Aug 2025 Book Recommendation: The Winter Soldier: Cold Front by Mackenzi Lee

Intro

Ever since he was first introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Winter Soldier has always been one of my favorite Marvel characters. He’s a great character, complete with a tragic backstory, a serious personality, and, of course, a cool metal arm.

But you don’t have to be an existing fan to enjoy this book. The story is totally independent of the MCU and the comics, and everything you need to know about Bucky—that’s Winter Soldier’s real name, for those of you who might not know—is included in the book. This is a great book for anyone who’s looking for a good YA action/adventure story.

So, let’s get into details, shall we?

The Winter Soldier: Cold Front by Mackenzi Lee Overview

Genre(s): Young adult, superhero

Series: Book 3 of 3 of Marvel Rebels & Renegades

POV/Tense: Third-person present, third-person past

Length: 416 pages

The Winter Soldier—or Agent V, as he’s typically called by his handler—has a single purpose: being the USSR’s greatest weapon. He has no memory of ever being anything else—and he has no need to remember. Weapons don’t need memories.

It’s a reality V’s willing to accept—until he finds that he recognizes his latest target. And that his latest target recognizes him as well. Although the man is killed before V can get much information out of him, his curiosity—and suspicions—are awakened, making him wonder for the first time about what he used to be, before he was the Winter Soldier.

Although his handler tries to dismiss his suspicions—both with words and with drugs that tamper with V’s memory—the thoughts continue to plague him as he goes about his duties, until he stumbles upon the name of James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, an operative of the British Special Operations Executive who supposedly died in action, leaving his last mission incomplete. V realizes that the secrets Bucky was trying to uncover might well give him the answers about his past that he’s been looking for, and takes it upon himself to finish Bucky’s mission.

But doing so means going against orders, and more and more danger follows V the closer he gets to finding the answers he seeks—answers that his handler and the USSR don’t want him to find. With the odds stacked so high against him, will he manage to uncover the secrets of who he once was, or will he be doomed to continue his existence as a cold-hearted killer?

Personal Thoughts

This book was so good. It’s fast-paced and loaded with action and intrigue, and there were absolutely no slow or dull moments that I can remember. It’s really more of a spy/thriller book than a superhero book, which, if you know even the bare minimum of Winter Soldier stuff, is what you’d expect.

The book actually follows two different storylines—V’s storyline and Bucky’s storyline—that ultimately come together in the end, especially once V finds out that he and Bucky are the same person. (And the book expects the reader to know that from the get go, so that is not a spoiler.) V’s story takes place in 1954, and Bucky’s is thirteen years earlier, in 1941, before he was the Winter Soldier. I always love dual storylines in books—especially when one of those storylines is a flashback (I’ve always had a thing for flashbacks)—and I feel like this one pulled it off really well, making them both feel necessary to the overall plot and tying them both together nicely.

For those of you who are more familiar with the movies and/or comics, there really aren’t very many other super notable characters besides Bucky in this book. Captain America, of course, is mentioned and makes a couple brief appearances, but the Bucky storyline takes place before he and Cap became partners, and the V one takes place while Steve is still a Capsicle. (If you know, you know.) So, not much in the way of crossovers, but there were lots of other things for existing fans to enjoy, such the closer look at Bucky’s time as an agent of the USSR—which, as far as I know, you don’t really get much of in anything else—and being able to get into his head. As an existing fan myself, I was certainly not disappointed.

Outro

That’s all for today’s recommendation. I hope I’ve gotten you interested in this book. Or, if you’ve already read it, feel free to look into the similar titles—more Marvel books—that I’ve listed below. Thanks for reading, and be sure to check back next month for the next reading recommendation.