's Gambit, with a dash of Tolstoy and James Bond
Genre: MCU / Marvel companion novelization
**I'd say the darkest of the three Lee has written for Marvel -- which tracks, as Bucky's history is pretty dark.
Romance Meter: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 ♡
Doomed Lovers Trope. Much of Bucky's relationship is implied -- we see him meet Gimlet and fall for her, but aside from one fairly chaste kiss, most of their relationship is lost to memory inhibition compounds and Bucky (and the reader) only get glimpses and flashes of it.
Plus some Steve/Bucky subtext is there, if you want it to be.
Character MVP: Gimlet/Ginny/Imogen. I *love* Bucky, and was 100% on board for this, whatever direction Mackenzi Lee took it, but Gimlet is just a fantastic character. Complex and atypical and smart and funny and tragic.
In my head, she looks like Natalie Dormer -- probably because she has a bit role in Captain America, but the blond pin curls and red lipstick made me think of her character -- but she is definitely related to Felicity from Lee's Montague Siblings series. And I stan a complex female character.
Verdict: 5 stars, hands down.
Disclaimer: Mackenzi Lee is an autobuy author for me. I love her work, and I think she is an amazing writer. Seriously, with descriptions like these:
"The sparse bulbs are shaded in amber, turning the light warm-toned and syrupy, like the bar sits in the belly of a whiskey bottle."
"...Bucky could see it perfectly in his head, the knife across the woman's throat, the blood unfurling down her front like unbolted silk."
But she's not just a descriptive writer.
Her plot action packed and well-paced -- she seamlessly moved between the two timelines and the pacing never faltered -- and she unraveled the "mystery" perfectly. (I say "mystery" because if you have any comics/MCU knowledge, you know V's history; the "mystery" is him uncovering it. Although the reader isn't quite sure how Gimlet fits in, so it works on that level as well.)
And her characters -- oh Mackenzi Lee, your characters. They're always so fleshed out and unique, with different voices and personality quirks -- I felt for all of them, despite - or maybe because of - the sense of impending tragedy. Every time Bucky got his hope up and fought valiantly to be free...broke my heart.
The biggest complaints I've seen are (1) that the two timelines don't sync up / mesh well together (which, NO) and (2) that the character here "isn't Bucky." And, if your only experience with Bucky is Sebastian Stan's *excellent* portrayal of him in the MCU, I get that.
But, this isn't the MCU's Bucky -- from what I understand, this is somewhere between the MCU and the comics. Here, like in the comics, Bucky is from Indiana; his parents die and he moves to Virginia to Camp Lehigh, and he's recruited by the SOE. He does work alongside Steve Rogers, but he's captured not by Hydra, but by the Russians who still turn him into the Winter Soldier. (Although it's more of a bionic/memory thing than a super soldier serum thing.) And it's not quite the comics since, as I understand it, in Russia Bucky meets Natasha/Black Widow, which doesn't happen in Lee's story (although it seems she lobbied for it; womp womp).
If anything, I thought taking a step back from the MCU's version of Bucky allowed Lee to play with/explore why Cap and Bucky are good together. In the MCU, they're childhood friends, and there's a big brother dynamic to Bucky's relationship with Steve in that he's always looking out for him, since he knows pre-super-soldier-serum-Steve.
But here, we get to see Bucky-outside-of-Steve, in the time before he becomes the Winter Soldier. And I thought Mackenzi Lee did a really good job of showing us that Bucky, just like Steve, has an acute sense of right vs. wrong. Steve/Cap might be a super-stickler for the rules (at least pre-Civil-War in the MCU), and Bucky might show a certain disregard for them, but they're rooted in the same overarching morality. Which makes Bucky -- knowing what we know of the Winter Soldier -- a good foil for Steve -- like a yin-and-yang thing.
And his relationship with Gimlet is sort of a parallel-yet-twisted version of Steve & Peggy's relationship: American soldier falls for a sharp-tongued & empowered British woman. Both Peggy and Gimlet are affiliated with the military/spy-work, but much like the men they fall for, Gimlet is more of an antiheroine with a disregard for the rules just as Peggy is a little bit of a stickler for them.
One of the reasons Mackenzi Lee is an autobuy author for me is because there's more to her stories than just the plot and characters: there are thoughtful, intentional layers beneath the surface-level plot action that just gives her work such depth -- which I definitely appreciate. (And which is (one of) my main issues with the Disney books by Serena Valentino: there's very little, if any, depth or substance beneath the (messy) surface-level plot.) More Marvel books from Mackenzi Lee, Disney!
April 8, 2023
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Winter Soldier: Cold Front by Mackenzi Lee was a book that I was really looking forward to since I'm a fan of the MCU's Bucky (I'm not all that familiar with the comics version of the character). This novel is a retelling/ alternate universe version of the character which changes up a lot of stuff (or is an amalgamation of the MCU and comics iterations of the character). As it turns out, it changes a little bit too much for me. Elements I appreciated about the character from the movies has either been completely changed or minimized particularly in the 1941 scenes. I wish his interactions with Steve weren't cut back so much. One thing that bothered me more than I expected it to was making Bucky younger and putting him at 17 in 1941 rather than as in his early to mid 20s. All that said, I did like how the 1954 Winter Soldier sequences were handled. The brainwashing, remembering, and forgetting worked well in the novel. The action scenes were also handled well and show the brutality of everything he's facing. I also liked getting to know the character Imogen - she's kind of the MVP in the story. Overall, though, I was just glad to get to see more of one of my favorite characters and I hope Mackenzi Lee will continue writing more of these books because it is fun to see more of these characters whether it goes a different route with them or not.
The Winter Soldier: Cold Front by Mackenzi Lee was a book that I was really looking forward to since I'm a fan of the MCU's Bucky (I'm not all that familiar with the comics version of the character). This novel is a retelling/ alternate universe version of the character which changes up a lot of stuff (or is an amalgamation of the MCU and comics iterations of the character). As it turns out, it changes a little bit too much for me. Elements I appreciated about the character from the movies has either been completely changed or minimized particularly in the 1941 scenes. I wish his interactions with Steve weren't cut back so much. One thing that bothered me more than I expected it to was making Bucky younger and putting him at 17 in 1941 rather than as in his early to mid 20s. All that said, I did like how the 1954 Winter Soldier sequences were handled. The brainwashing, remembering, and forgetting worked well in the novel. The action scenes were also handled well and show the brutality of everything he's facing. I also liked getting to know the character Imogen - she's kind of the MVP in the story. Overall, though, I was just glad to get to see more of one of my favorite characters and I hope Mackenzi Lee will continue writing more of these books because it is fun to see more of these characters whether it goes a different route with them or not.
February 20, 2023
“He’s begged for death. He’s held the knife to his own wrist. But this time- maybe for the first time- he wants more than the death he has evaded again and again. He wants to pick the locks. He wants to see the sky.”
I’ve been absolutely GUTTED by this book. Mackenzi Lee’s novel follows a spy mystery over two timelines, one in 1941 with a young Bucky Barnes just starting out in his military career before meeting Captain America, and the other in 1954 as the Winter Soldier, whose mission echoes with the ghosts of a girl he met in 1941 London.
As many people have noted, this is closer to the comics than the MCU, where Steve and Bucky were childhood best friends growing up in Brooklyn together before WWII. I thought I’d miss that story in this book, but it actually felt so refreshing to read a Bucky Barnes story where he stands on his own two feet wholly separate to Cap. In his eponymous film, ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, he has a total of 39 seconds of dialogue; to get such a rich insight into his interiority was exhilarating, not to mention about time, considering he’s a fan favourite character who gets so little screentime. (Lee still has some beautiful gestures towards Steve and Bucky though; of Bucky calling him Stevie, remembering how they’d huddled in the same coat together in the Dolomites, flying over the Northern Lights, driving to Washington to see the flowers in full bloom, and how Steve tasted like spearmint gum. These soft echoes are heart wrenching in that softness as we know that even these fractured memories will inevitably be ripped away.)
Again, and again. ‘Winter Soldier: Cold Front’ is pretty relentless in it’s confrontation with Bucky’s existence in captivity, being tortured over and over every time he remembers that he’s a person. The decision to set the second timeline in 1954, around six decades before Bucky is finally free, was cruelly heartbreaking because we know there’s no happy ending to be found here (Mackenzi Lee I’m begging for a sequel seriously).
“How many lives has he lived? How many times has he died and been brought back to life? How many days has he spent here, locked underground and frozen over, his memories wrung from him and his brain reassembled in the aftermath? How many hot lights has he writhed in pain beneath, and how many cold ice baths has he surfaced from, gasping at the first breath after years- years- of his life have been taken from him?”
The story is action-packed and violent but still manages to feel geared towards young adult audiences. Lee paints the brutality with a careful hand which avoids being too graphic or explicit but still packs a punch. I was less invested in this as a spy thriller action novel and found it was at its best when digging in deeper with character, which I think could’ve been balanced better, but the plot’s still engaging. Her characterisation of Bucky is so perfect in all of his sarcasm, selflessness, and awe-inspiring resilience and strength in the face of unimaginable trauma.
“”Don’t fight it.”
But that’s the only thing they’ve ever taught him how to do.”
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this book since picking it up, and I just know it’s gonna haunt me for a while.
I’ve been absolutely GUTTED by this book. Mackenzi Lee’s novel follows a spy mystery over two timelines, one in 1941 with a young Bucky Barnes just starting out in his military career before meeting Captain America, and the other in 1954 as the Winter Soldier, whose mission echoes with the ghosts of a girl he met in 1941 London.
As many people have noted, this is closer to the comics than the MCU, where Steve and Bucky were childhood best friends growing up in Brooklyn together before WWII. I thought I’d miss that story in this book, but it actually felt so refreshing to read a Bucky Barnes story where he stands on his own two feet wholly separate to Cap. In his eponymous film, ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, he has a total of 39 seconds of dialogue; to get such a rich insight into his interiority was exhilarating, not to mention about time, considering he’s a fan favourite character who gets so little screentime. (Lee still has some beautiful gestures towards Steve and Bucky though; of Bucky calling him Stevie, remembering how they’d huddled in the same coat together in the Dolomites, flying over the Northern Lights, driving to Washington to see the flowers in full bloom, and how Steve tasted like spearmint gum. These soft echoes are heart wrenching in that softness as we know that even these fractured memories will inevitably be ripped away.)
Again, and again. ‘Winter Soldier: Cold Front’ is pretty relentless in it’s confrontation with Bucky’s existence in captivity, being tortured over and over every time he remembers that he’s a person. The decision to set the second timeline in 1954, around six decades before Bucky is finally free, was cruelly heartbreaking because we know there’s no happy ending to be found here (Mackenzi Lee I’m begging for a sequel seriously).
“How many lives has he lived? How many times has he died and been brought back to life? How many days has he spent here, locked underground and frozen over, his memories wrung from him and his brain reassembled in the aftermath? How many hot lights has he writhed in pain beneath, and how many cold ice baths has he surfaced from, gasping at the first breath after years- years- of his life have been taken from him?”
The story is action-packed and violent but still manages to feel geared towards young adult audiences. Lee paints the brutality with a careful hand which avoids being too graphic or explicit but still packs a punch. I was less invested in this as a spy thriller action novel and found it was at its best when digging in deeper with character, which I think could’ve been balanced better, but the plot’s still engaging. Her characterisation of Bucky is so perfect in all of his sarcasm, selflessness, and awe-inspiring resilience and strength in the face of unimaginable trauma.
“”Don’t fight it.”
But that’s the only thing they’ve ever taught him how to do.”
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this book since picking it up, and I just know it’s gonna haunt me for a while.
Read
June 6, 2022One word: HYPED
August 21, 2023
Although it is not MCU Bucky, this book still left me shattered
February 20, 2023
I don’t know what exactly I wanted from this … but I wanted more.
it was an interesting read. it doesn’t follow MCU lore, instead has a new take with new characters on the transformation of Bucky Barnes to the Winter Soldier.
Bucky is my favorite Marvel character. I feel as though I could’ve really liked Imogen too, maybe even Rostova with more time. but I didn’t fall in love with any of the characters in this story.
I left unsatisfied at the end of this. there was too much of a story trying to be told, too many loose ends and fragmented stories. all of the pieces felt unfinished, and there’s no neatly tied bow at the end.
it was an interesting read. it doesn’t follow MCU lore, instead has a new take with new characters on the transformation of Bucky Barnes to the Winter Soldier.
Bucky is my favorite Marvel character. I feel as though I could’ve really liked Imogen too, maybe even Rostova with more time. but I didn’t fall in love with any of the characters in this story.
I left unsatisfied at the end of this. there was too much of a story trying to be told, too many loose ends and fragmented stories. all of the pieces felt unfinished, and there’s no neatly tied bow at the end.
August 7, 2023
4/5
Bardzo mi się podobała, o ile w ogóle mogę tak powiedzieć. Historia Bucky'ego naprawdę jest potworna i uważam, że nie zasłużył nawet w najmniejszym stopniu na to, co go spotkało. Wiele razy podczas czytania łamało mi się serce i mu cholernie współczułam. Cieszę się, że mogłam ją przeczytać, bo mam wrażenie, że dzięki temu rozumiem jego postać jeszcze lepiej.
Bardzo mi się podobała, o ile w ogóle mogę tak powiedzieć. Historia Bucky'ego naprawdę jest potworna i uważam, że nie zasłużył nawet w najmniejszym stopniu na to, co go spotkało. Wiele razy podczas czytania łamało mi się serce i mu cholernie współczułam. Cieszę się, że mogłam ją przeczytać, bo mam wrażenie, że dzięki temu rozumiem jego postać jeszcze lepiej.
May 16, 2023
I honestly didn’t like this very much
*hides*
*hides*
March 10, 2023
Exceeded my expectations and now I need a sequel!!!
April 20, 2025
2.5. Tbf it’s kinda my fault that I don’t know any Bucky Barnes lore outside of the MCU, but because this was such a different origin story than I’m used to it just kinda felt like I was reading a spy novel (with a Bucky shaped MC) which isn’t really my vibe.
January 23, 2025
"Do you know what a desperado is? In chess? A desperado is a piece you know you can't save, so you do as much damage with it as possible before it dies. That's what I told you I was, in one of our letters. You told me I had a very grand opinion of myself. Which I did. You weren't wrong. But every gambit requires a sacrifice."
This was disgustingly sad. Gut-wrenching. Heartbreaking. It's honestly brutal and sad to read. I though Bucky's story couldn't get more sad, and then this book happened.
This book had dual timelines- 1941 and 1954. In 1941, Bucky, a young 16-year-old, is really determined to join the war, but his step-father doesn't allow him to. When he is presented with the opportunity to train to become an agent, he's thrilled. This is where he meets Ginny, who he slowly develops a romantic relationship with. In 1954, the winter soldier is deployed on missions. He's trained to comply, obey and not ask questions. This becomes more difficult when, on a mission, he meets a man who recognizes him as Bucky. He realizes that he doesn't know who he is. He starts asking more questions, going off track on missions, etc. It becomes like an itch he can't scratch.
The plot is heartbreaking and it's not an easy read. The writing is exceptional, the characters are well developed. Even though this doesn't follow the MCU timeline, I think it does a good job exploring Bucky's story, his years of brainwashing and his trauma.
"I don't know who I am, he thinks. I have lived lives I do not remember."
"He has forgotten his own name, but he remembers hers."
"Who the hell is Bucky" he repeats. "You are. Or you were. There's less and less of you every time we meet."
I wish we had gotten a little bit more of Steve, it would have been nice to delve into his friendship with Bucky. But I do understand that this was Bucky's story and not Steve's, so maybe not adding him that much to the story was a deliberate choice from the author in order to not take the spotlight away from Bucky.
This was disgustingly sad. Gut-wrenching. Heartbreaking. It's honestly brutal and sad to read. I though Bucky's story couldn't get more sad, and then this book happened.
This book had dual timelines- 1941 and 1954. In 1941, Bucky, a young 16-year-old, is really determined to join the war, but his step-father doesn't allow him to. When he is presented with the opportunity to train to become an agent, he's thrilled. This is where he meets Ginny, who he slowly develops a romantic relationship with. In 1954, the winter soldier is deployed on missions. He's trained to comply, obey and not ask questions. This becomes more difficult when, on a mission, he meets a man who recognizes him as Bucky. He realizes that he doesn't know who he is. He starts asking more questions, going off track on missions, etc. It becomes like an itch he can't scratch.
The plot is heartbreaking and it's not an easy read. The writing is exceptional, the characters are well developed. Even though this doesn't follow the MCU timeline, I think it does a good job exploring Bucky's story, his years of brainwashing and his trauma.
"I don't know who I am, he thinks. I have lived lives I do not remember."
"He has forgotten his own name, but he remembers hers."
"Who the hell is Bucky" he repeats. "You are. Or you were. There's less and less of you every time we meet."
I wish we had gotten a little bit more of Steve, it would have been nice to delve into his friendship with Bucky. But I do understand that this was Bucky's story and not Steve's, so maybe not adding him that much to the story was a deliberate choice from the author in order to not take the spotlight away from Bucky.
August 18, 2023
I've said before that a book made me cry. Not like this.
Normally when I say that, it was because a page or passage made me shed a few tears; but it took me 15 minutes to read the last two chapters of this book because I couldn't stop sobbing. Even as I write this, I'm tearing up again.
The Winter Soldier: Cold Front broke me. As a huge Marvel fan, and as someone who's comfort character is Bucky, I couldn't have been more excited to read this book! I loved how detailed and illustrative every description was, and the 'alternate universe' take on Bucky's story was a pleasant departure from the MCU storyline. Lee writes in his voice so comfortably, and his character felt so layered and real. One thing I appreciate about the choices made in his story and character is that he's flawed; he's cocky, and stubborn, and bitter. He has a naive view of the world and the war, and his growth throughout the story is subtly woven into the background. The switching between "V" in 1954 and Bucky in 1941 ties the story together so, so well; especially when parallels begin appearing between them. Sometimes with switching POVs like this, I feel like the author is handing out clues and story points, but not in this book! You had to look for the clues, and I flipped back and forth between chapters many times to try and track things down.
Overall, this book is a fast-paced, emotional read that will leave you empty and breathless, even if you're not Bucky's biggest fan. As for my fellow Bucky stans: well... get ready to have your heart torn into shreds. Get tissues and a youtube ambience ready for the aftermath.
Normally when I say that, it was because a page or passage made me shed a few tears; but it took me 15 minutes to read the last two chapters of this book because I couldn't stop sobbing. Even as I write this, I'm tearing up again.
The Winter Soldier: Cold Front broke me. As a huge Marvel fan, and as someone who's comfort character is Bucky, I couldn't have been more excited to read this book! I loved how detailed and illustrative every description was, and the 'alternate universe' take on Bucky's story was a pleasant departure from the MCU storyline. Lee writes in his voice so comfortably, and his character felt so layered and real. One thing I appreciate about the choices made in his story and character is that he's flawed; he's cocky, and stubborn, and bitter. He has a naive view of the world and the war, and his growth throughout the story is subtly woven into the background. The switching between "V" in 1954 and Bucky in 1941 ties the story together so, so well; especially when parallels begin appearing between them. Sometimes with switching POVs like this, I feel like the author is handing out clues and story points, but not in this book! You had to look for the clues, and I flipped back and forth between chapters many times to try and track things down.
Overall, this book is a fast-paced, emotional read that will leave you empty and breathless, even if you're not Bucky's biggest fan. As for my fellow Bucky stans: well... get ready to have your heart torn into shreds. Get tissues and a youtube ambience ready for the aftermath.
Want to read
April 5, 2023if this was by anyone other than mackenzi lee i wouldn't look twice but i read loki: where mischief lies and this is a real 'lord i've seen what you've done for others' feeling
April 2, 2023
Yo soy una persona muy básica a veces: dame personajes traumatizados con moral grisácea, e inmediatamente me convertiré en fan. De Bucky lo soy desde hace años, me da igual si en formato película o cómic, así que sabía que este libro me iba a gustar y sabía que soy el público potencial, pero lo que no sabía era que me iba a gustar TANTO.
Winter Soldier: Cold Front mezcla dos líneas temporales del pasado de Bucky Barnes, una como él mismo y otra como Soldado de Invierno. Personalmente, la del soldado me ha gustado más, pero reconozco que Bucky de adolescente es maravilloso de leer, así que también me ha gustado mucho. Los secundarios me parece que están todos muy bien, especialmente Rostova y Ginny, pero es que hasta los que aparecen menos, como Crawford o Karpov, también están definidos a la perfección.
La acción no deja de suceder, y la lectura se hace muy rápida y muy interesante. Además, Mackenzi Lee escribe muy bien, en mi opinión; la primera página de este libro me impresionó mucho con su prosa, y me enganchó mucho pese a que llevo una racha de leer más bien poco. El único pero que puedo sacarle al libro es que este Bucky no es el de los cómics ni como el de las películas, pero mantiene la esencia del personaje tan bien que para mí no es un pero, sino que es una interpretación que me ha gustado un montón.
En definitiva, va directo a favoritos, y sin duda, de lo mejor que he leído en bastante tiempo.
Winter Soldier: Cold Front mezcla dos líneas temporales del pasado de Bucky Barnes, una como él mismo y otra como Soldado de Invierno. Personalmente, la del soldado me ha gustado más, pero reconozco que Bucky de adolescente es maravilloso de leer, así que también me ha gustado mucho. Los secundarios me parece que están todos muy bien, especialmente Rostova y Ginny, pero es que hasta los que aparecen menos, como Crawford o Karpov, también están definidos a la perfección.
La acción no deja de suceder, y la lectura se hace muy rápida y muy interesante. Además, Mackenzi Lee escribe muy bien, en mi opinión; la primera página de este libro me impresionó mucho con su prosa, y me enganchó mucho pese a que llevo una racha de leer más bien poco. El único pero que puedo sacarle al libro es que este Bucky no es el de los cómics ni como el de las películas, pero mantiene la esencia del personaje tan bien que para mí no es un pero, sino que es una interpretación que me ha gustado un montón.
En definitiva, va directo a favoritos, y sin duda, de lo mejor que he leído en bastante tiempo.
February 15, 2025
Well now I'm sad. Which I mean I expected that. This book says on the back that it takes place in both the 1940s (before Bucky joins the military) and in the 1950s (after he's already become the Winter soldier). It should be noted that this book is based on the comic version of Bucky, not the MCU. Captain America ain't really in it and I kinda appreciate that because he didn't overshadow Bucky's story.
Anyways, knowing that this takes place in these times, I kinda knew this was not going to have a happy ending since we all know that Bucky doesn't stop becoming the Winter Soldier until the 2010s during the events of some Avengers shenanigans. Still, this book broke me and was fairly depressing.
That being said, damn. Mackenzie Lee, you did not have to go so hard on this YA marvel book. It was dark and captivating. The foreshadowing was fantastic. The parallels between past and future were top notch. I genuinely could not put this book down and devoured it within 24 hours.
I mean it also helps that I'm a Marvel nerd so I may be bias.
I've always found the Winter Soldier story to be pretty sad and interesting so I picked up this book to read about stories of Bucky's life as a sleeper agent. I was not disappointed, but, I was very gut wrenched.
Anyways, knowing that this takes place in these times, I kinda knew this was not going to have a happy ending since we all know that Bucky doesn't stop becoming the Winter Soldier until the 2010s during the events of some Avengers shenanigans. Still, this book broke me and was fairly depressing.
That being said, damn. Mackenzie Lee, you did not have to go so hard on this YA marvel book. It was dark and captivating. The foreshadowing was fantastic. The parallels between past and future were top notch. I genuinely could not put this book down and devoured it within 24 hours.
I mean it also helps that I'm a Marvel nerd so I may be bias.
I've always found the Winter Soldier story to be pretty sad and interesting so I picked up this book to read about stories of Bucky's life as a sleeper agent. I was not disappointed, but, I was very gut wrenched.
July 5, 2025
every time they said “ginny with a hint of lime” i started tweaking out as if i was the one that was in love with her. this book was genuinely SO GOOD, i wish it was 500 more pages longer
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Currently reading
January 18, 2025maaaan this book was so hard to find
January 30, 2023
I really enjoyed this! Bucky isn't necessarily one of my personal top tier Marvel characters but I love Mackenzi's writing so I checked this one out from NetGalley. It's a fun (and traumatizing) WWII and Cold War spy novel. I suspect it's going to make some people mad that Steve Rogers isn't really in this (which I assume is probably due to Marvel's character permissions or whatever) but I liked it for what it was and I enjoyed the new character Imogen. Lots of fun lil historical and literary (and musical theater) references embedded. I'd suggest this to a reader of historical fiction/spy thrillers even if they weren't a big Marvel fan.
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