Just to clarify, I think you missed the point of the gold. The gold was found in a British colony at the time and taking it from a British colony to America is what got the attention of British intelligence. While today Jamaica is independent, back when the novel was written it was a British colony, therefore plundering discovered treasure from the island and taking to another country was illegal. Treasure hunters in the Caribbean still face the same problems today. They need licences and permits to search shipwrecks in nations waters.
The part where James Bond dives to install a bomb on Mr. Big's boat was based on a real mission by Ian Fleming in the secret service. And him stealing the villain's girl was a pattern that started here and was repeated in the films.
I think it's fundamental to understand the time in which this book was written, having said that I understand people disliking the story, personally I love it
There was one major thing that Live And Let Die has over Casino Royale - Bond actually kills people. In the previous book, it's alluded to that Bond had killed twice in the past. But over the course of the mission we're privy to we don't see anyone actually killed by Bond. We only see a couple bombers accidentally blow themselves up, a SMERSH agent kill La Chiffre and his goons, and Vesper commit suicide. In Live And Let Die, Bond shoots dead many of Mr. Big's henchmen and while Mr. Big is killed by sharks it is the bomb that Bond planted that landed him in the water.
I must say book Mr Big made way better impression on me, than film one. The menace was strong with him, while Yaphet Kotto kinda turned his Kananga into half-comedic villain.
He does think of Vesper from time to time, and we learn much later that he makes an annual pilgrimage to her otherwise-forgotten grave. But you're right, it's very frustrating how quickly each of these women is forgotten. Only a few get any kind of closure at all.
I actually love this book! I think it's fast,hard hitting and action packed -filled with great set pieces,intriguing characters and a terrific Fleming super villian. Yes,the dialogue is hard to follow sometimes,but I think he did a great job making Mr Bigs criminal organization intelligent,dangerous and a very worthy opponent for 007. Next up is Moonraker which has much better character development for Bond,as well as another great Fleming villian. I'm betting you will like that one much better!
I remember having such low expectations for this novel after hearing how much hate it got, but it turned out to be one of my favorites in the Fleming series! Yeah, the plot is not the best, but the way it plays out was very exciting. Shame the ending wasn't used in the movie, not sure why they thought blowing up Kananga like a balloon was a better idea. I also was shocked when Felix was attacked so early in the series, glad Fleming was convinced to not kill him off entirely.
I don't know about you guys, but the scene where bond's finger is broken really freaked me out when I read it! The way Fleming described it really made me shudder.
10:00 Not that Fleming is a great journalist. But the general European public has a caricatured idea about black people, women and homosexuals. Fleming recounted his experience through the eyes of James Bond. There are English documentaries from that time about Aparthaide South Africa and they are much more degrading with black people who are not exactly international criminals.
Moonraker is a really solid book. For being set in England and not having too many exotic sets and characters, it's possible it could have been the basis for one of the early films. It also has the best Bond Girl we've never seen on screen. She doesn't do much (of course, it was written in the 1950s), but her background could have been the basis for a solid action co-lead. I consider Moonraker to be the second-best Bond novel, behind only OHMSS.
Personally I found the begining of the book where he gambles with Drax to be great though I found the events after the this to be very boring and uninteresting.
I agree, I went and read Moonraker again in 2015 for its anniversary. Gala Brand was a great Bond girl and quite a step up from Solitaire. Also the nuclear threat was a strong challenge for Bond to over come. The car chase between Bond and Drax was thrilling, I am a little surprised that the film makers never attempted to put it into one of the films.
@@joshdeese432I always read that last scene to people who have only seen the Bond movies so they can see that the original character in the books is not the same as he is in the films.
Write What You Know: Much of the novel draws from Fleming's personal experiences: the opening of the book, with Bond's arrival at New York's Idlewild Airport was inspired by Fleming's own journeys in 1941 and 1953, and the warehouse at which Leiter is attacked by a shark was based on a similar building Fleming and his wife had visited in St. Petersburg, Florida on their recent journey. He also used his experiences on his two journeys on the Silver Meteor as background for the route taken by Bond and Solitaire. Fleming's experiences on his first scuba dive with Jacques Cousteau in 1953 provided much of the description of Bond's swim to Mr Big's boat, while the concept of limpet-mining is probably based on the wartime activities of the elite 10th Light Flotilla, a unit of Italian navy frogmen.
I didn’t read this novel, rather I listened to the audio. The reader did not do the “black speak” so I didn’t know that was a thing until you talked about it.
Bond vs. sea creatures is a theme that pops up with surprising frequency in Fleming's novels. As though James Bond naturally lets off a scent that causes every giant squid in the sea to want to hunt down and murder him. As for Vesper, I was just as shocked at how quickly she's forgotten by Bond in the novels, but rest assured her memory does eventually come back into play in one novel in particular, very effectively I might add.
@@calvindyson Fleming! I wouldn't dare spoil it, other than to say that reading it made me so sad that Vesper wasn't in the films, because it takes a moment that you will be familiar with and gives it so much more emotional depth.
It's midnight where I live. I was tired as hell but when I got a notification for this video, I suddenly felt energised and had the need to watch this video
@@jetshot2218 Casino, Moonraker, live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, Dr.No, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On her majestys secret service, diamonds are forever, the man with the golden gun and A View to a Kill are the officials?
Actually this is only half right. Oddjob had a cleft palate in the novel which effected his speech. He could make sounds however with the exception of Goldfinger no one else understood them.
LALD is my favourite Bond novel because Fleming drives the story forward so well, each chapter ends with a hook that makes you want to keep on reading.
Great video as always, I read live and let die a few years ago and wasn’t blown away by it, but I have just finished listening to the Audible version read by Rory Kinear and he did a excellent job and I found myself really enjoying it this time around! I would definitely recommend the audiobook for this one!
Finally some book reviews! I got the whole Ian Fleming box set for my birthday and I still haven't read them all I love this book despite it being dark. (Like the film which too was also great)
Ahh excellent! I too got a boxset of the books years ago. Read Casino Royale and Live and Let Die twice and I'm just going through FRWL again but all the others I'm coming to for the first time.
This book set the template for future books and was the quintessential "Fleming Sweep" . I think the review is slightly wide of the mark and very much from a modern perspective but congratulate you for wisely skipping the more controversial content. I think it was very well written and given its a historical piece that was written in 1953 its good to see a lack of woke comments in the column here. Theres obviously a large group of intelligent readers who love the original novels and get it Yes there was racism which is jarring but it is what it is and it contains some great set pieces which as the reviewer points out were recycled in a number of films.
I’ve just finished reading this one and I’ve got to say I think you were quite hard on it, personally I found reading the Harlem dialect and the various accents easy enough even though I recognise it wouldn’t be written that way today, but I do think it was Flemings attempt at imbuing them with some character, I think it’s best not to get too hung up on that and enjoy the story which I actually really liked, yes the constant descriptions of black people as negros and the occasional mention of the other N word made me wince but I just kept reminding myself that it was written in a different time. I actually liked the character of Solitaire and wish she was in it more and with more emphasis on her psychic abilities, not really sure what your problem with her was, but each to their own I guess. I’m about to start on Diamonds Are Forever (I’ve already read Moonraker) and I can’t wait to watch your review on it once I’ve finished it. Keep up the good work Calvin 👍🏼
A huge improvement over Casino Royale - at least plotwise. I loved the ending. I can only imagine Dalton when reading this piece. Especially the part with the Robber who became Killifer in Licence To Kill. I actually loved parts of the gold coin story. I hope to some day see Bond going treasure hunting in a film sometime. Bond mized with some National Treasure elements... I´d watch that film for sure. I think the movie from 1973 improved on the voodoo thing. That is about one of the only improvements I can think of - Well maybe Mr Big/Kananaga works better in the movie. Jane Seymour is awesome as Solitaire. Loved how the movie used her cards throughout the story up until the very ending where she wins in a cardgame that has nothing to do with Tarot cards.
It does seem odd having the second book of your spy series be about pirate gold. That's usually something you save for book 15 or 16 after you start running low on ideas.
I can definitely say it looks like EON used a lot of this novel in several Bond films. Oddly enough none of them were used in the film named after this book except for the voodoo.
Suggestion- could you do a Top 10 Grounded / Realistic Bond villains? Ones like Sanchez, Largo, maybe Le Chiffre etc, who aren't over-the-top super villains with hammy personalities or outlandish lairs or schemes, but who could feasibly exist and operate in the real world?
These are the actors I imagine for the characters in this novel: Bond - Timothy Dalton Solitaire - Jane Seymour Mr. Big - Yaphet Kotto Felix - Bernie Casey Quarrel - John Kitzmiller
Whenever I read a Bond book, I can't help but picture its film's Bond, but for this book, I imagined a more-rough looking Roger Moore (that's the best way I can describe it) with Timothy Dalton's voice
This was the first Bond novel I read. Two things I remember most. Bond has to go through the whole adventure with a broken finger and it affects his ability to fight. Secondly, I remember the meal Bond and Felix had at the St. Regis Hotel (burgers and fries and vanilla ice cream with melted butterscotch - yum). Overall, a lot of action in this novel.
In my head I make some excuses for Fleming, like it was a different time and he's a British guy with no doubt limited experience with USA, US multiculturalism and a Caribbean. He probably learned it all from other novels or movies of the time. That explains all the stereotypes and narrow-minded opinions. Then I remember he lived in Jamaica.
Originally I had read, that they had planned to do this movie before Dr. No. But due to the civl rights era, this was considered distasteful. So Dr. No went ahead. In the 70's, with the blackssplitation films, SAHFT, SUSPERFUIL, with it white villains, it was considreed to be okey. Guentin tarrwentino has talked about reviving the Bond films, but in the year that Fleming wrote it. I think that this would have been an interesting idea, especially with Live and Let Die.It wouild make for some intersting social commmentary.
I haven't read LALD (yet?), but pleasantly surprised to hear a lot of scenes from this book were adapted for different films. Probably the main reason to read it, because you just confirmed my fear about Fleming's character writing for this book...
Live and Let Die was a decent book, but I did prefer Casino Royale. The pacing was often times odd at times, the bond girl this time was way more bland and forgettable, and the voodoo elements were interesting but it was disappointing that Fleming didn't do much with it. But when the plot got going, it did lead to some cool and sometimes dark moments, with Mr. Big being a very frightening villain. In terms of the over-abundance of the 'gamer-word' as well as the jive talk even I had a hard time comprehending (being British myself, it makes it even harder), it was published in the 50's, I'd be surprised if it didn't throw in a bit of racism every now and then. As a black person myself, I didn't mind it, especially with that context of 'it's an old book'. Though I did feel bad for Leiter, I liked him. But yeah, it's OK, and will continue to read more Bond books.
The racists and racial stereotypes I have always had a problem with in this book, and I have read all of the Fleming Bonds, I just ever saw Bond as having racist or bigoted views, he was just an impartial killer, he didn't care about race, creed or orientation, if you threatened the British government, or were going to kill thousands or millions of innocent people, he was going to kill you, period. Nice review of the book, Calvin, enjoying this.
I had no idea what everyone here was talking about until I learned Chapter Five's title was changed to Seventh Avenue in the American publication and the original was something very different.
I read most of the books 20 years ago and thought them enjoyable thrillers. Re-visiting them now, I'm aghast at the pulp fiction window they open onto Fleming's mind and mind set! He confuses bravery and decency with racism and snobbery in an alarmingly consistent way.
To bad we didn’t get the same hilarious death that the villain got in the movie. “He always did have an inflated opinion of himself” is one of my favorite lines in the series
When I came into Bond (through the video games, funnily enough) I picked up the novel 'Casino Royale' as my sister had a copy, and read the books in order (because why wouldn't you?). With the films, however, I was very much at the mercy of ITV schedulers, meaning sometimes I read the book first and compared the film with that, and sometimes it was the other way around. LALD was a case of the former, and I remember getting to the bit in the film where Tee-Hee's about to break Bond's finger and I was like "oh! It's that bit from the book!" and then being surprised when Roger Moore escaped with all 10 fingers intact. And yeah, that dialogue. I remember having to read it out loud just so I could understand what the characters were saying, sometimes very very quietly if I was reading it on the bus. One bit I do remember liking is when Bond and Solitaire arrive in Florida - it's early in the morning and they want some breakfast. Unfortunately for them the only place open is some scummy diner. Just having Bond in such a location is such a juxtaposition and having his internal monologue complaining was quite humorous I do recall. It's been quite a while since I last picked it up, perhaps I should.
@@calvindyson It was GoldenEye on the Wii, for me - the N64 was just before my time. There was a lot of buzz around it when it came out, I think purely because of the legendary and historical status the N64 version has in the gaming world. I read Official Nintendo Magazine at that time, and they were very excited about the Wii-make (probably because the Wii hadn't had many FPS games before that point). I picked it up just to see what all the fuss was about.
I have to say that I've read Fleming's novels in two languages and no one of them is English, but I understand what you say about the infamous Harlem segment: here's a white Britton trying to write like Chester Himes and failing. Badly. Other than that, an entertaining novel. No more, no less.
I've always regarded LALD as one the great missed opportunities of Bond films. The plot would've translated beautifully to screen and a movie adaptation would have allowed them to iron out some of problems in the novel, such as Mr Big being a SMERSH agent, when it always struck me as improbable that the Russians would be in league with the likes of Mr Big or Dr No, Spectre was more plausible. The book itself I read as a teenager and was always impatient to get to the action, so chapters describing conversations or sea life I tended to skip. Looking forward to Moonraker as Drax was a great villain.
I noticed Fleming tries to write accents into dialogue in several Bond books. It does come across as strange and is hard to understand as text. He seems to do it with both Caribbean and Scottish accents
I would say the good books are _Casino Royale,_ _Diamonds Are Forever,_ _From Russia with Love,_ (though only the last two thirds of it), _Goldfinger_ (though only the first two thirds of it), _Thunderball,_ _On Her Majesty's Secret Service_ (with a couple major caveats), and a sort of honorable mention to _You Only Live Twice._
It’s been a few years since I read LALD, so I had allowed myself to forget the G-d awful degree of (let’s not mince words) blatant racism evident here. That said... if you can allow that in certain cases, where Fleming establishes a particular character as being of a particular social class, poorly educated if at all, with every obstacle imaginable thrown at them, the slang and dialect is not quite as horrifically exaggerated as you might think. Some of it - not much, but some - is at least within the realm of the kind of regional dialects in any “underclass” regardless of race. Think of the typical “old Jewish man from the lower east side” character... and then imagine how that would look as written dialogue instead of hearing it spoken. Definitely stereotyped and over the top, but less difficult to understand if you had grown up in America and been exposed to this kind of “white people’s idea of how all poor African American people speak” because they heard one or two people that really spoke like that.
I finished the book the night before seeing No Time to Die. I felt the first half was very good, with plenty to enjoy. Bond at the hotel, Mr. Big's setup and the description of his background and apathetic genius, getting to know Felix more, the admittedly odd tale about pirate treasure. I liked the club scene and Bond's escape. However, as soon as Bond gets on the train with Solitaire, my word it just takes a dive. Seemingly endless pages of descriptions about fish and coral, overlong prose related to beach-side retirement or holiday homes and Solitaire herself is just so dour. I do like how Fleming creates a poetic demise for Mr. Big, however. Very "hoist by his own petard." I can get over the phonetic and the "off its time" language as, just, whatever, but it does add a layer of interminable sludge to the reading experience. I got the impression that we were reading back Fleming's recollections of his drunken nights out in the Caribbean, overhearing the locals talk to one another, which he then perhaps dialled up a notch or four. It's no a patch on Casino Royale, you're right, and Quarrel was very well done. That aside, it's certainly skippable.
Can't wait until you reach You Only Live Twice. EDIT: Also, please tell me how you like the card-playing sequence in Moonraker. That always enraptures me whenever I read it, especially M's relationship with Bond in that scene.
I am definitely a fan of the LALD novel. It's not quite up there with Fleming's very best novels, but it has a lot of good passages in it and I would place it in the top half of the series. As an action-adventure novel I think it works really well, moves very quickly and when I've read it in the past I've found that the entertainment value of the book has helped it overcome some of its flaws. I don't remember disliking Solitaire as a character, but I certainly don't enjoy the book Solitaire as much as I do the version from the film. I'm looking forward to the Moonraker review next, and I do think that Moonraker is easily a top 5 Bond novel, so I'm curious to hear your opinion Calvin.
I have started going though the Bond Books again, I'm using Audible to listen to them, like you I read a few like a decade ago but I wanted to start again, I agree Casino Royal is a better Book over Live and Let Die as oh boy has it not aged well. I do disagree on your view on Solitaire though I didn't mind her at all. Moonraker is next on the list and I'm looking forward to hearing it/reading it as you said it is completely different to the film adaption, speaking of which I'm surprised you didn't touch on the ending of the book on how Mr Big dies compared to the film, as its changed completely, I know you sort of did when you talked about the plot what I mean is that you didn't compare it to the film.
The diaogue for the majority of the black actors made this book a difficult read for me too, both on offensive and similar to you I couldn't understand what they were saying at first. I am onto the next book now. Great review Calvin.
Thanks! I'm on FRWL now and have my reviews for Moonraker and Diamonds all prepared. Ones my absolute favourite so far, the other on the opposite end of the scale!
I can't wait to get to that one! Before reading through the series for these reviews I'd previously only read a handful so it's good to be diving into them good and proper now
LALD is one of the books that I have read in the series (and I intend to read the others in order to keep up with these reviews), it is definitely worse than Casino Royale. You highlighted all the same reasons I have for disliking the book, as well as bits I like. I've heard people say that Moonraker is the best Bond book. I started reading it, got a bit of a sour taste in my mouth (maybe it was just a hangover from LALD) so I stopped. I'll revisit it soon though. Excellent work as always Calvin.
This book is split into roughly four equal sections for me. I felt the first quarter of the book, consisting of about 50 pages, was painfully dull. It really didn't pick up for me until Bond and Leiter were captured at the strip club. Then the next 120 pages just flew by. There was tons of action and suspense, and I couldn't put it down. I would categorize the final quarter of the book, lasting around 60 pages starting with Bond going to Jamaica, as mildly interesting. Overall, I think it's a good book, but definitely uneven. I felt the pacing was all over the place. The prose, however, is beautifully written. I agree that Solitaire isn't a very good character, but I found Bond and Leiter compelling enough to hold my attention.
The whole Cold War stuff is so shoved in. There’s no reason Mr. Big needed to be a SMERSH agent. It really feels like Fleming was just really interested in Voodoo and Harlem at one point and decided to randomly shove James Bond in it for no reason.
Actually Bloody Morgan's treasure would be the property of the the British Crown as it is located in Jamaica which at the time was still part of the British Empire and not an independant state.
I agree with you about Smersh being shoehorned in the story, I came here to watch your review as I just finnished the book and I admit I ad forgotten about it in the end ahha ! Solitaire is almost shoehorned too, she kind of has no parts to play in the story beside giving her random opinion about people , I Guess she's part of all the things Mr Big does to impress people but I also agree with you, it's a meeeh chracter. She could have been killed instead of kidnapped when Bond and Felix were investigating. Mr Big is a chracter with a lot of influence though because they're reconigzed right away when they get off the train to florida for example, you can tell Bond is in danger. Exciting chapters to read maybe because I imagined the scenes from the movies (FYEO and LTK) and others chapters more calm with a lot of description by flemming and you can tell he was an expert of Jamaica . I'm glad I read them in french to avoid what you said about how the blacks talk sometimes in the movie, that sounds annoying indeed, even more for a non native speaker.
Great video. Would you ever do a Worst to Best James Bonds video? Also, excluding the whole rights issues surrounding Casino Royale, why weren't the films made in book order? Certain plot points could have been removed if need be, such as references to Vesper etc...
I think it was just whichever took the filmmakers fancy. I know Dr No was made because there were some rocket issues in the US at the time so it was quite topical and then FRWL because the President said he liked it so they wanted to capitalise on that. Not sure about Goldfinger but I know Thunderball was originally intended to be the first Bond film but rights issues got in the way but presumably the filmmakers had a keen desire to make that one given that they worked out a way to do it.
That was a slip of the tongue that I JUST KNEW someone would pick up on haha! Not sure about the short stories really... Will have to see when I get to them I suppose
Calvin - Bond Reviewer I’m on audible looking for something to read and I can’t help but feel it’s a shame we never got a blofeld novel too. I’d LOOOOVE a book about blofeld establishing SPECTRE or destroying an internal coup in spectre itself meant to unseat him. Just something. I’m looking at audible and their James Bond selection is great but I’m curious where’s best to start. Any suggestions? I’m someone who’s seen all the movies, played the games since childhood, I even really enjoy Kim Newman’s take on the characters in his Anno Dracula series, but I’ve never read the books themselves.
I am currently half-way through Diamonds Are Forever and LALD is the best book so far. It was fast paced, exciting, each chapter ended on a hook and has zero filler. I honestly wish we could have seen this as a faithful movie. It is interesting that a lot of parts were adapted separately in the movies. Solitaire was better written than Vesper and Bond was better developed here. It does have language now no longer suitable, and it is a product of its time but at no point was there any really any direct aggression towards black people and it was unfortunately just the language of the time Fleming used. Mr Big is a great villain and was menacing. I see CR as a film noir but LALD is full colour and exotic. Brilliant. I’d even recommend skipping CR as you really just need to know the very basics. Moonraker falls second place so far, followed by CR. As I am half way through Diamonds I feel it is quite weak, although I like Bond and Case’s scenes
Sergio Ramón Rodríguez Cajiga It’s probably my favourite. My Top 5 would be 1.) OHMSS 2.) Thunderball 3.) From Russia with Love 4.) Goldfinger 5.) Live and Let Die
Yes!!! Drax and the plot are fantastic. The ending between Bond and Gala is excellently written; very emotional and lend a deep perspective to Bond’s psychology and emotional intelligence.
Despite the cringey racial stuff this is my favorite of the Bond Books - working through them as audiobooks for the first time in about 15 years. I’ve become a Fleming purist of sorts which really changes the way I view the films.
I haven't read this one in years. It wasn't the best by a long shot but it wasn't the worst either. As for Moonraker, it does have more in common with the film that several others (Most of the Short stories, and especially TSWLM which is only linked to its film by the title and the fact they have Bond in them, although he isn't even the main character in the book).
It's okay, Mr. Bond, I speak jive.
Just to clarify, I think you missed the point of the gold. The gold was found in a British colony at the time and taking it from a British colony to America is what got the attention of British intelligence. While today Jamaica is independent, back when the novel was written it was a British colony, therefore plundering discovered treasure from the island and taking to another country was illegal. Treasure hunters in the Caribbean still face the same problems today. They need licences and permits to search shipwrecks in nations waters.
Good to know.
The part where James Bond dives to install a bomb on Mr. Big's boat was based on a real mission by Ian Fleming in the secret service. And him stealing the villain's girl was a pattern that started here and was repeated in the films.
I think it's fundamental to understand the time in which this book was written, having said that I understand people disliking the story, personally I love it
There was one major thing that Live And Let Die has over Casino Royale - Bond actually kills people. In the previous book, it's alluded to that Bond had killed twice in the past. But over the course of the mission we're privy to we don't see anyone actually killed by Bond. We only see a couple bombers accidentally blow themselves up, a SMERSH agent kill La Chiffre and his goons, and Vesper commit suicide. In Live And Let Die, Bond shoots dead many of Mr. Big's henchmen and while Mr. Big is killed by sharks it is the bomb that Bond planted that landed him in the water.
I must say book Mr Big made way better impression on me, than film one. The menace was strong with him, while Yaphet Kotto kinda turned his Kananga into half-comedic villain.
He does think of Vesper from time to time, and we learn much later that he makes an annual pilgrimage to her otherwise-forgotten grave.
But you're right, it's very frustrating how quickly each of these women is forgotten. Only a few get any kind of closure at all.
And if you'll recall, in DAF, Bond purposefully skips La Vie en Rose on the record player in Tiffany's hotel room because it reminds him of Vesper.
I actually love this book!
I think it's fast,hard hitting and action packed -filled with great set pieces,intriguing characters and a terrific Fleming super villian.
Yes,the dialogue is hard to follow sometimes,but I think he did a great job making Mr Bigs criminal organization intelligent,dangerous and a very worthy opponent for 007.
Next up is Moonraker which has much better character development for Bond,as well as another great Fleming villian.
I'm betting you will like that one much better!
I remember having such low expectations for this novel after hearing how much hate it got, but it turned out to be one of my favorites in the Fleming series! Yeah, the plot is not the best, but the way it plays out was very exciting. Shame the ending wasn't used in the movie, not sure why they thought blowing up Kananga like a balloon was a better idea. I also was shocked when Felix was attacked so early in the series, glad Fleming was convinced to not kill him off entirely.
I don't know about you guys, but the scene where bond's finger is broken really freaked me out when I read it! The way Fleming described it really made me shudder.
2:35 The "Disneyland was calling" line just hits different after your Never Send Flowers Review.
The keel haul sequence, coupled with the limpet mine slowly ticking away, is by far the best action sequence in Fleming's Bond books.
This is one of my very favourites. It's exciting, and, above all, brutal.
10:00 Not that Fleming is a great journalist. But the general European public has a caricatured idea about black people, women and homosexuals. Fleming recounted his experience through the eyes of James Bond. There are English documentaries from that time about Aparthaide South Africa and they are much more degrading with black people who are not exactly international criminals.
New to the channel , best bond reviewer on UA-cam by far ! Keeps you interested and watching , great videos !!!!
Thanks, mate! Mcuh appreciated :D
Moonraker is a really solid book. For being set in England and not having too many exotic sets and characters, it's possible it could have been the basis for one of the early films. It also has the best Bond Girl we've never seen on screen. She doesn't do much (of course, it was written in the 1950s), but her background could have been the basis for a solid action co-lead.
I consider Moonraker to be the second-best Bond novel, behind only OHMSS.
Personally I found the begining of the book where he gambles with Drax to be great though I found the events after the this to be very boring and uninteresting.
I love the ending between Bond and Gala!! Real deep look into Bond’s psychology
I agree, I went and read Moonraker again in 2015 for its anniversary. Gala Brand was a great Bond girl and quite a step up from Solitaire. Also the nuclear threat was a strong challenge for Bond to over come. The car chase between Bond and Drax was thrilling, I am a little surprised that the film makers never attempted to put it into one of the films.
@@joshdeese432I always read that last scene to people who have only seen the Bond movies so they can see that the original character in the books is not the same as he is in the films.
Write What You Know:
Much of the novel draws from Fleming's personal experiences: the opening of the book, with Bond's arrival at New York's Idlewild Airport was inspired by Fleming's own journeys in 1941 and 1953, and the warehouse at which Leiter is attacked by a shark was based on a similar building Fleming and his wife had visited in St. Petersburg, Florida on their recent journey. He also used his experiences on his two journeys on the Silver Meteor as background for the route taken by Bond and Solitaire.
Fleming's experiences on his first scuba dive with Jacques Cousteau in 1953 provided much of the description of Bond's swim to Mr Big's boat, while the concept of limpet-mining is probably based on the wartime activities of the elite 10th Light Flotilla, a unit of Italian navy frogmen.
I didn’t read this novel, rather I listened to the audio. The reader did not do the “black speak” so I didn’t know that was a thing until you talked about it.
Bond vs. sea creatures is a theme that pops up with surprising frequency in Fleming's novels. As though James Bond naturally lets off a scent that causes every giant squid in the sea to want to hunt down and murder him.
As for Vesper, I was just as shocked at how quickly she's forgotten by Bond in the novels, but rest assured her memory does eventually come back into play in one novel in particular, very effectively I might add.
Ahhh interesting! A Fleming novel or one by a different author? You don't have to say which one exactly... I'm happy to keep it a surprise!
@@calvindyson Fleming! I wouldn't dare spoil it, other than to say that reading it made me so sad that Vesper wasn't in the films, because it takes a moment that you will be familiar with and gives it so much more emotional depth.
Bond book reviews, loving it!
It's midnight where I live. I was tired as hell but when I got a notification for this video, I suddenly felt energised and had the need to watch this video
Hope it doesn't keep you up too much!
@@calvindyson 15 minutes doesn't hurt
Disneyland is in California.
Disney World is in Florida and opened in 1971
Calvin, I dare you to read the novel of "Goldfinger" because surprise! ODDJOB TALKS.
NO WAY!! Oh wow I didn't actually know that...
Excluding short storys
Ian flemming only published 15 offcial 007 novels yes?
He only did 12. Plus the short stories
@@jetshot2218
Casino, Moonraker, live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, Dr.No, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On her majestys secret service, diamonds are forever, the man with the golden gun and A View to a Kill are the officials?
Actually this is only half right. Oddjob had a cleft palate in the novel which effected his speech. He could make sounds however with the exception of Goldfinger no one else understood them.
LALD is my favourite Bond novel because Fleming drives the story forward so well, each chapter ends with a hook that makes you want to keep on reading.
LALD was the first book that I read in one sitting. I just couldn't put it down lol
After the suspenseful packed emotional thriller that was Casino Royale, this was a disaster of a follow up.
I really like this hopeful series of reviews of the books and how they differ from the films of same name
Glad to hear :D
Well, this is my favourite Bond book.
Yeah it seems like it's more popular amongst the fandom than I thought!
Excellent review Calvin! My Top 5 would be:
1.) OHMSS
2.) Thunderball
3.) From Russia with Love
4.) Goldfinger
5.) Live and Let Die
Howdy Calvin. Speaking of Live and Let Die, will you do your top 10 best Bond allies (Jack Wade, Sheriff JW Pepper, etc)
Hello there! Certainly, I already have a good part of that script typed up!
Sharky was the best and was taken too soon.
"A Secret Agent? On whooose side?"
Hi calvin , I really love all of your bond reviews ! I hope that you can post your videos more often , can't wait for your next review !
Thanks so much :D
Great video as always, I read live and let die a few years ago and wasn’t blown away by it, but I have just finished listening to the Audible version read by Rory Kinear and he did a excellent job and I found myself really enjoying it this time around! I would definitely recommend the audiobook for this one!
Ha, I was actually wondering when this video would come out earlier this week. Great review!
Finally some book reviews! I got the whole Ian Fleming box set for my birthday and I still haven't read them all I love this book despite it being dark. (Like the film which too was also great)
Ahh excellent! I too got a boxset of the books years ago. Read Casino Royale and Live and Let Die twice and I'm just going through FRWL again but all the others I'm coming to for the first time.
This book set the template for future books and was the quintessential "Fleming Sweep" . I think the review is slightly wide of the mark and very much from a modern perspective but congratulate you for wisely skipping the more controversial content. I think it was very well written and given its a historical piece that was written in 1953 its good to see a lack of woke comments in the column here. Theres obviously a large group of intelligent readers who love the original novels and get it Yes there was racism which is jarring but it is what it is and it contains some great set pieces which as the reviewer points out were recycled in a number of films.
I’ve just finished reading this one and I’ve got to say I think you were quite hard on it, personally I found reading the Harlem dialect and the various accents easy enough even though I recognise it wouldn’t be written that way today, but I do think it was Flemings attempt at imbuing them with some character, I think it’s best not to get too hung up on that and enjoy the story which I actually really liked, yes the constant descriptions of black people as negros and the occasional mention of the other N word made me wince but I just kept reminding myself that it was written in a different time. I actually liked the character of Solitaire and wish she was in it more and with more emphasis on her psychic abilities, not really sure what your problem with her was, but each to their own I guess. I’m about to start on Diamonds Are Forever (I’ve already read Moonraker) and I can’t wait to watch your review on it once I’ve finished it. Keep up the good work Calvin 👍🏼
A huge improvement over Casino Royale - at least plotwise.
I loved the ending. I can only imagine Dalton when reading this piece. Especially the part with the Robber who became Killifer in Licence To Kill.
I actually loved parts of the gold coin story. I hope to some day see Bond going treasure hunting in a film sometime. Bond mized with some National Treasure elements... I´d watch that film for sure.
I think the movie from 1973 improved on the voodoo thing. That is about one of the only improvements I can think of - Well maybe Mr Big/Kananaga works better in the movie. Jane Seymour is awesome as Solitaire. Loved how the movie used her cards throughout the story up until the very ending where she wins in a cardgame that has nothing to do with Tarot cards.
Another great video!
Thanks :D
It does seem odd having the second book of your spy series be about pirate gold. That's usually something you save for book 15 or 16 after you start running low on ideas.
I think it was because Ian Fleming was very interested in pirates since he was a child, and he loved books and movies about them.
Man I'm so glad you're finally doing the books!
I actually really liked this book.
I can definitely say it looks like EON used a lot of this novel in several Bond films. Oddly enough none of them were used in the film named after this book except for the voodoo.
Suggestion- could you do a Top 10 Grounded / Realistic Bond villains?
Ones like Sanchez, Largo, maybe Le Chiffre etc, who aren't over-the-top super villains with hammy personalities or outlandish lairs or schemes, but who could feasibly exist and operate in the real world?
That was an excellent review and as a fellow James Bond fan I really enjoy your videos and can hardly wait for the next video
Thanks mate!!
One of my fav Fleming novels
These are the actors I imagine for the characters in this novel:
Bond - Timothy Dalton
Solitaire - Jane Seymour
Mr. Big - Yaphet Kotto
Felix - Bernie Casey
Quarrel - John Kitzmiller
Whenever I read a Bond book, I can't help but picture its film's Bond, but for this book, I imagined a more-rough looking Roger Moore (that's the best way I can describe it) with Timothy Dalton's voice
This was the first Bond novel I read. Two things I remember most. Bond has to go through the whole adventure with a broken finger and it affects his ability to fight. Secondly, I remember the meal Bond and Felix had at the St. Regis Hotel (burgers and fries and vanilla ice cream with melted butterscotch - yum). Overall, a lot of action in this novel.
In my head I make some excuses for Fleming, like it was a different time and he's a British guy with no doubt limited experience with USA, US multiculturalism and a Caribbean. He probably learned it all from other novels or movies of the time. That explains all the stereotypes and narrow-minded opinions.
Then I remember he lived in Jamaica.
Originally I had read, that they had planned to do this movie before Dr. No. But due to the civl rights era, this was considered distasteful. So Dr. No went ahead. In the 70's, with the blackssplitation films, SAHFT, SUSPERFUIL, with it white villains, it was considreed to be okey. Guentin tarrwentino has talked about reviving the Bond films, but in the year that Fleming wrote it. I think that this would have been an interesting idea, especially with Live and Let Die.It wouild make for some intersting social commmentary.
In a nice nod to Bond Calvin here is obviously reading "Q" cards...
I haven't read LALD (yet?), but pleasantly surprised to hear a lot of scenes from this book were adapted for different films. Probably the main reason to read it, because you just confirmed my fear about Fleming's character writing for this book...
I will say, I'm on FRWL right now and he does get better on the character writing front.
Live and Let Die was a decent book, but I did prefer Casino Royale. The pacing was often times odd at times, the bond girl this time was way more bland and forgettable, and the voodoo elements were interesting but it was disappointing that Fleming didn't do much with it. But when the plot got going, it did lead to some cool and sometimes dark moments, with Mr. Big being a very frightening villain. In terms of the over-abundance of the 'gamer-word' as well as the jive talk even I had a hard time comprehending (being British myself, it makes it even harder), it was published in the 50's, I'd be surprised if it didn't throw in a bit of racism every now and then. As a black person myself, I didn't mind it, especially with that context of 'it's an old book'. Though I did feel bad for Leiter, I liked him. But yeah, it's OK, and will continue to read more Bond books.
Oh could you do a video about the differences between each novel and book ??
Uhm a novel is a book
Learn what words mean
The racists and racial stereotypes I have always had a problem with in this book, and I have read all of the Fleming Bonds, I just ever saw Bond as having racist or bigoted views, he was just an impartial killer, he didn't care about race, creed or orientation, if you threatened the British government, or were going to kill thousands or millions of innocent people, he was going to kill you, period. Nice review of the book, Calvin, enjoying this.
Surprised you didn't mention the title of chapter five where Bond goes to Harlem.
Can't imagine why...
@@calvindyson I was GOING to read this book on a plane. But then I got to Chapter 5 and decided, nope.
@Starscream91 Alright, well, see how people react when they see you reading that on a plane. Can't imagine you'd be the most popular dude around.
@Starscream91 This entire comment thread has been about the title of Chapter 5, not the book itself.
I had no idea what everyone here was talking about until I learned Chapter Five's title was changed to Seventh Avenue in the American publication and the original was something very different.
I read most of the books 20 years ago and thought them enjoyable thrillers. Re-visiting them now, I'm aghast at the pulp fiction window they open onto Fleming's mind and mind set! He confuses bravery and decency with racism and snobbery in an alarmingly consistent way.
To bad we didn’t get the same hilarious death that the villain got in the movie. “He always did have an inflated opinion of himself” is one of my favorite lines in the series
I love how the film is basically a sequel to Do No featuring as it does quarrels son also called quarrel
When I came into Bond (through the video games, funnily enough) I picked up the novel 'Casino Royale' as my sister had a copy, and read the books in order (because why wouldn't you?). With the films, however, I was very much at the mercy of ITV schedulers, meaning sometimes I read the book first and compared the film with that, and sometimes it was the other way around. LALD was a case of the former, and I remember getting to the bit in the film where Tee-Hee's about to break Bond's finger and I was like "oh! It's that bit from the book!" and then being surprised when Roger Moore escaped with all 10 fingers intact.
And yeah, that dialogue. I remember having to read it out loud just so I could understand what the characters were saying, sometimes very very quietly if I was reading it on the bus.
One bit I do remember liking is when Bond and Solitaire arrive in Florida - it's early in the morning and they want some breakfast. Unfortunately for them the only place open is some scummy diner. Just having Bond in such a location is such a juxtaposition and having his internal monologue complaining was quite humorous I do recall. It's been quite a while since I last picked it up, perhaps I should.
Video games are an interesting entry point for the franchise! I think N64 GoldenEye especially created more Bond fans than it's given credit for
@@calvindyson It was GoldenEye on the Wii, for me - the N64 was just before my time. There was a lot of buzz around it when it came out, I think purely because of the legendary and historical status the N64 version has in the gaming world. I read Official Nintendo Magazine at that time, and they were very excited about the Wii-make (probably because the Wii hadn't had many FPS games before that point). I picked it up just to see what all the fuss was about.
I have to say that I've read Fleming's novels in two languages and no one of them is English, but I understand what you say about the infamous Harlem segment: here's a white Britton trying to write like Chester Himes and failing. Badly.
Other than that, an entertaining novel. No more, no less.
I had a similar experience. The first Bond book I read was "The Spy Who Loved Me". It took me years to read another one.
I've always regarded LALD as one the great missed opportunities of Bond films. The plot would've translated beautifully to screen and a movie adaptation would have allowed them to iron out some of problems in the novel, such as Mr Big being a SMERSH agent, when it always struck me as improbable that the Russians would be in league with the likes of Mr Big or Dr No, Spectre was more plausible. The book itself I read as a teenager and was always impatient to get to the action, so chapters describing conversations or sea life I tended to skip. Looking forward to Moonraker as Drax was a great villain.
I noticed Fleming tries to write accents into dialogue in several Bond books. It does come across as strange and is hard to understand as text. He seems to do it with both Caribbean and Scottish accents
I would say the good books are _Casino Royale,_ _Diamonds Are Forever,_ _From Russia with Love,_ (though only the last two thirds of it), _Goldfinger_ (though only the first two thirds of it), _Thunderball,_ _On Her Majesty's Secret Service_ (with a couple major caveats), and a sort of honorable mention to _You Only Live Twice._
MOONRAKER REVIEW NEXT!!
My favorite novel of the bunch
Thanks for your thorough review, @calvindyson
That bit when you're reading in the Fleming jamaican patois style, sounds like Jar Jar Binks.
What is your opinion on THAT particular chapter? You'll probably know what I mean.
Yep thats the one. @@calvindyson
Other than the title, what's shocking in the chapter?
It’s been a few years since I read LALD, so I had allowed myself to forget the G-d awful degree of (let’s not mince words) blatant racism evident here. That said... if you can allow that in certain cases, where Fleming establishes a particular character as being of a particular social class, poorly educated if at all, with every obstacle imaginable thrown at them, the slang and dialect is not quite as horrifically exaggerated as you might think. Some of it - not much, but some - is at least within the realm of the kind of regional dialects in any “underclass” regardless of race. Think of the typical “old Jewish man from the lower east side” character... and then imagine how that would look as written dialogue instead of hearing it spoken.
Definitely stereotyped and over the top, but less difficult to understand if you had grown up in America and been exposed to this kind of “white people’s idea of how all poor African American people speak” because they heard one or two people that really spoke like that.
I finished the book the night before seeing No Time to Die. I felt the first half was very good, with plenty to enjoy. Bond at the hotel, Mr. Big's setup and the description of his background and apathetic genius, getting to know Felix more, the admittedly odd tale about pirate treasure. I liked the club scene and Bond's escape. However, as soon as Bond gets on the train with Solitaire, my word it just takes a dive. Seemingly endless pages of descriptions about fish and coral, overlong prose related to beach-side retirement or holiday homes and Solitaire herself is just so dour. I do like how Fleming creates a poetic demise for Mr. Big, however. Very "hoist by his own petard." I can get over the phonetic and the "off its time" language as, just, whatever, but it does add a layer of interminable sludge to the reading experience. I got the impression that we were reading back Fleming's recollections of his drunken nights out in the Caribbean, overhearing the locals talk to one another, which he then perhaps dialled up a notch or four.
It's no a patch on Casino Royale, you're right, and Quarrel was very well done. That aside, it's certainly skippable.
Can't wait until you reach You Only Live Twice.
EDIT: Also, please tell me how you like the card-playing sequence in Moonraker. That always enraptures me whenever I read it, especially M's relationship with Bond in that scene.
I am definitely a fan of the LALD novel. It's not quite up there with Fleming's very best novels, but it has a lot of good passages in it and I would place it in the top half of the series. As an action-adventure novel I think it works really well, moves very quickly and when I've read it in the past I've found that the entertainment value of the book has helped it overcome some of its flaws. I don't remember disliking Solitaire as a character, but I certainly don't enjoy the book Solitaire as much as I do the version from the film.
I'm looking forward to the Moonraker review next, and I do think that Moonraker is easily a top 5 Bond novel, so I'm curious to hear your opinion Calvin.
Spoiler: I agree with you on Moonraker!
I have started going though the Bond Books again, I'm using Audible to listen to them, like you I read a few like a decade ago but I wanted to start again, I agree Casino Royal is a better Book over Live and Let Die as oh boy has it not aged well. I do disagree on your view on Solitaire though I didn't mind her at all. Moonraker is next on the list and I'm looking forward to hearing it/reading it as you said it is completely different to the film adaption, speaking of which I'm surprised you didn't touch on the ending of the book on how Mr Big dies compared to the film, as its changed completely, I know you sort of did when you talked about the plot what I mean is that you didn't compare it to the film.
The diaogue for the majority of the black actors made this book a difficult read for me too, both on offensive and similar to you I couldn't understand what they were saying at first. I am onto the next book now. Great review Calvin.
Thanks! I'm on FRWL now and have my reviews for Moonraker and Diamonds all prepared. Ones my absolute favourite so far, the other on the opposite end of the scale!
i love that you're doing the books!! i would reccommend reading dr no, it is deffinitly my favorite!
I can't wait to get to that one! Before reading through the series for these reviews I'd previously only read a handful so it's good to be diving into them good and proper now
Calvin - Bond Reviewer i really think you wont regret reading all of these as theyre great books!
LALD is one of the books that I have read in the series (and I intend to read the others in order to keep up with these reviews), it is definitely worse than Casino Royale. You highlighted all the same reasons I have for disliking the book, as well as bits I like. I've heard people say that Moonraker is the best Bond book. I started reading it, got a bit of a sour taste in my mouth (maybe it was just a hangover from LALD) so I stopped. I'll revisit it soon though. Excellent work as always Calvin.
I think we need a shrug counter. Literary Bond seems to really like shrugging a lot.
Disney land is in California. Disney world is in Florida
This book is split into roughly four equal sections for me. I felt the first quarter of the book, consisting of about 50 pages, was painfully dull. It really didn't pick up for me until Bond and Leiter were captured at the strip club. Then the next 120 pages just flew by. There was tons of action and suspense, and I couldn't put it down. I would categorize the final quarter of the book, lasting around 60 pages starting with Bond going to Jamaica, as mildly interesting.
Overall, I think it's a good book, but definitely uneven. I felt the pacing was all over the place. The prose, however, is beautifully written. I agree that Solitaire isn't a very good character, but I found Bond and Leiter compelling enough to hold my attention.
'From Russia With Love' , for me the best James Bond book. Look forward to your review.
Calvin, is there a chance that you will make a Top 10 Villain Bases like the volcano lair, stealth boat and Drax’s Space Station?
Oh for sure! Been on my to-do list for some time now.
The whole Cold War stuff is so shoved in. There’s no reason Mr. Big needed to be a SMERSH agent. It really feels like Fleming was just really interested in Voodoo and Harlem at one point and decided to randomly shove James Bond in it for no reason.
Loved the books since my early teens so really enjoying these reviews. Always felt the books hit their peak after Moonraker.
Actually Bloody Morgan's treasure would be the property of the the British Crown as it is located in Jamaica which at the time was still part of the British Empire and not an independant state.
I thought Fleming wrote the black characters with a Yorkshire accent I always have the cast of emmerdale stuck in my head when I read this book
Before the movies were made this book was the highest seller of all Fleming's titles.
FYI
Disneyland is in California
Disney World is in Florida and did not exist when this book was written
I agree with you about Smersh being shoehorned in the story, I came here to watch your review as I just finnished the book and I admit I ad forgotten about it in the end ahha !
Solitaire is almost shoehorned too, she kind of has no parts to play in the story beside giving her random opinion about people , I Guess she's part of all the things Mr Big does to impress people but I also agree with you, it's a meeeh chracter. She could have been killed instead of kidnapped when Bond and Felix were investigating.
Mr Big is a chracter with a lot of influence though because they're reconigzed right away when they get off the train to florida for example, you can tell Bond is in danger.
Exciting chapters to read maybe because I imagined the scenes from the movies (FYEO and LTK) and others chapters more calm with a lot of description by flemming and you can tell he was an expert of Jamaica .
I'm glad I read them in french to avoid what you said about how the blacks talk sometimes in the movie, that sounds annoying indeed, even more for a non native speaker.
Great video. Would you ever do a Worst to Best James Bonds video?
Also, excluding the whole rights issues surrounding Casino Royale, why weren't the films made in book order? Certain plot points could have been removed if need be, such as references to Vesper etc...
I think it was just whichever took the filmmakers fancy. I know Dr No was made because there were some rocket issues in the US at the time so it was quite topical and then FRWL because the President said he liked it so they wanted to capitalise on that. Not sure about Goldfinger but I know Thunderball was originally intended to be the first Bond film but rights issues got in the way but presumably the filmmakers had a keen desire to make that one given that they worked out a way to do it.
Oh cool, a book review!
I remember reading all the novels as a kid, loving Casino Royale and being horribly let down by LALD.
2:36 Disney WORLD. Disneyland is in California.
Also, how will you be taking the short stories, reviewwise?
That was a slip of the tongue that I JUST KNEW someone would pick up on haha! Not sure about the short stories really... Will have to see when I get to them I suppose
You going to do the none Fleming ones?
Wow, a Stepin Fetchit reference. I thought I was the only person alive who remembers that character.
I’d be very interested in more book reviews. The books r often so different from the films. It’s a cool idea.
Well I've already got reviews written for Moonraker and Diamonds and I'm 1/3rd way through reading FRWL so there's for sure more to come :D
Calvin - Bond Reviewer I’m on audible looking for something to read and I can’t help but feel it’s a shame we never got a blofeld novel too. I’d LOOOOVE a book about blofeld establishing SPECTRE or destroying an internal coup in spectre itself meant to unseat him. Just something. I’m looking at audible and their James Bond selection is great but I’m curious where’s best to start. Any suggestions? I’m someone who’s seen all the movies, played the games since childhood, I even really enjoy Kim Newman’s take on the characters in his Anno Dracula series, but I’ve never read the books themselves.
Don't forget, Disneyland is in California; DisneyWorld is in Florida.
I read this book in 3 & 1/2 hours. The first two thirds were really gripping. The final third was a let down for me. But still a good book
I am currently half-way through Diamonds Are Forever and LALD is the best book so far. It was fast paced, exciting, each chapter ended on a hook and has zero filler. I honestly wish we could have seen this as a faithful movie. It is interesting that a lot of parts were adapted separately in the movies. Solitaire was better written than Vesper and Bond was better developed here. It does have language now no longer suitable, and it is a product of its time but at no point was there any really any direct aggression towards black people and it was unfortunately just the language of the time Fleming used. Mr Big is a great villain and was menacing. I see CR as a film noir but LALD is full colour and exotic. Brilliant. I’d even recommend skipping CR as you really just need to know the very basics. Moonraker falls second place so far, followed by CR. As I am half way through Diamonds I feel it is quite weak, although I like Bond and Case’s scenes
The book has some solid moments scattered throughout but I found large parts of it very draggy. Soild but a step down from Casino Royale.
Someone told me that the best Ian Fleming's novel is OHMSS.
Sergio Ramón Rodríguez Cajiga It’s probably my favourite. My Top 5 would be
1.) OHMSS
2.) Thunderball
3.) From Russia with Love
4.) Goldfinger
5.) Live and Let Die
Read it and judge for yourself.
@@moodyguymick is the correct answer!
im exited for moonraker book review
Coming very soon!
Yes!!! Drax and the plot are fantastic. The ending between Bond and Gala is excellently written; very emotional and lend a deep perspective to Bond’s psychology and emotional intelligence.
Despite the cringey racial stuff this is my favorite of the Bond Books - working through them as audiobooks for the first time in about 15 years. I’ve become a Fleming purist of sorts which really changes the way I view the films.
I haven't read this one in years. It wasn't the best by a long shot but it wasn't the worst either. As for Moonraker, it does have more in common with the film that several others (Most of the Short stories, and especially TSWLM which is only linked to its film by the title and the fact they have Bond in them, although he isn't even the main character in the book).