Casino Royale Popular Penguin paperback now available

The brand new published Popular Penguin paperback edition of Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale is now available.

As first reported on CommanderBond.net this past April, Fleming’s debut James Bond novel joins 49 other titles in the second wave of the bargain-priced series released in Australia.

Fleming joins numerous other celebrated authors, including Ernest Hemingway, Roald Dahl, Anthony Burgess, Raymond Chandler, F Scott Fitzgerald and Truman Capote.

This edition of Casino Royale retails for $9.95. For further details, visit Penguin Books Australia.

Keep watching the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for the most up-to-date literary James Bond coverage on the web.

Literary 007 Reviewed: Ian Fleming's 'Octopussy And The Living Daylights'

With 2008 marking the centenary of Ian Fleming, the newest CommanderBond.net review series, Literary 007 Reviewed, now continues with the author’s fourteenth James Bond adventure, 1966’s Octopussy and The Living Daylights.

As several CBn Forum members are already aware, every two months a James Bond adventure is chosen for members of the Blades Library Book Club to read. Proceeding in chronological order, the club first read Fleming’s Octopussy and The Living Daylights back in April 2006.

What follows are selected reviews from the Book Club Forum members. For further details on the club or to post your own review of Octopussy and The Living Daylights, simply click here.

Literary 007 Reviewed:
Octopussy and The Living Daylights

Octopussy and The Living Daylights reviewed by… Sbott

Octopussy is a great short story from Fleming in which Bond plays a minor role. The plot has been covered by the previous reviewers so I won’t go over old ground. What I enjoyed is Fleming’s story telling, his ability to describe the detail/technicalities of a scene in such a manner that it creates an atmosphere instead of sounding like a manual for fixing your car. For example, the description of the scorpion fish is higly detailed and could have been very mundane. However, the use of military language (camouflage, supreme weapon, heavily toothed etc.) helps to create a sinister atomsphere which helps to set the story up.

Fleming also uses the story to tell the readers more about Bond, we learn a little about his releationship with Oberhauser, the man Major Smythe killed, who was a father figure to Bond and taught him to ski when he was in his teens. This sets up a problem for Bond, he has tracked down the killer of Oberhauser, his mentor and he turns out to be an ex Royal Marine with an distinguished track record, until the murder and the stolen gold are discovered. Bond must have had mixed feelings about Smythe, but still gives him time to clear up his own affairs – the implication of which is the honourable way out. It reminds me of Trevelyan line in the film GoldenEye “Somehow I knew that 007’s loyalty was always to the mission, never to his friend”. Bond’s feeling towards Smythe are never explored in the story although Bonds demeanor gives us clues (for example “Bond said unemotionally”) and this is a shame.

Captivating short stories are hard to write and this one is a gem.

Octopussy and The Living Daylights reviewed by… Byron

I really liked Octopussy, even slightly more than The Living Daylights. The Property of a Lady was decent and 007 in New York was fun.

Overall I give this collection 3.5 stars.

Out of the two short story collections I prefer For Your Eyes Only as it has 3 stories I really dig (Quantum of Solace, For Your Eyes Only and The Hildebrand Rarity), whereas this collection has one (Octopussy).

Octopussy and The Living Daylights reviewed by… MHazard

For some reason Octopussy has always left me a little cold. It’s not just that Bond seems incidental to the story, but for me, the story told isn’t particularly captivating. I don’t mind Fleming making Bond incidental to the story, which he does in Quantum of Solace a story I far prefer to Octopussy.

In contrast, Bond is central to The Living Daylights which explores his distaste for killing (something you would never get out of any of the movies) and shows a somewhat burnt out Bond fed up with the moral ambiguity of his profession and dealing with a colleague who has absolutely no clue what emotional price Bond pays by doing his job. All of which comes to a head when he’s required to kill a beautiful girl. How he reacts to having all of these buttons pushed in him is fascinating.

But hey, it’s not like I hate Octopussy as a story, I just don’t view it as one of Ian’s highlights.

Octopussy and The Living Daylights reviewed by… manfromjapan

A good little collection, but not as substantial or memorable as For Your Eyes Only. Octopussy and The Property of a Lady were entertaining if nothing special, 007 in New York was fun but a mere trifle, and The Living Daylights was simply fantastic. i enjoyed that particular story more than some of the novels (especially the tedious The Spy Who Loved Me). It made me hope that somewhere in the vaults is a finished full-length novel of the same title of which the story was merely the first few chapters!

I give the collection a 3 out of 5.

PS. It is fun reading all the novels in order and spotting where the film-makers have paid homage or lifted directly eg. the Fanshawe character in Property becoming Fanning in the Octopussy film.

Octopussy and The Living Daylights reviewed by… Dr. Carl Mortner

Octopussy was the first Fleming I ever read. Although very little of it has to do with Bond, I think it gave me a bit of a primer for Fleming’s style and prepared me for the culture shock of going from the films to the books.

The Living Daylights is a great short story. Actually, I think Fleming was a far better short story writer than a novelist – this and most of the stories from For Your Eyes Only are much more action-packed and captivating than many of the full-length novels.

Octopussy and The Living Daylights reviewed by… Red Grant

Like size, length isn’t everything (apparently!)

Despite their brevity, these two short stories are excellent. The Living Daylights is for me an almost perfect James Bond story. You learn more about his character, attitude to work, women and life in these few tense pages. The film of The Living Daylights managed to capture the spirit of the short story and remains very faithful in a filmic sort of way. Whilst The Living Daylights is not the best way to be introduced to the literary 007, it shouldn’t be dismissed entirely.

Keep your eyes on the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for all the latest literary James Bond news.

Literary 007 Reviewed: Ian Fleming's 'The Man With The Golden Gun'

With 2008 marking the centenary of Ian Fleming, the newest CommanderBond.net review series, Literary 007 Reviewed, now continues with the author’s thirteenth James Bond adventure, 1965’s The Man with the Golden Gun.

As several CBn Forum members are already aware, every two months a James Bond adventure is chosen for members of the Blades Library Book Club to read. Proceeding in chronological order, the club first read Fleming’s The Man with the Golden Gun back in February 2006.

What follows are selected reviews from the Book Club Forum members. For further details on the club or to post your own review of The Man with the Golden Gun, simply click here.

Literary 007 Reviewed:
The Man with the Golden Gun

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… Bon-san

Difficult for me to rate this one. After much reflection I gave it three stars, but I would really put it at 3 and 1/2. To give it four seems unfair to some of the four star novels, but then again… Oh, I don’t know. Let’s just say it’s unrated from my point of view.

I have read The Man with the Golden Gun more times than any other Fleming story. Mostly, this has been an accident of circumstance. One time, I was home sick for days at my mother-in-law’s house and it was the only suitable thing I could find to read.

Another time, I picked it up because I wanted to re-read a few bits of that killer opening stanza, and I ended up reading it all the way through. I have also read it each time that I have gone through the full circuit of novels (Casino Royale to Octopussy).

And what’s interesting to me is that I find it imminently readable. There’s something about it I must like, despite my having had the usual feelings that it is unpolished, incomplete, underwritten, shallow, small-time, etc.

Now that I’ve just re-read Jim’s excellent articles (see here and here), I am quite happy to see that my enjoyment certainly arose out of the “new Bond” and sexual/political undertones. (Thanks Jim!)

In any event, it is a story that feels markedly different than the previous Fleming novels. But at the same time, there’s a good amount of that old Fleming magic in there. The opening passages represent one of my favorite bits of Fleming extant. And the rest of it, I don’t know, it’s captivating despite it’s feeling a bit different. New Bond, indeed–such an excellent way to describe it.

All in all, I am a fan of The Man with the Golden Gun. I think I may prefer it to Goldfinger.

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… Alvin Stardust

There’s a good story hiding in here, and some good set peices – that opening for one, and the gunfight on the train and in the swamp. But it’s a first draft and its obvious – the unfleshed out plot, even Mary Goodnight’s inexplicable hair colour change. I still can’t decide if Scaramanga is a good or weak villian.

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… manfromjapan

Just finished reading all the Bond books in order. I was hoping I would see The Man with the Golden Gun as an under-rated classic or something, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. The opening and closing chapters are great, especially the former. But the rest of the book was bland and boring. No real Bond girl. Scaramanga is just a thug. We get to go to Jamaica for the third time. It is a quick read, but nothing really happens and Fleming seems to be repeating himself. If I had read this one first, I don’t think I would have wanted to read the rest! I know Ian was seriously ill whilst writing this, but I don’t really know if he had enough of a base to write a Bond adventure on. I mean, this wouldn’t have even made an interesting short story!

Stil, l think Spy is worse though.

My order of preference – From Russia with Love / On Her Majesty’s Secret Service / Casino Royale / Doctor No / You Only Live Twice / Live and Let Die / Goldfinger / Thunderball / Diamonds are Forever / Moonraker / The Man with the Golden Gun / The Spy Who Loved Me

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… marmaduke

Rereading all of the Fleming originals twenty years later gave me the opportunity to re-evaluate The Man with the Golden Gun. I have to say that I was really impressed with The Man with the Golden Gun. This was a ‘stripped bare’ Fleming Bond novel (for reasons we are all well aware of). I took it this time at face value, i.e. not in comparison with Fleming’s earlier ‘large scale’ Bond adventures. Fleming’s class was still in evidence in creating what subsequent Bond writers struggled to achieve in my humble opinion. In a word ‘atmosphere’. The Man with the Golden Gun – a great novel!

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… Harmsway

As a Bond novel, The Man with the Golden Gun is just “okay”. It’s certainly an enjoyable read and moves along fairly quickly, but it just doesn’t all come together that well. The riveting opening is a lot of fun, but even that isn’t handled as well as it should have been (it just feels rushed to me).

My biggest gripe with the novel is that it just puts Bond back to business as usual, and it really cheapens the incredibly powerful events of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and You Only Live Twice. If I had my way, You Only Live Twice would have ended Fleming’s Bond, as he walked off into the sunset and possibly to his death at Russian hands.

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… Genrewriter

The last Ian Fleming novel is something of an oddity. It presents an excellent story with maybe the best beginning of any of the novels and provides an interesting opponent for Bond in the form of Scaramanga. The story stays fairly consistently interesting and exciting with a very good climax and closing scene. One can only wonder how good it could have been had it been put through some rewrites from Fleming. Sadly it was unfinished at the time of Fleming’s death so we’ll never know. Still, a very good read.

The Man with the Golden Gun reviewed by… MkB

In The Man with the Golden Gun, we can see developing something strange in Bond’s world: nostalgia.

The first hints took place at the beginning of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, when Bond, on holidays, is daydreaming about his childhood on the beach in Royale-les-Eaux. Then, in You Only Live Twice, we can see him, depressed an drinking too much, more self-conscious of his failure and weakness, both physically and mentally:

‘The state of your health, the state of the weather, the wonders of nature – these are things that rarely occupy the average man’s mind until he reaches the middle thirties. It is only on the threshold of middle-age that you don’t take them all for granted, just part of an unremarkable background to more urgent, more interesting things.’

‘Until this year, James Bond had been more or less oblivious to all of them. Apart from occasional hangovers, and the mending of physical damage that was merely, for him, the extension of a child falling down and cutting its knee, he had taken good health for granted. The weather? Just a question of whether or not he had to carry a raincoat or put the hood up on his Bentley Convertible. As for birds, bees and flowers, the wonders of nature, it only mattered whether or not they bit or stung, whether they smelled good or bad.’

Starting from You Only Live Twice, Bond is ageing. He has to deal with past, with memories, with deliquescence. This is odd, because according to the filmography, Bond is a mythical hero, always in the present, always a “young man in his mid-thirties” (or rather mid-forties, in the movies).

Of course as pointed in the excellent article by Jacques Stewart, in The Man with the Golden Gun we see a New Bond in a New World, but nostalgia hasn’t been washed away. There’s an incredibly sad line (to me) in this novel, when Bond is at Kingston’s airport:

‘What were a couple of hours of heat and boredom in this island compared with memories of Beau Desert and Honeychile Wilder and his survival against the mad Dr. No? James Bond smiled to himself as the dusty pictures clicked across his brain. How long ago it all was! What had happened to her? She never wrote. The last he had heard, she had had two children by the Philadelphia doctor she had married.’

Thinking about this bright Honeychile Rider as a “dusty picture” is sad enough, but my heart sank when I thought about her as an American doctor’s wife. Can you imagine it? From a golden and shiny embodiement of Mother Nature, wilderness and freedom under the Sun and Ocean, to a middle-upper-class housewife in the north of Noth America?

And this “She never wrote”: as if Bond regretted it, as if he missed an old friend.
Oddly enough, Bond had a story before the beginning of the novels. He had had his lot of war experience, and a career in intelligence before Casino Royale. But as far as I can remember, there are no allusions to his war memories, lost friends etc. in the novels. Nostalgia seems to appear with the last three ones, just like if, before ageing, Bond had just been like a boy playing a game called war.

Keep your eyes on the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for further reviews of Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 adventures in the upcoming months.

Collecting 007: Domino's Letter To Bond

When the fourth James Bond film, Thunderball, arrived in theatres in 1965, ‘Bondmania’ was truly at an all time high. Remaining today the most successful 007 film box-office wise, it is no surprise that companies were releasing an abundance of tie-in merchandise to capitalize on the film’s release.

One of these products was the film tie-in edition of Ian Fleming’s original novel by Pan. This special edition of the book (the 14th reset printing; Pan X201) featured a new cover with images from the film adaptation as well as one unique collector’s item: a personal letter from Domino to Bond.

Acting as a promotional piece for Players Cigarettes, the double-sided letter by Domino is based off of a conversation the two had over dinner on pages 152-155 in this particular edition of Thunderball, where she tells Bond of her one true love and the man of her dreams: the sailor on the front of the packet of Players.

This letter only came with this single printing of Thunderball by Pan. Unsurprisingly, many of the letters were lost or discarded throughout the decades that followed, making it a much sought after item for James Bond collectors.

As a side note, this item is referenced briefly in 2002’s Die Another Day: when Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Q (John Cleese) are discussing the Aston Martin Vanquish, a Players Cigarettes poster can be seen hanging on the wall behind the car.

The full text of the letter follows below:

Nassau
Friday

Darling,
I wondered at first whether I should write this letter, but I know you will understand. It hardly seems possible that we could be so far apart after what happened.
Carlo is kind. Of course I love him, and the children make up for everything.
But once in a while I remember… our first drive… our first supper together in the Casino. You ordered Champagne. And I told you about my hero – the sailor on the front of the packet of Players. (I believe you were jealous!)
This Christmas we’re coming to London. I know you’re terribly busy, but couldn’t you just find one spare evening when we could meet and talk and laugh about old times?
Do please say yes. And don’t let that horrible old ‘M’ give you any assignment over the holiday.

I think of you –
Ciao-
Domino

P.S. Came across this book in Nassau yesterday. You must read pages 152 – 155.

Keep your eyes on the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for all the latest literary 007 coverage.

Casino Royale to be reprinted as a Popular Penguin paperback

Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, will be reprinted as a Popular Penguin paperback this June.

Casino Royale is one of 50 classic Penguin titles to be reprinted in the second wave of the bargain Popular Penguin series.

The Popular Penguin series was created to celebrate the publisher’s literary legacy. Each book in the series is adorned with artwork that recreates the style of the publisher’s earliest reprints.

Fleming joins numerous other celebrated authors, including Ernest Hemingway, Roald Dahl, Anthony Burgess, Raymond Chandler, F Scott Fitzgerald and Truman Capote.

The new edition can be pre-ordered at the Penguin Books Australia for the bargain price of $9.95. The book will be published on 29 June, 2009.

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for the most up-to-date literary James Bond news on the web.

Literary 007 Reviewed: Ian Fleming's 'You Only Live Twice'

With 2008 marking the centenary of Ian Fleming, the newest CommanderBond.net review series, Literary 007 Reviewed, now continues with the author’s twelfth James Bond adventure, 1964’s You Only Live Twice.

As several CBn Forum members are already aware, every two months a James Bond adventure is chosen for members of the Blades Library Book Club to read. Proceeding in chronological order, the club first read Fleming’s You Only Live Twice back in December 2005.

What follows are selected reviews from the Book Club Forum members. For further details on the club or to post your own review of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, simply click here.

Literary 007 Reviewed:
You Only Live Twice

You Only Live Twice reviewed by… Harmsway

I believe You Only Live Twice to be Ian Fleming’s masterpiece. What is great about You Only Live Twice is how unique and refreshing it is. Fleming certainly liked to experiment, as he did with The Spy Who Loved Me, but here it’s quite successful. Rather than just being a spy thriller or entertaining read (like OHMSS was before it), You Only Live Twice is largely character driven.

There’s not a whole lot of incredible excitement here to be found in plot events. This story isn’t really about the villain/hero conflict, as it has been in so many other Bond books before – it’s about James Bond himself. That’s a refreshing focus, and instead of a plot-driven novel, Fleming gives us a character-driven one. You Only Live Twice gives the most unique and shocking portrayal of James Bond: James Bond as a broken man.

The final coda with Bond and Kissy together is perhaps the best segment of any Bond novel, ever. It’s utterly heartbreaking and astounding that such a finale was written. It’s unfortunate that Fleming didn’t end the series here and instead went on to write the lackluster and somewhat conventional The Man with the Golden Gun, because this ambiguous ending adds a tragedy to the character that fits all too well.

You Only Live Twice reviewed by… Flash1087

Re-read it not too long ago…didn’t get the hubbub then, and even after the hindsight of reading all of Fleming’s Bond entries (minus 007 in New York) I still think it’s a touch overrated.

Yes, it’s got some very touching moments with Kissy. She’s one of the more interesting Bond girls (in part for her love of David Niven) and a lot of the scenes with Bond living the quiet village life with her serve as a heartfelt counterpoint to Bond’s typically high-class lifestyle.

I thought Henderson was hilarious, kind of a disgruntled Australian Leiter, and I wish he would’ve gone to Shatterhand’s island with Bond. Tiger, on the other hand…well, I thought he was more enjoyable the first time we met him, back when everyone called him Darko Kerim.

It’s a very well-written novel, as far as descriptions go. Fleming’s accounts of Japanese architechure, culture, and landscape are top-notch.

So what don’t I like about it? Honestly, it’s the way the plot is set up. Thar be massive spoilers here, matey! Garrrr!.

“Hey James, we noticed you’ve been kinda sad lately about your dead wife. Tough luck, that. So we got you a new, safe, diplomatic assignment. Hey, what are the odds, you can keep your old number! Alright, off to Japan it is. This is Tiger, he’s a nice fella. But he also belives in quid pro quo. And if you want that new cypher thing, by golly you’ll have to do something to help him too. There’s a creepy Swiss doctor named Shatterhand whose garden keeps making young Japanese people want to kill themselves. Can you kill him for us? What’d you say? Shatterhand is secretly YOUR ARCH-NEMESIS AND KILLER OF YOUR WIFE, FORMER SPECTRE LEADER ERNST STAVRO BLOFELD?! Boy, what are the chances of THAT?! Quick, we’ll disguise you as a deaf and dumb Japanese miner. Now go kill him.”

Sorry. I know that was long-winded and perhaps a bit unfair, but amazing coincidences do not an amazing novel make. Honestly, it made Bond’s revenge for Tracy feel kind of hollow to me, because if he had not been assigned to Tiger’s care at the exact moment that he was, he may never have killed Blofeld. At least in the film for Diamonds are Forever, Bond was looking for him. Barring that, it’s a decent enough novel…the problem being that so much of the novel is built on a series of happy occurances cheapens it for me. I’ve heard talk that this was meant, for a time, to be the last Bond novel, with Fleming leaving Bond’s fate rather ambiguous. I would’ve been rather unhappy with that; it’s not the greatest note to end a novel series on and I’m glad The Man with the Golden Gun came along to at least tell us what happened.

So You Only Live Twice gets 3 (out of five) from me. It’s not Moonraker or Casino Royale, but it’s better than The Spy Who Loved Me.

You Only Live Twice reviewed by… Bon-san

Recently finished a re-read of this baby, and was completely captivated. I was particularly impressed by how efficiently Fleming immerses the reader into Japan and it’s culture. This is a fairly short novel, and as such it is quite impressive that there is no “adjustment” period, wherein the reader is getting used to this new place. We’re just there, and it feels exotic and exciting and authentically so.

The story itself unfolds at a leisurely pace, which works in the context of this book. There are few, if any, slam-bang moments up until the climax. But things never get boring, thanks to the marvellous rendering of Dikko, Tiger and Kissy. Bond’s interactions with Dikko and Tiger are endlessly rewarding, surpassing any of the Bond/Leiter exchanges from previous novels (sorry Felix!). And once Bond enters the Ama community, the reader feels (even when Bond doesn’t) an inexorable draw toward Kissy. She is a wonderful Fleming creation. Beautiful and headstrong, like many of her predecessors, but lacking that touch of neurosis that Fleming so often injected into his female leads. Kissy seems to be very much at peace. The only thing she’s missing is a good man. I was really rooting for her to keep “Taro” on that island for herself forever!

All the bits centering around Shatterhand’s garden are macabre and fascinating. The first time I read this book, as a teen, I was haunted by it for some time afterwards. The exchanges with Blofeld in the Question Room, the sword fight, the strangulation, the baloon, the amnesia, it was all so horrible. And the melancholy denouement is a long, drawn-out affair. Where the ending of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service hit you right between the eyes when you were looking the other way, You Only Live Twice approaches you slowly, with a sad smile, and there is so much pain everywhere that you don’t feel the knife go in.

I would stop short of calling this “Fleming’s masterpiece”. Not that I don’t think it’s wonderful, because I do. In my opinion, it ranks alongside Casino Royale, From Russia with Love and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service as the best of Ian Fleming’s James Bond. It is different than the Fleming we’ve read before. More mature, more beautiful, more reflective. But better? For some, perhaps. For others, perhaps not. For me, it is one great James Bond book.

I give it five stars out of five.

You Only Live Twice reviewed by… cmburns

I like this You Only Live Twice quite a bit. It obviously is quite different from the others, which in itself is neither good or bad. I agree with some of the earlier posts that the coincidence of Bond being in the right place at the right time to get Blofeld is a bit much. However, I think that Fleming made it that way intentionally. I say this because of the jabs he took at himself/the Bond series in M’s obit of Bond.

I like Kissy but I am surprised that she would be allowed to intentionally deceive Bond during his amnesia. Much of the novel centers around the Japanese culture doing things honorably. To lie to a man who has performed a great service is hardly honorable. True that Kissy does things her own way but her parents, the doctor and the village elder let this go on.

Bearing that in mind, I found it a good and quick read both times that I read it.

You Only Live Twice reviewed by… B007GLE

I gave this a 4 but it is really a 4.5.

I do not think this is Fleming’s best Bond novel, but it may be his best novel nonetheless.

What I am saying is there are better “Bond Novels”, you know exciting larger than life thrillers, but this is an excellent novel about death. About a man whose wife dies and he finds himself obsessing with death all the way up untilt he moment he looks it in the face and now lives a second time.

It could have been about a man whose wife dies in a car accident.

The second half is great Bond stuff reminding me very much of Dr. No with it’s Fu Manchu like villain and it’s naked girl who loves shells but the first half is not a spy novel at all, and yet it is soaked with death.

I first read this at the age of around 25 and I could not appreciate it, I kept wanting Bond to get to that damn castle. Now at 42 I can really understand it, relate to it and enjoy it as a wonderful work of literature and not just a thriller.

You Only Live Twice reviewed by… manfromjapan

Whilst I greatly enjoyed You Only Live Twice, and found it haunting, memorable and pleasingly bizarre, I have to admit I believe it to be a little over-rated. So far (I am reading the books in sequence), it is the fifth best book, after From Russia with Love, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Casino Royale and Dr. No. Mmm. 4 stars. Why not five stars? Too many coincidences, I thought Blofeld and Bunt came across unconvincingly, and whilst I enjoyed the Garden of Death, I didn’t really buy it. As a 7 year resident of Japan, I can’t believe a man of the world like 007 wouldn’t get more insight into the country than he appears to have. Still, Kissy, Tiger and Dikko all come across vividly, the final chapter is memorably sad, and whilst lacking the sweep of other novels, it is a thrilling read, and quite unique in the canon.

You Only Live Twice reviewed by… Bwanito

You Only Live Twice is one of the greatest novels written by Fleming. I gave it four stars.

It’s very well connected with On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The supporting characters are very well described. I like Dikko (even if he has a low impact on the story) and Tiger (one of the best ally in the Bond novels). The background is full of lovely details (“The Fleming Touch”). Bond gets involved into action in the second part and you can’t stop reading until you have reached the climax scene between Bond and Blofeld.

Besides, the story of the novel is very far from the story of the movie (it’s not like From Russia with Love). For me, the novel is more interesting (I always manage myself to know why the film makers throw away some marvellous Fleming stories).

You Only Live Twice reviewed by… Byron

I gave it 3 stars although 3 1/2 was more appropriate.

It was good but I really can’t see why some people rave on about it so much. The Japan setting would have been exotic to readers when the book was first published but not so much today.

Henderson was a bit of a caricature but Tiger was more interesting and well written. Garden of Death and the climax were also quite good but overall i was hoping for more and came away just a little disappointed.

You Only Live Twice reviewed by… 00Twelve

Just finished re-reading this one…and it really is a wonderfully character-driven piece. This is such a surprisingly introspective novel…exactly what seems appropriate after the shocking finale of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It wasn’t until the end that I noticed how little “action” occurred in this story, and, again, I thought it quite appropriate. This is about Bond’s trauma and recovery. It’s about facing the pain of death. It’s about self-examination. Fortunately, after all of this, Bond gets an unexpected opportunity for vindication. It’s at this point that Bond returns to his professional best. And still, I found myself wanting him to settle with Kissy on Ama. Part of me actually wanted him to remain an amnesiac and finally live in peace. However, this is still the perpetual civil servant known as James Bond, and, inevitably, “James Bond will return.” I enjoyed the ending, and while I wish I could have seen him be a father, I was excited and compelled by the ambiguous prospect of traveling to Russia to find his origins. If only EON had the courage to do a character-driven piece such as this.

As a tag, I really loved Tiger and their relationship, even moreso than the same with Kerim. I also loved Dikko, truly a worthy Australian adaption of (or improvement upon?) Leiter.

Keep your eyes on the CommanderBond.net main page for further reviews of Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 adventures in the upcoming months.

Literary 007 Reviewed: Ian Fleming's 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'

With 2008 marking the centenary of Ian Fleming, the newest CommanderBond.net review series, Literary 007 Reviewed, now continues with the author’s eleventh James Bond adventure, 1963’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

As several CBn Forum members are already aware, every two months a James Bond adventure is chosen for members of the Blades Library Book Club to read. Proceeding in chronological order, the club first read Fleming’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service back in October 2005.

What follows are selected reviews from the Book Club Forum members. For further details on the club or to post your own review of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, simply click here.

Literary 007 Reviewed:
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service reviewed by… 00Twelve

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is far and away the most suspenseful Fleming since Dr. No. No other Fleming novel, including From Russia, With Love, has such a blend of suspenseful action and characters that are so lovable and despicable.

Not only was Tracy written as such a real, tragic human being, Fleming actually managed to elicit sympathy from the reader for Draco, her father, the most dangerous crime lord in Europe. I always found his character to be on the same level as Darko Kerim in terms of how much I grew to like them by the end.

Bond himself is the most human in this story that he has ever been, before he goes off the deep end into full blown depression in the next story. I love that Fleming continued to show how much Bond wanted out, but still needed to stay in because that was the only way of life he was prepared for. And the strong choices Fleming made here, to show Bond coming closer than ever before to finally leaving the service, made me think that finally the character had evolved as a man to the point that he was finally ready to embrace life outside the existence as an assassin. Which makes the ending scene all the more tragic and difficult for even the toughest guy to handle.

This leads to just how well Fleming wrote his great villain, Blofeld. Through Tracy’s murder, Fleming catapulted Blofeld from his station as an extremely cunning criminal to a ruthless, heartless beast who would actually murder this man Bond and his wife on their very wedding day. As we get into the next story, of course, all of that will come to a head; in this story, however, these fantastical events will be the ones that shape the rest of Bond’s life.

Fleming truly hit his stride in writing suspense and humanity here, and I only wish that he’d been around longer! This book is definitely a must-see. You can surely get it at just about any used bookstore or national retail chain, as well as Amazon and Ebay. I promise, it’s worth it!

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service reviewed by… Flash1087

Just finished it this afternoon, and I really liked it.

The skiing scenes were well-done, Blofeld’s plot was completely ludicrous but nicely detailed, the assault on Piz Gloria during the finale was good, and the sharply sad ending was still a blow to me, regardless of how far away I saw it coming.

One thing I noticed is that it had some really good dialogue. One of my biggest complaints about most of Fleming’s novels is that the conversations just never seem right; like that’s not how people actually talk (the biggest offender I can think of is Diamonds Are Forever) but On Her Majesty’s Secret Service avoids this. And nuts to what Benson said, Draco is a nice guy.

All in all, one of my new favorite Fleming books. It’s not going to replace Casino Royale or Moonraker at the top of my lists, but it’s still a great book. Now, for another stab at You Only Live Twice…

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service reviewed by… ComplimentsOfSharkey

5 out of 5 stars.

Not only is this my favorite Fleming but quite possibly my favorite (nudging Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six out of the top spot).

This was the first of any Bond books I read and I can still remember the day I got it. My friend and I were at Barnes and Noble, said what the hell let’s buy some Fleming. It was early December so I picked up On Her Majesty’s Secret Service with Christmas in mind. I’ve since added it to the tradition of watching On Her Majesty’s Secret Service every Christmas day.

I remember being blown away by the descriptiveness masked in the simplicity of the first line. It was one of those Septembers when it seemed like the summer would never end. I know it seems a bit silly but I’ve always loved that line.

That of course leads right into a familiar Bond spinning round on the beach with PPK drawn only to be disarmed and reflect on the events of the day past as he shivers next to Tracy. The book begins with Bond, bored and at the end of his ropes, ready to pack it in and ends with him in just the same situation. Though the arc is incredible. Just as he finds something to fight for and sees life as worth it all again…it’s ripped from him and he’s left sobbing in the shell of a Lancia.

The sequences on Piz Gloria show Bond at his crafty finest, escaping detection for as long as need be, even at the expense of a fellow agent and finally fleeing with more information than he had dreamed to find.

Though the action is much more tame than in the movie, the ski chase is extremely well done and just like the rest of the book, positively drips suspense.

I advise anyone with the ability to read this book. You won’t be disappointed.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service reviewed by… Double-0-Seven

I finished reading this yesterday, and I must say it was a terrific novel. The first thing that surprised me was how close it was to the film, or rather, how close the film was to the book. Since it is one of my top favorite Bond films, it was very interesting to read a book that seemed so familiar yet in some ways different.

As usual, the descriptions Ian Fleming provides are extremely detailed and very interesting to read. The action scenes in this book are exciting and keep you turning the pages. The dialogue is great, probably the best written dialogue out of all the Bond novels that I have read so far. Having seen the movie first, I knew how the book was going to end, however, that didn’t stop the impact of the scene. A great ending to an extremely well-written novel. This is easily the best of the Bond novels that I have read so far.

Five out of five stars.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service reviewed by… Nicolas Suszczyk

Ian Fleming’s eleventh novel is incredibly well written. Is very close to the 1969 film starring George Lazenby, and very enjoyable to read. The story starts in the famed Royale Les-Eaux, with James Bond getting involved with the depressed Tracy Di Vicenzo as he tries to run Ernst Stavro Blofeld down. Agent 007 saves the girl from committing suicide as she tries to get drowned in the sea. This is told to us as we read flashbacks of the first meeting between the agent and the girl, in the casino, where she dares to bet in the baccarat table without having funds. Bond pays her debt and she felts obliged to fulfill the “debt” she has now with Bond, sleeping with him and asking him to treat her as a common prostitute. The morning after, she escapes from his room as we return to 007 in the beach succeeding in prevent Tracy’s suicide attempt. Here, the agent and the girl are abducted and taken to Marc-Ange Draco, leader of Union Corse and Tracy’s father, who thinks Bond can “recover” his daughter by marrying her. Bond keeps the idea in his mind, as Draco promises him to give important information about Blofeld’s whereabouts.

The suspenseful action moments in the novel come later, while Bond infiltrates Piz Gloria (Blofeld’s lair at the top of the Swiss Alps) posing as Sir Hilary Bray, a friend of Sable Basilisk of the College of Arms, whom Blofeld contacted to claim for the authentication of his title of Count de Bleuville. After one of his contacts is captured and his identity is blown, the agent escapes with his skis down the slope of the treacherous mountains surviving to avalanches and lots of dangerous situations. Soon, as he tries to hide from Blofeld’s men, he’s saved by Tracy, who leads him to the airport, where he says he wants to marry her. It’s a very nice touch to see how Bond feels dull of bedding lots of women as he discovers true love.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is undoubtedly the best James Bond novel after Casino Royale, the action sequences are breathtaking, a delight for the spy thrillers lovers, and it’s really difficult to put the book down. Still, the descriptions of the scenarios are boring, and chapter twenty-two is full of hard to understand biological subjects (is recommended to skip most of this chapter). But, besides that, in the last chapter, titled “All the time in the world”, we see a really heartbroken and human Bond. The conversation between James Bond and Griffon Or about the Bond family to Bond Street is clever.

To summarize, a quintessential Ian Fleming novel.

9/10

Keep your eyes on the CommanderBond.net main page for further reviews of Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 adventures in the upcoming months.

Win Ian Fleming's 'Quantum of Solace: Complete James Bond Short Stories'

CommanderBond.net is giving away a free copy of the recently released Ian Fleming collection, Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories.

Acting as a tie-in to last year’s theatrical release of Quantum of Solace, this collection brings together the nine James Bond stories that make up For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy & The Living Daylights into one single volume.

This competition is open to all members of CommanderBond.net (CBn). You must be a registered member of the CBn Forums and answer the following question correctly to be eligible to win. Not yet a member of CBn? Register here now–it is free and only takes a minute!

How To Enter:

To enter, fill out the following questionnaire and send a Communiqué/Private Message on the CBn Forums to ‘CBn Competition’ (Subject: CBn Mar09 Quantum) by Midnight EST on 23 March 2009 (simply click on the link in this paragraph).

1. Berlin Escape is the alternate title for which Ian Fleming James Bond short story:

1. “From a View to a Kill”
2. “For Your Eyes Only”
3. “The Living Daylights”
4. “007 in New York”

2. What is your CBn Forum Screen Name?
3. What country/state do you live in?

Literary 007 Reviewed: Ian Fleming's 'The Spy Who Loved Me'

With 2008 marking the centenary of Ian Fleming, the newest CommanderBond.net review series, Literary 007 Reviewed, now continues with the author’s tenth James Bond adventure, 1962’s The Spy Who Loved Me.

As several CBn Forum members are already aware, every two months a James Bond adventure is chosen for members of the Blades Library Book Club to read. Proceeding in chronological order, the club first read Fleming’s The Spy Who Loved Me back in August 2005.

What follows are selected reviews from the Book Club Forum members. For further details on the club or to post your own review of The Spy Who Loved Me, simply click here.

Literary 007 Reviewed:
The Spy Who Loved Me

The Spy Who Loved Me reviewed by… TortillaFactory

The Spy Who Loved Me is a fast-paced romp, and I can’t shake the idea that Fleming wrote it mainly for himself. It’s always interesting to look at one’s characters from another point of view, even if it’s somewhat unnerving for the reader. But the question – is it good? Is it worth reading?

One wants to scream “YES!” and “OF COURSE, IT’S FLEMING!”, but one represses the urge. TSWLM is a different kind of Bond novel, and the main character seems, as others have said…different, somehow. He is so tender with Viv – the only harsh thing he ever says to her is “don’t be silly!” This is not terribly characteristic of him, especially because damsels in distress usually bring out some aspect of his predatory nature. Did he somehow sense, as he did once with Tracy, that one more bit of roughness might crush her forever? One wonders…

The plot is but a flimsy skeleton, not nearly as complex as most that Fleming created. The Spy Who Loved Me is, perhaps, the closest he ever got to a character-driven story (not counting the shorts like Quantum of Solace and The Hildebrand Rarity, of course). His really wonderful style comes through in certain moments, such as when Viv contemplates how “one ought to be a nudist”, but perhaps only under forty. The characters make me smile – and, after all, isn’t that the point?

Four stars.

The Spy Who Loved Me reviewed by… mcsearg

Even with a late entrance from Bond, this is a very worthy effort. It would have definitely made a great movie if adapted exactly by the novel. Vivienne is a wonderfully faceted character…

“The scars of my terror had been healed, wiped away, by this stranger who slept with a gun under his pillow, this secret agent only known by a number….”

I give it 4 stars.

The Spy Who Loved Me reviewed by… Bon-San

Just finished my third reading of this little gem. My appreciation has grown with each reading.

I thoroughly enjoy the background on Viv. I’ve heard criticism of these bits, with the chief complaint being that Fleming fails in his attempt to write from the POV of a lady. I’m not a lady, but I fully bought his attempt. Enjoyed it, too.

The Sluggsy/Horror show was played, as usual for Fleming, to the caricatured hilt. Fleming seems bound to the notion that all Americans, at least in the 50’s and 60’s, talked just like the characters in a Film Noir. Nonetheless, he manages real suspense in these passages. So much so, that I was quite relieved at Bond’s arrival on the scene. (Man, if the films could only ever achieve this!)

I was very intrigued by the third-person view of Bond. It is sometimes described as a great departure from the man portrayed to us in Fleming’s voice. I don’t really see it that way. But it did add nuance to this iconic character, and for that I am grateful.

Overall, a very atmospheric tale, with a satisfying conflict and resolution, and a tough and tender Bond. I say Bravo to Fleming for trying something different and succeeding rather brilliantly.

Four stars.

The Spy Who Loved Me reviewed by… B007GLE

Three stars.

I imagine if it is the early 60s and you’ve last read Thunderball this departure or interruption of what would later be called “the Blofeld Trilogy” might be annoying.

However as I can finish this and immediately pick up On Her Majesty’s Secret Service I do not have that criticism.

I can picture people asking Fleming “Where do these girls Bond meets come from? Now there’s a book in that.” And then when Fleming does just that he gets raked over the coals.

Frankly its a very enjoyable book. During the second part “Them” I kept wanting Bond to arrive. Not becasue I was bored but because I wanted, perhaps needed, Viv to be rescued.

The last 2/3rd of the book would have made a great 1/2 of a movie:

Pre-title sequence Bond takes out a SPECTRE bad guy, leads him to SPECTRE’s North American chief Mr. Sanguinetti who happens to own a hotel in upstate New York.

From there we go to the hotel and watch Viv deal with Sluggsy (played by Michael Chiklis) and Horror. THen (for those of you following along with Sid Field’s Screenplay) Plot Point 1: Bond arrives.

The next 20-30 minutes are Bond and Viv delaing with the thugs the 2nd half of the movie is Bond stopping Sanguinetti (Frank Langella) from some dispicable plan.)

Alas it was not to be.

The Spy Who Loved Me reviewed by… Quartermaster007

Just finished reading The Spy Who Loved Me last night and I must say it exceeded my expectations.

It was quite a good read from a Bond Girl’s perspective, even though Bond came in only the last 1/3 of the book.

Some highlights would have to be Bond’s enterence, which, I myself felt to be very Bondish feeling, if Bondish is a word…

Another one was the last couple of chapters, in which Bond was trying to find and kill bugsy. Fleming has a special way of building up suspence that just kept me wanting to read more.

Too bad he wouldn’t give them the movie rights to the story, it would’ve made a great story line from Bond’s point of view, and Sluggsy and Horror would’ve been two of my favourite villains.

All in all I give this book: 4 stars.

The Spy Who Loved Me reviewed by… manfromjapan

Just finished Spy for the third time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Fleming’s descriptive ability is top notch, and his empathy for the wonderful Vivienne is astonishing. I don’t really understand why but what was previously my by far least favourite Bond novel has now become one of my favourites. A very easy read, and an opportunity to see Bond in a different light, and the people he encounters in more depth. A wonderful experiment that doesn’t seem so experimental upon further reading.

The Spy Who Loved Me reviewed by… Qwerty

Oh, this is underrated Fleming. The Spy Who Loved Me is without a doubt (and I believe I used to be in the general minority, although I’m pleased to see there are many others now who feel the same) a terrific Bond adventure from Ian Fleming. The experimental nature of it is different and, yes, it takes a little getting used to at first, but the book has a solid story that hooks the reader and doesn’t let go until the very end. As a result of this hook as well as the overall shorter length compared to other Bond novels, The Spy Who Loved Me can easily be read in a single sitting.

Don’t hesitate to try this novel from Fleming. It’s a great read. 4.5 stars.

The Spy Who Loved Me reviewed by… 00Twelve

It’s been so long since I’d last picked this up, I could barely remember any of it. The Spy Who Loved Me is, by far, my least frequently read Fleming novel. But as I realized upon picking it up again, its bad reputation is not as deserved as I’d previously thought.

While the first section (“Me”) makes me smile at its novelty, it actually is rather compelling. Though it gets erotic enough to be *just* this side of a romance novel, the story of her love affairs gives her the kind of depth rarely afforded to Bond’s heroines, and it’s a refreshing change just this once.

Section two (“Them”) is wrought with tension. While the gangster lingo is just as dated here as in Diamonds are Forever, Horror and Sluggsy are convincingly intimidating, even downright scary. Viv really is in a truly nightmarish situation, one that could really happen. Not some Jamaican obstacle course or Fort Knox robbery–real gangsters trying to burn down real property for real insurance money. Not much of a fantastical thing about it.

Section three (“Him”) is, unsurprisingly, where it really hits its stride. The unique observation of Bond is quite interesting, and he really does come off a little less cold and cruel than usual. Maybe that’s Fleming’s intent, to show him as being a little more ideal through Viv’s wishful eyes. Though the same old physical description remains, I see more Rog in this Bond’s speech than anywhere else in the Fleming canon. That alone tells us Bond was coming off a little differently.

I had totally forgotten about the connecting anecdote about Bond’s post-Thunderball activities regarding SPECTRE. I really wish we could see the story about the mission to protect the Russian defector as a pre-titles sequence one day, but I know that’s sadly out of the question. When Bond finally begins to throw his weight around, it really gets good and tense. I love the subtle way he calls the thugs out on their rather obvious gang lingo. When the action begins in earnest, it’s a real thrill ride. Everything from the fire to the shootout to the sinking car to Sluggsy’s terrifying last try is riveting.

Another observation I’d like to make is how silly the book’s detractors come off when going crazy about the “All women love semi-rape” line. It’s as if there were no fitting context to explain the sentiment. Fleming clearly states that those women only feel that way when they know they’re safe. And he does say “semi-rape”. The definition of “semi” is obviously not the same to all readers. Some think, “Sure–they just like a passionate experience,” while others balk and grow furiously indignant over the very inclusion of the “r-word”. It’s a 46 year old book that gets little attention now. I personally don’t see the big deal. It’s not as if Fleming encouraged men to become rapists. Anyway, it was a much more satisfying read this time, and I’m sure I’ll pick it up again in due time.

Keep your eyes on the CommanderBond.net main page for further reviews of Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 adventures in the upcoming months.

Ian Fleming's 'Diamonds Are Forever' Coming In Macmillan ELT Edition

Another James Bond novel by Ian Fleming has been lined up for publisher Macmillan’s English Language Teaching (ELT) series.

Due for release on 31 January is Diamonds are Forever, Fleming’s fourth 007 adventure, originally published in 1956.

This Macmillan paperback edition will run at 96 pages and retail for £4.00. It is currently available to pre-order online:

• Order the Macmillan ELT paperback edition of Diamonds are Forever from Amazon.co.uk

In the past, Macmillan ELT editions have been published for Fleming’s Casino Royale, Doctor No and Goldfinger.

Keep your eyes on the CommanderBond.net main page for all the latest literary 007 coverage.