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Comments
I know and they even changed his name to Donald Grant over Donovan.
No film ever could.
Thing is, with Grant, as he was The Moon Killer as depicted in his background, said to be turning violent whenever the moon is full, that would have been pointless to mention since it had nothing to do with the plot... Unless they'd make an original something out of it and incorporate that in the story... Say, having the full moon appear in the very night Grant is supposed to kill Bond.
Otherwise, there's just no point mentioning Grant's full background.
I absolutely love how Bond concluded the assignment, especially with that killer claim he delivered at the end. I wish they kept Trigger in the film version rather than the weak Kara Milovy. She could've been easily defected to Bond, who'd have made a deal with her for her protection in exchange for information.
We'll have to put our reviews in the Young Bond thread.
I do like the way this series has been progressing.
There were bits that didn't ring true, but I'll confess to getting pretty into the plot and wondering how it would all turn out. Plus, Deaver comes across as a nice guy and true fan.
(Nobody calls one-piece motorcycle leathers a 'jumpsuit', though, dude.)
A couple of the hotels I stayed in had a book swap shelf, but it only occurred to me too late that I could have dropped it off. Now I'm thinking it would be a nice project to pick up cheap copies of the Fleming novels and scatter them around the world...
I have come across this several times before, but didn t bother as it wasn t Fleming. I have however been quite curious about it for a few years now, as I have read good things about it here and I do like me some new Bond that I haven t read
Yes, and you will spot the bits that Spectre the movie, borrowed from the book.
....I have placed my order for the new Steve Cole, Young Bond, Red Nemesis hardcover, 4th in the Cole series.
Ordered it from a UK based Amazon.ca re-seller.
The last two installments, which I also ordered this way, both came with author autograph.
Here's hoping for a hat trick!
Just read the first chapter today and I was glad I bought it.
What does kind of trample on Colonel Sun's timeline though, was the Faulks book, Devil May Care, set in 1967, although you could allow that DMC followed Colonel Sun.
But yes the recent spate of celebrity novelists; Faulks ughh, Deaver double ughh!!
I haven't read Wood's novelizations yet, but I've heard great things about them. Especially Spy. As with you, I really wasn't impressed by Colonel Sun. It begins with a good twist, but I recall large portions of the novel dragging and I fail to see how Amis's prose in any way approached Fleming's. The hyper violence is really the novel's standing out point and that wasn't exactly a strong mark in its favor for me. I'll hopefully be reading it for a second time after the current Bond-a-thon and perhaps be forming clearer thoughts on the overall work then.
The Fleming feel is not there. Again quite understandably. Amis is his own man.
It's quite readable, but it's got Amis' worldview, attitudes etc stamped all over it. And I did find it slogged along a bit too, but still it's a genuine '60s Bond thriller, the only non-Fleming to be written contemporarily, in Bonds natural time, and by the author of The James Bond Dossier no less, so I do think it's a vital addendum to the Fleming canon.
I'd add Pearson's 1973 Authorized JB Biography, as the capper to the Fleming continuum.
I also find it amusing that being anti-smoking is a psychopathic trait.
I found this cover fascinating as a kid. Its the pb copy that I still have.
What caught my eye, was that little picture of Bond, like that was a snapshot of the "real" Bond, not the movie Bond
Overall I preferred it to Licence Renewed. Gardner's debut had no surprises whereas For Special Services has a mystery at the heart of its story. Who is the new leader of an old enemy?
The opening chapter plays like an EON PTS (and a pretty good one actually). I enjoyed the first half of the book. It rollicks along with the second book in row from Gardner that could take issue with A View To A Kill's plot (1981's Licence Renewed had the horse racing subplot and 1982's For Special Services an elevator attack).
Once more Gardner does things that irritate - for starters he continues to play fast and loose with the Bond character and doesn't give him much dimension. Gardner's dialogue isn't quite as bad as his debut but his handling of female characters is once more poor and in the case of Cedar Leiter downright embarrassing. The last forty pages would be so much better if they were fleshed out. These pages go by far too quickly and the execution of the villain's plan is unbelievably careless with so many precarious variables that when it collapses it is with no dramatic surprise. The twist is not bad but once again rushed and there is no craft in the resolution of what could be - with more care taken - an excellent finish.
I've realised that Gardner loves his Saab car and both of these books have a Saab chase across the villain's expansive property. Both are action highlights of their respective novels, well described by the author and there's a real sense of oscillating pace and urgency to the races.
Gardner really goes to the well with the reoccurring characters from Fleming's world in this novel. And it will be interesting to see if he manages to reap anything from the groundwork he has put in here - or if this is a self-contained story.
Major Boothroyd will return...with ICEBREAKER
1 Fleming
2 Wood
3 Amis/Markham
4 Gardner
I can't remember the first chapter. What was it? I read it as a teen and I seem to recall this Gardner effort being the most interesting one (poisoned ice cream, brainwashed Bond, pythons), because it was so bat**** crazy.