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Comments
The Greek locations are wonderful and highly suitable for 007 and while Amis certainly has the knack of writing with a sense of place he lacks the necessary skills to excite the senses that Fleming used to such skill when writing about food, smoking, drinking, gambling etc.
The supporting characters are fairly well drawn but tend to get bogged down by their overt ideology and this in turn slows the pace of the story.
Despite a good premise the plot just doesn't seem epic enough (though the same criticism could be held over many of Fleming's own novels) and the ending seems both rushed and overly contrived.
I do agree that Kingsley Amis knows his subject and his novel is possibly stylistically the closest continuation novel to Fleming's own work and yet it just doesn't grab me in the way that the earlier Gardner books and even Faulks effort have managed to.
I revisited Dr No, again, last week and I find it the weakest book by far. I confess to actually skipping the part from when Bond and Quarrel get in the boat for Crab Quay to the actual dinner scene. Didn't bother with the end either!
Have to give Moonraker a read again. It is in my top three.
Just joking, I love that book. As for MR, it is indeed a top 3 quality book!
As always, a truly qualty book.
Tonight he can return to his spot on the bookshelf, and collect his much deserved rest...
Until next year, old friend......
Just read High Time To Kill for the first time in 12 years and was surprised to find I actually enjoyed it! Now I've never hidden the fact on these discussions that I'm not Raymond Benson's (spit!) biggest fan and the book does suffer from the lack of that journalistic flair of Fleming's to excite the senses, but this is still a entertaining read. The author tries for a very different style of Bond novel with the second two thirds being taken up with a mountaineering expedition over the Himalayas with multiple traitors. It's more reminiscent of a Alastair Maclean or a Desmond Bagley storyline than a traditional Bond adventure, but this in itself is no bad thing, Fleming himself often radically experimented with his own formula, often with less success.
I do find the Bond quips annoying and clearly Benson is trying to create a James Bond that is both from the novels and the films, many of the action sequences read as if they would be more suitable for a film. The story is almost too fast paced and because of this you never feel that sense of place that made the original novels so good and believable even when the plot was incredulous.
The villains are generally interesting and multi faceted, but the setting up of the UNION organisation in this first part of a trilogy fails because he's simply creating a almost exact duplicate of SPECTRE even down to it's conference rooms and death punishments.
The dramatic end twist can be seen coming from the first few pages but it's still a interesting downbeat ending that is reminiscent of Fleming's Casino Royale and sets you up for the next instalment.
So now I'm beginning to wonder if I need to reassess Benson's Bond novels, from this book it's clear that he has does have some merit as an author and I'm going to give Zero Minus Ten next.
So seeing as he's turned out at least one Bond novel that's readable I will from now on stop being uncomplimentary about Raymond Benson (spit!).
I'd be interested to hear how you're 're-evaluation' of Benson goes, since I share the same opinion of his novels as you do.
Maybe I'll follow your shining example and do the same (since I'm now book-less).
That sums up in a nutshell Benson's Bond perfectly.
I sooo wanted to like the UNION element, but it was such a carbon copy that I found myself simply wanting SPECTRE back. And could an organisation with that many tenticles really be brought down so easily?
The Man From Barbarossa - John Gardner
Silverfin - Charlie Higson
The Facts of Death - Raymond Benson
I've started TMFB & three chapters in I'm really loving it. Old-school espionage, nice Bond & M stuff early on, good storyline. Shouldn't take long to finish.
The book improves as the story unfolds and does include many themes familiar to Fleming readers such as torture, criminal allies and gambling. But while Benson works hard to show the considerable research he has put in, he lacks not only the prose but also the passion of 007's creator. Take the gambling scene for instance, I know very little about card games but Fleming managed to draw you into that world creating the fast moving, exciting scenes with sharp, crisp, evocative writing, while I was just confused and slightly bored by Benson's gambling scenes (despite the helpful diagrams!). Though I do concede his efforts did result in him managing to come up with the most unintentionally funny line in all of the continuation novels with this gem from the first page of chapter seven 'He had two pongs and the possibility of one more'!!!
Apart from the character of James Bond (who Benson clearly understands very well) the rest of the characterization is fairly weak with a whole cast that you feel little empathy for. The Bond girl, a prostitute named Sunni Pei (don't laugh) is largely unnecessary to the plot and the chief villain must rank as the dullest Bond villain ever.
But this book is certinally not all bad , the scenes in China are good and the aforementioned torture scene involving a naked Bond getting whipped is something that the S&M indulging Ian Fleming would of wholeheartedly approved of. The walkabout journey in Australia is also very well handled.
The action scenes are often and a little over the top, Bond kills many with little thought and this is also at odds with Fleming's Bond who's body counts were fairly small and clearly something that ate at 007's soul. There are just too many over the top action scenes that belong in the films rather than the books, though to be fair at least they make a break from the relentless tedium of the overlong descriptions on the history and handover off Hong Kong, old family wills and the origins of the Triad.
I've never been Raymond Benson's biggest fan and I don't believe this is his strongest effort but it's still worth a read and for all it's faults it's still better than the last few Gardner books.
Need a break from Raymond now so I'm going onto John Gardner's 'Licence Renewed' next!
As ever, I enjoyed your latest review- keep em coming!
While this technique hinders the first part of this story it really excels when the drama at the Twin Pines motel kicks off with the arrival of James Bond. For despite the unusual style the author has chosen his is still classic James Bond, you have the hero rescuing the fair maiden from the evil monsters before dispatching them. Thanks to the first-person viewpoint this book gives us one of the most interesting insights into James Bond's character and makes for fascinating reading. Yes for Bond the story could be considered a little bit small scale but it's still a thrilling read and makes for a nice change of pace between those two Bond epics TB and OHMSS.
I'm sure with your good taste in Bond literature you'll enjoy it Gaz1961.
Been trying to read the Bond series (if you can call it that) in publication order. Did read Devil May Care, guess that falls in at the end of the Fleming era, even though it's a recent print.
Just finished John Gardner's first book 'Licence Renewed', I think it's a great shame that Gardner is judged on his total output rather than his individual books, for I'm sure if he had just written this one book he would be considered one of the best continuation authors. This book feels much closer to Fleming's character than later efforts and great care is given to the characters of both Bond and M with references to previous books.
Though keen to make changes Gardner quickly establishes that this is a older more mature Bond who is far more politically correct, he dosen't smoke or drink so much in light of the times, but to me this rings false, the whole of the 'Shrublands' scenes in Thunderball were to reinforce Bond's (and Fleming's ) views that he dosen't get swayed by current trends and opinion and will enjoy his pleasures regardless of peer or social pressures. This is probably the greatest single fault with Gardner's style, he dosen't have the same zest for the more sordid and unhealthy interests that Fleming instilled into his creation, Gardner's Bond shows more interest and knowledge in works of art, classical music and religion than the seedy strip shows, crime underworld and hard liquor of his predecessor. While Fleming wrote about Bond taking women to bed, Gardner's Bond it would seem is more interested in the bed itself as while staying at the villains Scottish castle he takes great detail in describing the comfort features of a slumberland 2000 bed!
The plot structure itself is very much Fleming, leaning heavily on ideas and situations from Moonraker, Goldfinger, Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service', the villain Anton Murik is interesting and his castle full of antique weapons and torture devices is inspired, his henchman Caber is also a good 'heavy' and Lavender Peacock is a classic Fleming 'bird with a wing down' heroine.
Most of the action takes place in Scotland, and although this is solely a personal view I didn't find it an interesting enough location to spend so much of the story and preferred it when the action moved to the South of France (I had exactly the same issue with Higsons first Young Bond book Silverfin ).
The story is fairly exciting and it's interesting to note all the ideas that EON have 'borrowed' from Gardner's earlier books over the years.
Maybe this isn't Gardner's very best story, but it's unique attempt to capture the spirit of the originals means this will always be one of my favourite Gardner novels.
Right I'm onto (gulp) Facts Of Death by Raymond Benson (spit!) next!
Yes, I too think NSF is a disappointment.
I enjoyed the first three Gardner books when I was 14 or so but only remember reading one other one - the plot basically had Bond on the run the whole length of the book. I can't remember details but thought it good.
A friend of mine lent me a Raymond Benson book and I thought it was terrible. Like, embarrassingly bad. Yet at one point I was in an airport and realized I hadn't brought anything to read so I picked up a paperback copy of High Time to Kill and thought it fairly okay. Although was that the book that had a car chase (can you ever have an exciting car chase in a book?) where Bond was driving his Jag whilst being chased and also piloting a remote drone AT THE SAME TIME? Screamed "movie Bond" to me and by movie Bond I mean something that would have happened if Brosnan got a fifth film and people thought "How can we top the invisible car?"