CommanderBond.net

This thread is intended for reviews and ratings of For Special Services by members of the The Blades Library Book Club here. Be sure to add your review if you do vote in the poll!

The Blades Library Book Club will be reading For Special Services from: 15 October 2006 - 15 December 2006.

For Special Services is the high point of Gardener for me, which is sad since it's his second book. The man resorts to fan service by bringing back SPECTRE, Felix Leiter, and using the child of an existing villain. The irony is that it works beautifully.

Who gives a craps table if you're feeding off Fleming's body if it works? I don't mind the 40+ James Bond because he's a Captain in the Navy at this point and Gardener's bond is meant to be one whose managed to get through all of the previous Bond novels at this point.

For Special Services was a continuation of the Roger Moore Bond for me. Oddly enough, I always tended to see Roger (with dark hair and a perpetually ****ed off look) in Fleming but that was unrelated to the Gardener Bond. License Reknewed established this was an older Bond and one with everything up to the Man with the Golden Gun behind him. So the issue of Cedar Leiter wasn't a terribly large problem for me that time though frankly her character had other issues for me. Blofeld's daughter worked fine age wise since Blofeld was always a decade or two older than Bond anyway in my interpretation of the man.

FSS is my favorite Gardener Bond book honestly and the only one I really rank up there with Benson. Part of it has to do with the crowd pleasing choice of bringing back SPECTRE. It's a return of an old friend and its arising from the ashes Phoenix style is something that works remarkably well. Honestly, I think the elimination of the threat of Blofeld II was handled far too easily though. It might have helped Gardener's books tremendously to keep Spectre as a multi-book villain. Plus, oddly, the group never gets to do anything particularly villainous in the story. I do admit that I applaud Nina Blofeld's use of a snake to eat a underling. That's a very well visualized scene.

The problem with Cedar Leiter is, oddly, she's acting her age. The girl pretty much embodies 19 year old vapidity in the world. The idea she's a CIA agent and college student pretty much breaks my suspension of disbelief. That Bond would be interested in her is also a trifle ridiculous to me. I'm reminded very strongly of Bibi Dahl whom I actually didn't mind in FYEO because the whole point of her character was that Bond was attracted to more worldly women than just an attractive body. Ceidar is somewhat better than Bibi in terms of maturity but not enough that I think Bond would really be interested. While I love the idea of giving Felix a family, I find it questionable that he more or less pimps out his own daughter to fulfill Bond's sexual appetites. Is he working to stud her? What? Wouldn't his sister have been a more appropriate choice?

I am surprised at how easily I bought that Bond would sleep with Blofeld's daughter despite her deformity though. My attention to Thunderball betrayed me when I read the book though. Did Gardener recall that Blofeld had syphilis? It's established in Thunderball and his opening description. Bond should get himself tested.

7/10

This post has been edited by Willowhugger: 10 December 2006 - 19:58

Keep the reviews coming everyone!

This is one of my favorites from Gardener, as well. Bismaquer had an oafish likeability about him, Luxor was the '80s version of MR's Krebs, and the Blofeld twist was a nice touch. The gassing scene on the train was very frightening and suspenseful (at least when I read it 6 or 7 years ago), although the whole plot of hypnotic ice cream is just stupid. I enjoyed the race between Bond and Luxor, but I still can't understand why Bond would ever choose a SAAB as his personal car after driving Bentleys and Aston Martins. Oh yeah...that's right - he wouldn't. That was just a bad and very odd choice, although RoH sees Bond driving a Bentley Mulsanne Turbo.

Did anybody else have a really difficult time getting into this novel? I've had it for months now, and I just can't force myself to pick it back up again

I think the updated time thing is kind of throwing me off (the 80's were an ugly ugly time..) I dunno, I was just curious if I'm the only one struggling with this title

I am not a fan of the 80s myself and that had me worried going into the novel. I was able to finish this one quickly for a few reasons I think. I can imagine why a person wouldn't be able to finish this particular one and there reasons why for both are sort of the same. The first being that there was a severe lack of setting. 80% of the book takes place on the ranch. Another reason was the familiar faces like SPECTRE, Blofeld, Leiter; they made it seem like an old Bond story (to a point) and it read quicker.
I really didn't like the Blofeld's daughter angle but it ended almost as soon as he found out so there wasn't even that much time to think about it. There's more I could probably muster up about the book but I've just started reading Icebreaker and my mind is elsewhere now.

"For Special Services" ranks as my second favorite Gardner Bond novel. I read it back in 1982 when it was released and it still resonates. However, even back then, I felt it odd or creepy that Felix would present Bond with "the gift of a daughter". That has never sat well with me. But the plot moved along smoothly and bringing back SPECTRE was a nice touch.

VM

Can anyone tell me how the killer ants and toxic ice cream are used in the story?