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I've said this before but my brief view of the authors thus far
Fleming Loved. I need to grow into him hough read all of his novels in my early to mid 20's and loved them all I still find Diamonds are Forever HUGELY underated and with a few tweaks (Jack Spang working for Quantum) could work very nicely for Bond 24.
Amis Loved Colonel Sun great novel
Gardner sorry gardener fans I don't hate him I don't love him either
Benson I love He has become more and more a guilty pleasure of mine I admit as I realize 95% of bond fandom hate this guy and his books for some reason (much like Quantum of Solace is a guilty pleasure of mine)
Higson haven't read but I will some day I promise
Faulks Hated Devil May Care
Deaver Hated Carte Blanc (which sucks as it was everything I wanted Modern Setting reborn Bond etc the execution sucked)
Boyd reading the stuff here uhm yeah When will IFP get a competent writer for 007?
Surely not for his writing style, is it his plots you find excellent?
To @Creasy47 and all the hardback-haters. Leaving price aside, don't you like the fact that hardbacks look better on bookshelves? I do. I'll have all my book (or the important ones) on hardbacks if I could afford it.
I think paperbacks look just as good to be honest. Book spines are book spines.
The problem for Bond has been, for a very long time, the multiple cast of characters involved. The dominant player is undoubtably EON and it would make great sense for them to buy IFP so that they could juxtapose and manage the literary and film Bond in tandem. They could still be appeal to slightly different audiences but they would be able to ensure a consistency of quality that would greatly enhance the longetivity of Bond.
Imagine the situation if we'd had DAD and SOLO released in the same year - both the film and book Bond would be in question. As it is, the disastrous SOLO comes on the back of the excellent SKYFALL and happily,for the majority,it is the movie that is their latest and biggest memory of 007.
In my opinion, Bond should be managed as a top luxury brand with quality and consistency in all things and @Bentley's refusal of his wife's kind offer to purchase the luxury Bentley edition of Casino Royale is a classic example of brand erosion. If the offer had been made prior to "The Celebrity Trilogy Disaster" I bet he'd have taken her hand off!
EON, go for it, buy out IFP and run the brand properly.
Eon Productions buying IFP? It's a bold idea, but wasn't that what the Benson era brought about already? And I gather you're not fan of his Bond novel and short stories. I think it is important that the literary anbd cinematic sides of Bond stay separate and do not converge. I can tell you quite categorically that that would lead to the fast dilution and indeed erosion of the literary Bond faster than anything else, the Celebrity Bond Trilogy quite apart.
I'm not sure what Benson has to do with it. I don't think any of his dross was ever filmed but from a strategic perspective, I think @villiers53's idea has huge merit. As for literary dilution, I think we've already passed the rubicon on that one!
Maybe @villiers53 could explain how he would see the two formats working together?
Well on re Benson I meant the other way round - that he had followed the changes at the time ushered in by the contemporaneous Brosnan era and as such had included many of the film tropes like Q (Major Boothroyd), Moneypenny from the films and a female M called Barbara Mawdsley. It's true that John Gardner had initiated this with GoldenEye novelisation and his last Bond novel Cold (1996), thouygh he was presumably only following orders from Glidrose.
What I mean to say is that there is a danger that if Eon bought over IFP and had control over it that the tropes and style of the Bond films would change the literary Bond beyond recognition. It would be akin to the disaster that was the music chain HMV buying over Waterstones and just look what happened there.
I too would like to hear more on this from the redoubtable @Villiers53.
The idea is a simple one.
Bond is a much loved and cherished franchise but it is clear that many fans, particularly core consumers, have become very disillusioned with the literary offerings and the complete inconsistency is undoubtably having a negative impact on book sales.
EON, with Craig have righted their ship culminating in 'Skyfall' being their most successful project ever and although the fact that literary Bond is stumbling probably doesn't particularly bother them, it doesn't work for them either.
Purchasing IFP would probably be quite a low cost acquisition for them and in addition to giving them access to the very filmable 'Young Bond' and 'Moneypenny Diaries', it would allow them to harmonise the adult Bond franchise and in doing so optimise the literary and movie opportunity whilst strictly controlling licensing deals and co-branding activity and ensuring quality in everything they do.
Frankly I only see upside in this and for EON it would be a slam dunk!
Now I'd buy shares in that but only if they'd fire the current IFP board!
Don't worry, that shower would be out of the door on day one!
Good to know
Not imposibble. John Gardner managed it on several occasions.
Sorry, maybe I blinked and missed this but who implies the above?
Only the character does. I don't mind if there is a different type of plot every now and then.
Here we are:
http://www.thebookbond.com/
I'm just over halfway through the book and I'd say Cox pretty much hits the nail on the head in this review. He speaks more of Africa in this review and I'm up to the part where Bond is just about to leave Zanzarim.
I do think Boyd had Bond drink a bit more than he did in the Fleming yarns.
The second thing is that a more colourful, cultured location could have been used instead of Washington DC. If Boyd was insistent on America then somewhere like New York as was suggested in the Mi6 review would have been much better or my preference, New Orleans, with its jazz, voodoo and a subtle hint at the paranormal. This could have been worked into the plot. Personally, I’d like to see the literary Bond in South America and Lisbon, as far as Europe goes.
I thought that Boyd did a splendid job in digging up that old Fleming feel. There was the odd tweak here and there for the purpose of a modern audience but I suppose one has to expect this. It’s always nice to read about Bond in new situations too and discover how he reacts to them, in this case, him witnessing the starving children.
Likes (there are a good few but here are the main ones):
*
*
* Loved all the scenes in London and Edinburgh.
* Liked the way Boyd weaved Bond's war experiences into the story. Most intriguing.
* The conversation between Bond and M in Scotland. Wonderful non-sexual chemistry. :)
Dislikes (or should I say minor niggles):
* I felt that Bond drunk a bit too much. If he had have drunk the same amount as he did in the Fleming books then this would have been fine. He’s a heavy drinker in Fleming’s stories but Boyd upped the ante in SOLO.
* Boyd could have included a little more description of the locations.
* Oh, this is more than a minor niggle but fortunately it was just a short scene and Boyd got it right with Bond for the most part:
* Bond occasionally used common phrases such as “…and the rest is history..”. Not this particular one though as I can’t actually remember the ones that he did use now. Thankfully it isn’t too often though.
*
Boyd has an exhaustive knowledge of Fleming’s books and largely understands the character and as I said before, he did a great job in establishing that Fleming atmosphere. All he needs to do is improve his plotting. He's an established writer and composing simple, straight forward plots like Fleming's would be easy for him. I would have ranked Boyd above Wood and Amis (CS is ploddish and on the dull side) and put him up there with Gardner and Higson on this thread: http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/comment/277332 had he have written a more solid Fleming/Bond type story without the wishy washiness he gave us for the African section of the book. It's very difficult to imagine it being hard for him to achieve this. He is an established, successful writer. If Boyd is keen to grab the gig for a second time then I hope that IFP invite him back (I wonder if they've ever had plans to invite authors back for a second go) but, a traditional Flemingsque plot next time would be nice. Well, even just a more solid spy thriller type yarn. Things developed in America though and when Bond went back to Zanzarim with Felix. Also, Boyd has a very nice, elegant, smooth writing style.
If you read these sorts of forums, then, great effort Mr. Boyd. Thanks for a very entertaining read!
3.8/5
Nice to read a positive review for a change on here, and I know Bounine is a Fleming fan like I am.
Along with some of the other positive reviews I have read out there, this has encouraged me somewhat to buy the book now. I did read the first few pages online, and it is nice to see Boyd returning to an essential Fleming trait which completely bypassed that previous 2 shockingly awful novels, and that is being inside Bond's head. Reading his thoughts.
I always thought this was one of the crucial, major factors of the Bond novels, and how the previous 2 writers totally avoided this just beggars belief.
A dysfunctional, unbelievable plot. No credible mission. Seedy, uninteresting and exceedingly unglamorous locations (exception England). Zero sexual frisson - Boyd's Bond is a Savilesque peeping tom. Undesirable highlife accessories - Jensen cars and Airtex shirts. Unbelievable drinking and although his smoking is consistent with Fleming - given that he is supposed to be 45 years old — if he hadn't slowed right down by then or quit, he would have been lugging his oxygen tank around with him.
Frankly Fleming made you dream of fare away places, beautiful girls, luxurious lifestyles.
Boyd gives you nightmares!
I want to put that on a poster! :))
Oh yes, I forgot about the fact that Boyd invites us into Bond's thought process. Shame on me as it is a major, necessary ingredient in the Bond books and thankfully Boyd dishes this up in generous portions. I'll add this to my list above. :) I remember criticising Deaver's Carte Blanche for heavily lacking this.
The plot is no more unbelievable than what Fleming gave us. LOL. It's just a different type of plot. It is a bit dysfunctional though and I have mentioned this already. I still find the book a page turner though. I really enjoyed it. It's not perfect but it was a good effort.
I'm glad Bond went to Africa. I found it interesting. As I said though, I wished he had have gone somewhere different to Washington as it does lack glamour obviously. I've never found London particularly glamorous. The odd part of the city has a bit of it. It aint Paris though.
The peeping tom incident wasn't right but thankfully Boyd got it right most of the time in terms of Bond's personality. For the most part, Boyd did a great job in developing Bond's character. This is part of the reason that I liked this book.
The impression I got was that Bond didn't smoke near as often in SOLO than he did in Fleming's books.
Clothes: Bond wore hand knitted silk ties and silk shirts. Airtex? Can't remember. Are they made of cotton like the sea island cotton shirts Fleming had Bond wore? If Bond only wore them in the bush then this is fine.
Another thing I forgot to mention is that I loved how Boyd weaved Bond's war experiences into the tale.
If Boyd were to have another go, if he were to just give us a traditional, Flemingsque plot and send Bond to exotic, glamorous locations next time I think we'd be on to a winner. Whether he would actually be interested in writing such a plot though, I'm not sure, presuming he's even keen to write another one. What IFP actually plan to do though, who knows. Time will tell...
I really hope then that IFP get someone to write 4 or 5 next time. This way the author can learn from his/her mistakes and improve upon them. One author per book just isn't an effective plan. An established author but a less famous one who doesn't have his own strict set of ideas and is willing to adapt would be a good idea.
But we've had that now.
Yeah, another such as Gardner would be good.
And IMO the only place to go continuing from Fleming directly is Bond's retirement. It might be good to leave SOLO as the finale for that timeline, eh?
What do you think?