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Comments
Agreed. The Top Gear Bond special was excellent. And Clarkson was upfront in saying the Jensen Interceptor was unreliable and in parts badly built, but still beautiful:
http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/jensen-interceptor-series-17-episode-5
Perhaps Bond might have viewed it as the equivalent of a moody but gorgeous girlfriend--not someone he'd stick around with forever, but still worth getting to know a while.
I concur. The description sounds Fleming-esque to my ears for some reason.
Human nature being what it is, reader reviews tend to be over generous. Even given this phenomena, SOLO is struggling to hold on to 3 Stars.
By way of comparison, two other high profile espionage thrillers launched on pretty much the same day (Robert Harris' "An Officer And A Spy" and Frederick Forsyth's "The Kill List") are rocking along with 5 stars apiece.
For me, this indicates that not only is the book failing to appeal to so called "Fleming die hards", it is also not scoring with non Bond thriller readers.
It would appear to be something of a flop comparatively then, wouldn't you say?
Not quite, online reviews are mostly overly enthusiastic AND critical. People who think something's just ok don't take the trouble to write about it. Right now Solo isn't struggling to hold 3 stars with an average of 3.2.
No need to take my word for it. Just look for yourself:
5 x 1 star
8 x 2 stars
3 x 3 stars
16 x 4 stars
5 x 5 stars
Nearly no middle ground, people either like it a lot or not at all. Just as chrisisall predicted.
To me this chiefly proves Harris and Forsyth are both much bigger names than Boyd, no big news there. Where's the beef?
Again we see that one man's Flint is another man's Bond.
Glad you enjoyed it; I predict that I will as well.
You haven't read it yet?
I'd imagine that quite a few people haven't read it yet but chalk that down to the mixed reviews and bad fan reviews on forums such as this one. It's not surprising, though it is a little bit sad as these new Bond novels come along so rarely.
Just after reading SOLO, my wife offered to buy me the Bentley special edition of Casino Royale. Normally I would have jumped at the chance but such is my determination not to put another halfpenny in IFP's pocket, I declined. My wife was in shock - she couldn't believe that I would ever decline a sumptuous Bentley/Fleming.
I doubt there will be a 60th joint celebration between Jensen & Cape - not that I'll be around to find out!
Well in that case and assuming there are others out there who agree with your sentiments it seems that IFP need to get their act together as it were before releasing any more adult Bond continuation novels!
Sorry, but if you have not read all Fleming's novels yet, and you love CB, I don't think this is a glowing reference for die-hard Fleming purists like myself and a fair few members on here.
Your opinion may be enough to sway casual literary Bond fans though.
I'm with you on that, @chrisisall.
I like to read in strange positions sometimes, and a paperback can fit into any of them. A hard cover dictates TO ME how it will or won't be read. :))
I'm the same too. I hate hardbacks.
Couldn't agree more. It's one of the many reasons why I rarely purchase a book as soon as it comes out; can't stand hardbacks.
Yes, they are rather inflexible and even hard to read from, which kind of defeats the purpose of the thing after all.
A first edition is a first edition though is it not?
Yeah, but I heavily loathe hardback books, and a first edition book isn't necessarily more valuable.
is it an enjoyable read? it is
was i expecting it to be as as good as Fleming? no i wasn't
is it better than Carte Blanche? i didn't give up on it after 30 pages , so what dies that tell you?( if i could give Carte Blanche a 0 star review trust me i would.)
overall rating 3.5 stars
The damage they have done with this will become a case study in brand management that will probably be titled; " The team that killed 007".
Why is it that anyone with any rights to a slice of the Bond pie can't help but make a complete shambles of it? 007 Legends, Corgi ignoring the 50th, the lacklustre Bluray box set and now this hot on the heels of DMC and CB.
Shouldn't Bond be a licence to print money for anyone with the slightest clue of what they are doing?
At least EON seem to be competent although DAD can never be expunged from their CV.
Not a bit of it; they could simply engage a creative (but inexpensive) writer to produce a strange novel setting Bond in the 22nd Century. It could be well written, and have sales enough to make it nominally profitable due to its anachronistic novelty, then the next novel, no matter the content or who writes it, would sell quite well just for bringing Bond back to our time. And by then, most at IFP now would be retired.
Now, now. I know that not all Fleming fans will like it, in fact I know where people see flaws but O overlooked them, this book was an easy read (unlike the 2/3rds of Carte Blanche, yet I still enjoy, but not as much as SF, CR, MR, DN, FRWL). I fully understand where people see flaws but its just so easy to get through which would warrant a positive review from me. REMEMBER!!! It's my opinion and I believe Solo is a great novel, a decent Bond novel. (I guess I will have to read Book Bond's review as he seems to enjoy it too)
Seriously, we've had so much variance in the cinema Bond, does every novel have to be so absolutely 'Fleming'? :-?