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Rank the John Gardner continuation novels

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  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,299
    007InVT wrote:
    timmer wrote:
    I enjoyed all his books but I can't really rank them as there was a sameness to them.

    I would rank No Deals Mr Bond as one of my favourites and maybe the first two as well.
    Bond is particularly dangerous in NDMB.

    I agree though that the earlier ones were the best. Maybe books 1 through 8 and then they kind of leveled off.

    Reading NDMB now. Hope to have it finished end of the weekend and then onto Never Send Flowers.

    I think you'll enjoy Never Send Flowers due to its heavy symbolism throughout, @007InVt!
  • 007InVT007InVT Classified
    Posts: 893
    Finishing up NDMB, which is a solid effort, but feels much more like a standard thriller than anything Fleming. It's definitely a good plot and tense.

    I'm trying to get hold of Role of Honor, Icebreaker and Nobody Lives Forever next.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,299
    007InVT wrote:
    Finishing up NDMB, which is a solid effort, but feels much more like a standard thriller than anything Fleming. It's definitely a good plot and tense.

    I'm trying to get hold of Role of Honor, Icebreaker and Nobody Lives Forever next.

    I'm glad that you're on a Gardner roll at the moment.
  • 007InVT007InVT Classified
    Posts: 893
    Just picked up Role of Honor for $0.25!

    I like the chapter titles already and the fact he's driving a Bentley. All rather promising.

    Still have NLF to start too. Busy weekend of reading!
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    Having now finished the Gardner books in my Bondathon, here is my ranking, set out in a tier system:

    1. For Special Services
    2. Licence Renewed
    3. Icebreaker
    ---
    4. Role Of Honour
    5. Scorpius
    6. Licence To Kill
    ---
    7. GoldenEye
    8. Nobody Lives For Ever
    9. Death Is Forever
    10. No Deals, Mr Bond
    ---
    11. Win, Lose Or Die
    12. SeaFire - John Gardner
    13. Never Send Flowers
    14. Brokenclaw
    ---
    15. COLD
    16. The Man From Barbarossa
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,804
    @MajorDSmythe thank you for this gracious public service!
  • LFSLFS
    edited April 2020 Posts: 40
    I'm a fan of John Gardner. One of the best continuation authors.
    He didn't try to imitate Fleming, but his light prose and imaginative writing made (almost) every book enjoyable - and he further explored the world of secret agencies, gave it a new dimension. Even if I'm not always particularly fond of Gardner's plots, he knows how to structure a story. He was a pro.

    Here I will only be counting his originals, but Gardner's novelizations are also great.

    1. Icebreaker (with this Gardner made Bond his own - never better)
    2. For Special Services (wonderful over-the-top story, great images)
    3. Nobody Lives Forever (suspenseful and very fast-paced)
    4. Scorpius (An innovative and shockingly relevant idea)
    5. Licence Renewed (Nothing more than a nice story, yet so entertaining)
    6. Win, Lose or Die (James Bond is a Royal Navy Commander after all! Why not put him on a ship for once?)
    7. Role of Honour (Good first half, so-and-so middle part, good last half)
    8. No Deals Mr. Bond (While every scene cries out to be more fleshed out, it's somehow still a page-turner)
    9. Seafire (A recycled idea, obviously, still better than anything by most other continuation authors)
    10. Never Send Flowers (more of a detective story than a classic Bond adventure, but it sure is interesting)
    11. Death Is Forever (Gardner's modern "From Russia with Love"; a real spy story)
    12. Cold (Not the strongest plot, but a well-timed and well-toned farewell to Gardner)
    13. Brokenclaw (Sadly I had my problems with this one, and I don't seem to be the only one)

    Not included: The Man from Barbarossa (currently re-reading)

  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,660
    I view John Gardner as the Roger Moore of 007 authors. He helped keep it alive. Sure some are a bit goofy, but he knew how at least entertain us. He came at the darkest days of 007, and gave him to us. I always thought For Special Services would work great as a Roger Moore 007 film. Make it seem like 007 has come out of retirement after A View to a Kill. Just remove Felix's creepy note please. Thank you for your work, Mr. Gardner. Enjoy your rest.
  • ToTheRightToTheRight
    Posts: 16,182
    I remember really liking FOR SPECIAL SERVICES and ICEBREAKER when I read them in the late '80's. LICENCE RENEWED I liked a lot as well. I didn't read the last few, actually.
    THE MAN FROM BARBAROSSA was the last one I read.
    Some of the Gardner's I thought had great titles: ROLE OF HONOR, SCORPIUS, and BROKENCLAW, for instance. Some had awful titles. I always felt it was a pity EON never saw fit to adapt the Gardner's for film adaptations. We could have had the next film's title announced at the end credits, and some of his plots I thought were quite entertaining.
  • RemingtonRemington I'll do anything for a woman with a knife.
    Posts: 1,534
    I'd really like to read the Gardner novels.
  • vzokvzok
    Posts: 4,045
    All I remember about Icebreaker is double agents and triple agents.
  • RevelatorRevelator
    Posts: 2,919
    vzok wrote: »
    All I remember about Icebreaker is double agents and triple agents.

    That applies to a lot of other Gardners too!
  • RemingtonRemington I'll do anything for a woman with a knife.
    Posts: 1,534
    Birdleson wrote: »
    You only say that because you haven't read them.

    Probably.
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    Birdleson wrote: »
    You only say that because you haven't read them.

    Agreed... but there was a great respect and effort put into his novels (that I had read, and I can no longer read in my adulthood (I tried and failed about eighteen months ago)).

    In the end, no one can re-create Mr Bond from Fleming's ashes. He was a special man who created a special spy. Markham/Amis was closest, in my opinion. He was a friend of and a scholar of Fleming's work. Colonel Sun seems the most genuine interpretation of Bond outside of Fleming.
  • timmertimmer
    edited June 2018 Posts: 4,622
    For some reason No Deals Mr Bond always stands out for me. It had some good violent bits in it.
    Bond had some nasty edge in this book.
    The first two were good reads too.
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    Birdleson wrote: »
    peter wrote: »
    Birdleson wrote: »
    You only say that because you haven't read them.

    Agreed... but there was a great respect and effort put into his novels (that I had read, and I can no longer read in my adulthood (I tried and failed about eighteen months ago)).

    In the end, no one can re-create Mr Bond from Fleming's ashes. He was a special man who created a special spy. Markham/Amis was closest, in my opinion. He was a friend of and a scholar of Fleming's work. Colonel Sun seems the most genuine interpretation of Bond outside of Fleming.

    My post was more of a response to a set-up for a one-liner that I couldn't resist than anything else. Like I said, the truth is that I don't really remember the Gardner books (which is in itself a bad sign, as I remember everything that I enjoyed from those days in great detail). I think I thought that they were entertaining enough, but there had to be some reason that I dropped them after four (I don't believe that I even finish that fourth one).

    Trying to read them again was a challenge. It felt Bond-lite at the best of times (the character seemed very sanitized), and just a guy with the same name as Fleming’s creation, and that’s it, at the worst of times.

    I think I gave up after Role of Honour.
  • SeanMooreSeanMoore
    edited September 2022 Posts: 6
    I liked Gardner's novelization of LICENCE TO KILL from the Richard Maibaum / Michael G. Wilson screenplay. He had the advantage of a Maibaum plot and the disadvantage of Wilson's trashy input. Gardner leaned more toward Maibaum.
  • CrabKeyCrabKey
    edited June 2023 Posts: 2,008
    deleted
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