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Since Amis's Colonel Sun Horowitz is definitely the best Bond continuation novelist. It helps that he's writing in Fleming's period which he does very well.
Loved the early scenes with Loella, M and Tanner. Really good stuff. Some of the writing came off a bit clunky at times but for the most part the plot is ok.
Liked Scipio as a villain although he was underused. Sixtine was a pretty good character as was Wolfe, who's motivations for his plan were intriguing.
The drug smuggling and the plan to hook Bond on Heroin reminded me of the film French Connection II which funnily enough is also set in Marseille...
I did find sections of the book a bit slow but once Bond and Sixtine have escaped from the drug factory the pace hots up and the scenes on the ship are excellent.
I did find the epilogue weak to a certain degree but the final couple of lines are very good.
I supposedly have one somewhere, but I haven't used it for a couple of years. Works fine, looking at the pages is like reading a book. Turning the pages goes a bit slow, at least on the one I have. And it had the habit of jumping a page back when turning from portrait to landscape.
I still prefer books, but an e-book does have its advantages. Gave me the chance to read Mein Kampf without getting me in trouble. And when you've got some good travelling to do the weight difference can be considerable.
How many books can you have on the device at any given time? I take it you can have quite a few books in the e-reader library?
The weight and size difference when you're travelling must be a big plus. If I'm travelling I usually bring a couple books with me (as well as some magazines), and it's always a hassle.
LOTS. Hundreds at least. I never managed to fill mine.
My partner got me a Kindle so I wouldn't have to take enormous novels on holiday. I still take the novels but now I have backup in case I finish them.
Thanks for the replies everyone! This definitely makes an e-reader a much more appealing option. That Kindle Paperwhite looks great, but it' a bit more expensive. Might be worth the extra money though.
So, is it actually fine for your eyes to read an actual Kindle device in the dark? I just have an i pad with the kindle app on it and using i pads in the dark aren’t good for your eyes. Maybe I should buy an actual kindle machine.
Armistice Day. Commemorates to all soldiers...
According to John Pearson, in his excellent biography of Bond, it’s our favourite spy’s birthday today. So, Happy Birthday Mr Bond!
I used to feel like that but then I got a kindle for Christmas one year and haven't looked back. I still buy the odd actual book but in general it's just so much easier and more convinient. More environmentally friendly too right? Which I doubt will make any real difference at all, but as a mechanic (so a notable part of the problem, keeping all those cars going) I feel extra compelled to do little bits to help with that lately because of all that's been kicking off. Can't help but feel guilty every time I hear about those protests and then ride off to work on my bike, a pollution machine, to fix other pollution machines.
Horrowitz sure tries his best, but perhaps because he's coming close, I miss Fleming's descriptive talents
Hope you come to enjoy it, @CommanderRoss.
Yeah the description isn’t as extensive as Fleming’s but I can’t help wondering that in this day and age where the masses seem to have shorter attention spans, that Horowitz is required to keep it faster paced thereby cutting back on details. I may be wrong but Horowitz is a good writer so this is a theory.
Well indeed I think he's a good writer. It's probably a compliment that I'm missing Fleming more whilst I'm reading it. I mean, when I was reading Carte Blanche and Devil May Care I just got thoroughly annoyed by the story itself. Thing is, with Fleming the stories always made sense, they were always connected to British interests. And as he'd read way too many government reports himself, his own created 'reporsts' felt genuine ( I work for the (a) government, so I can compare). Anyway, up until now I'm enjoying it. More later as I travel to work and back and have time to read.
He made a major goof in FOREVER AND A DAY, though... Wolf laments the death of his son — a U.S. Marine — in combat on Omaha Beach in 1944. Thing is, there were ZERO American Marines hitting the beaches on D-Day... All U.S. infantry that invaded that day were Army — not Marines. (Only the Brits used Marines for the Normandy landings.)
In the end, in the Waterstones' version, he redily admits he took the descriptionfrom Fleming. Excellent, I love it! Now he only needs Bond to stay at small hotels instead of the big luxury ones. He's getting close to understanding Fleming's character though and I'm honestly impressed by this effort. I'd definately buy the next continuation novel from his hand, and that's a first for sure.
I did enjoy the book and some scenes were very flemingesque, putting me on the edge of my seat. Bond could suffer a bit more and they could be prolonged a bit (read Bond's endeavor in Dr. No through the 'tunnel challenge' to understand what I mean), and please give him a proper British mission. But all in all, rather splendid!
Slipping in a 2018 holiday sentiment here.
Yeah, I had a re-read of Trigger Mortis when I was on holiday this year, and then afterwards (because I was in Cyprus) I thought it would be fun to have a little re-read of Facts Of Death by Raymond Benson. And wow, does that really suffer in comparison! Because Horowitz is a proper professional novel writer and Benson... isn't ;)