CommanderBond.net
  1. Looking Back: 'The World Is Not Enough'

    By Devin Zydel on 2007-11-20

    The CBn ‘Looking Back…’ series now moves onto Raymond Benson’s second of ultimately three James Bond novelizations, The World Is Not Enough. The book was first released in October 1999, just a few months before the theatrical premiere of Pierce Brosnan’s third 007 film of the same name. CBn takes a look back at The World Is Not Enough–included are publication details, the original jacket blurbs and trivia notes about the book…

    Greed, revenge, world domination through the power of oil, high-tech terrorism… Only some of the ingredients of this latest 007 adventure which begins outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and continues with a spectacular high-speed boat chase up the Thames and an avalanche in the Caucasus Mountains before Bond faces a murderous enemy in Baku and a potential nuclear explosion in Turkey.

    Sir Robert King, a wealthy tycoon, is murdered in an unprecedented bombing at the Secret Intelligence Service’s London headquarters. M takes the attack personally and sends James Bond to what was once the USSR to protect King’s heiress his beautiful and fiery daughter Elektra. For the bombing is the work of “Renard”, the cruel and cunning terrorist who once kidnapped Elektra King and held her to ransom.

    With nuclear weapons expert Dr. Christmas Jones at his side, Bond travels to the Caspian Sea–where a former enemy becomes a formidable ally–before the final dramatic confrontation in the claustrophobic confines of a nuclear submarine beneath the surface of the Bosphorus.

    The World Is Not Enough takes James Bond to new levels of danger, intrigue and non-stop action.

    UK First Edition Hodder & Stoughton Hardback

    Trivia

    When comparing the film and novelization for The World Is Not Enough, one can see that Raymond Benson added a few changes of his own. Notable differences include the Cigar Girl getting a name–Giulietta da Vinci as well as a scene between herself and Renard that was cut out the film (but can be seen as one of the special features on the Ultimate Edition DVD).

    Some editions of the UK Coronet paperback had a red sticker on the front offering readers a chance to win a Sony Playstation and the Playstation Tomorrow Never Dies video game.

    Despite the switch from the Walther PPK to the P99 in the 1997 film Tomorrow Never Dies (as well as Benson’s novelization of that film), here Bond is using the PPK.

    There was no US hardback printing of The World Is Not Enough.

    While Tomorrow Never Dies remains the most difficult of all the Raymond Benson James Bond novels and novelizations to obtain in UK 1st hardback printing, copies of the hardback edition of The World Is Not Enough are generally easier and somewhat cheaper to come by.

    Six years after its initial release, a UK large print hardback edition by Ulverscroft/Linford Western Library was issued for The World Is Not Enough. This edition featured a new and unique cover.

    While being promoted to the captain status in later John Gardner James Bond novels, here 007 is a commander once again.

    Around the world in 007 ways.

    After oil tycoon Sir Robert King is killed in a bombing at MI6 headquarters, his daughter, Elektra, inherits his fortune–billions of dollars worth of oil deposits in the Caspian Sea… and James Bond, 007, as a bodyguard. Her new wealth attracts international interest. But she has also attracted the attentions of her father’s killer…

    His name is Renard. A bullet lodged in his brain has rendered him unable to feel physical pain, and he has but one reason left to live–revenge. There’s only one man who can take the heat between a beautiful heiress, a malicious sociopath and his final diabolical plan.

    US Boulevard Paperback

    Release Timeline

    • 1999: 1st British Hodder & Stoughton Hardback Edition
    • 1999: 1st British Coronet Paperback Edition
    • 1999: 1st American Boulevard Paperback Edition
    • 2005: 1st British Ulverscroft/Linford Western Library Large Print Hardback Edition

    Your Own Opinion On The World Is Not Enough

    Want to share your thoughts and opinion on Raymond Benson’s The World Is Not Enough? Feel free to discuss the novelization by visiting this thread and give the novelization your personal rating in this thread on the CommanderBond.net Forums.