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| 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' by Ian Fleming (Penguin Modern Classics, 2004) |
Showing posts with label blofeld. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blofeld. Show all posts
01 January 2017
Bond Meets his Matches
So, the day has finally come. For nearly two years, I've been working my way through the 007 Reloaded audiobooks, recordings of Ian Fleming's original James Bond novels read by a variety of great actors. I've finally finished my last one. I say 'my' last one because I've not actually listened to them in order, but, in a strange way, I'm glad that 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' by Ian Fleming and read by David Tennant was my last.
09 October 2016
Two for the Price of Bond!
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.
As the regular readers among you will know, I've been working my way through the AudioGo 007 Reloaded series of James Bond audiobooks over the past few years. I've now listened to 13 of the 14 unabridged recordings of Ian Fleming's original novels read by different actors. At time of typing, I'm just two CDs away from finishing the whole series, so watch this space!
Back to back, I recently (ahem) finished 'You Only Live Twice' (read by Martin Jarvis) and 'The Man with the Golden Gun' (read by Kenneth Branagh).
In 'You Only Live Twice', Bond is a broken man. His wife is dead, murdered by criminal mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and Bond's spirit seems to have died with her. But while 007 is ready to give up, M is prepared to give him an opportunity to live again. Sent to Japan, Bond receives his deadliest assignment yet from Tiger Tanaka, head of the country's Secret Service. A suspicious foreigner has created a 'Castle of Death' where too many people have lost their lives in mysterious circumstances. Tanaka charges Bond with infiltrating the castle, but first of all, 007 has to learn how to be Japanese...
'You Only Live Twice' is followed by 'The Man with the Golden Gun'. Missing for over a year following his Japanese adventure, Bond makes a sudden re-appearance in London, brainwashed by the KGB to assassinate M. Fortunately, the attempt fails, but to prove his loyalty, Bond is sent on an impossible mission; to find and kill the notorious hit man 'Pistols' Scaramanga. But does the world-weary spy have what it takes to assassinate the legendary Man with the Golden Gun?
'You Only Live Twice' and 'The Man with the Golden Gun' are the last Bond books written by Ian Fleming before his death at just 56 years old in 1964. They're full of references to previous events, locations and people, so you need to be aware of their predecessors' plots. The events of 'You Only Live Twice', for example, only make sense if you've read 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' (unfortunately, the only one in the series I didn't have!). Don't make my mistake, read Fleming's novels in order!
Of the two, I felt 'You Only Live Twice' was the weaker. I've often got the feeling that Fleming would learn something or meet someone, become fascinated, stew for a bit, then, when the time was right, sit down and write a Bond novel. Unfortunately, this got in the way a bit with this book. The theme here is Japanese culture, but so many pages are devoted to Tanaka teaching Bond how to be Japanese that it dispels the tension in the lead up to the mission itself. Plus, although I know these books are fiction, imagining the bullish Britisher James Bond could masquerade as a Japanese man felt a bit too far fetched. Underground lairs? Yes. Gold smuggled as car parts? Obviously. A bit of make up and some coaching to completely change culture? Hmm, not sure.
Once it did cut to the chase, however, the reader was back on safe ground. The mission in the 'Castle of Death' has all the hallmarks of a classic Fleming thriller and there's a brilliant cliffhanger ending (although there's a loose end connected with the love interest which is never resolved and will torment me forever!).
'The Man with the Golden Gun' is far more tense and arresting throughout. Once the initial hurdle of Bond's brainwashing is out of the way, we find ourselves in what would otherwise be a great standalone Bond story. This is thanks to Scaramanga, a mysterious and unpredictable villain who seems much like a wire that could snap at any time. Throughout the book, it feels like it's the baddie who has the upper hand and Bond could be unmasked at any moment. Even when you think it's all over... well, it isn't... quite!
One unexpected negative to 'The Man with the Golden Gun' was its narrator, Kenneth Branagh. He's such an amazing actor and director and I was really excited to be listening to a Bond book read by him. Unfortunately, the performance felt really rushed, almost as though he'd squeezed it in between two of his other many projects. It was such a shame, especially as many of the other 007 Reloaded readers have added so much to the books with their recordings.
'You Only Live Twice' and 'The Man with the Golden Gun' both feature great characters, old and new. I'm sure Dikko Henderson, Bond's Australian Secret Service contact in Japan, must be based on someone Fleming knew. The guy just leaps off the page! Felix Leiter and Mary Goodnight also make welcome re-appearances and we find out what happened to a number of other characters too.
Interestingly, the man we find out most about is probably James Bond himself. When he goes missing in 'You Only Live Twice', Bond's obituary is published - a great read for trivia addicts!
Related Posts
'Casino Royale'
'Live and Let Die'
'Moonraker'
'Diamonds are Forever'
'Goldfinger'
'From Russia with Love'
'Dr No'
'For Your Eyes Only'
'Thunderball'
'The Spy who Loved Me'
'Octopussy, the Living Daylights and Other Stories'
As the regular readers among you will know, I've been working my way through the AudioGo 007 Reloaded series of James Bond audiobooks over the past few years. I've now listened to 13 of the 14 unabridged recordings of Ian Fleming's original novels read by different actors. At time of typing, I'm just two CDs away from finishing the whole series, so watch this space!
Back to back, I recently (ahem) finished 'You Only Live Twice' (read by Martin Jarvis) and 'The Man with the Golden Gun' (read by Kenneth Branagh).
 |
| 'You Only Live Twice' by Ian Fleming and read by Martin Jarvis (AudioGo 2012) |
'You Only Live Twice' is followed by 'The Man with the Golden Gun'. Missing for over a year following his Japanese adventure, Bond makes a sudden re-appearance in London, brainwashed by the KGB to assassinate M. Fortunately, the attempt fails, but to prove his loyalty, Bond is sent on an impossible mission; to find and kill the notorious hit man 'Pistols' Scaramanga. But does the world-weary spy have what it takes to assassinate the legendary Man with the Golden Gun?
 |
| 'You Only Live Twice' by Ian Fleming (Penguin Modern Classics, 2004) |
Of the two, I felt 'You Only Live Twice' was the weaker. I've often got the feeling that Fleming would learn something or meet someone, become fascinated, stew for a bit, then, when the time was right, sit down and write a Bond novel. Unfortunately, this got in the way a bit with this book. The theme here is Japanese culture, but so many pages are devoted to Tanaka teaching Bond how to be Japanese that it dispels the tension in the lead up to the mission itself. Plus, although I know these books are fiction, imagining the bullish Britisher James Bond could masquerade as a Japanese man felt a bit too far fetched. Underground lairs? Yes. Gold smuggled as car parts? Obviously. A bit of make up and some coaching to completely change culture? Hmm, not sure.
Once it did cut to the chase, however, the reader was back on safe ground. The mission in the 'Castle of Death' has all the hallmarks of a classic Fleming thriller and there's a brilliant cliffhanger ending (although there's a loose end connected with the love interest which is never resolved and will torment me forever!).
 |
| 'The Man with the Golden Gun' by Ian Fleming and read by Kenneth Branagh. (AudioGo, 2012) |
One unexpected negative to 'The Man with the Golden Gun' was its narrator, Kenneth Branagh. He's such an amazing actor and director and I was really excited to be listening to a Bond book read by him. Unfortunately, the performance felt really rushed, almost as though he'd squeezed it in between two of his other many projects. It was such a shame, especially as many of the other 007 Reloaded readers have added so much to the books with their recordings.
 |
| 'The Man with the Golden Gun' by Ian Fleming. (Vintage, 2012) |
Interestingly, the man we find out most about is probably James Bond himself. When he goes missing in 'You Only Live Twice', Bond's obituary is published - a great read for trivia addicts!
Overall, despite having my disbelief suspended a bit higher than normal, I did enjoy both these stories and they are great additions to the Bond canon. On the whole, I think it's a case of if you enjoyed one, you'll probably enjoy them all.
Now I've nearly finished them all, I'm actually feeling quite sad that there weren't more. I know other writers have picked up the pen and continued where Fleming left off, but there is a big part of me that can't help thinking that nobody does it better.
Now, what next...?
Related Posts
'Casino Royale'
'Live and Let Die'
'Moonraker'
'Diamonds are Forever'
'Goldfinger'
'From Russia with Love'
'Dr No'
'For Your Eyes Only'
'Thunderball'
'The Spy who Loved Me'
'Octopussy, the Living Daylights and Other Stories'
23 September 2014
Thunderstruck
I recently finished listening to AudioGo's 007 Reloaded version of 'Thunderball' by Ian Fleming, read by Jason Isaacs. Talk about thunderstruck!
Arch-conspirator and head of SPECTRE Ernst Stavro Blofeld has engineered the capture of two atomic weapons and has his sights set on extortion. The UK and US governments must pay up £100 million, otherwise two unidentified locations will be destroyed and chaos will ensue. With just one week to find the bombs and prevent worldwide disaster, M sends his top secret agent, James Bond, into battle once more...
I absolutely loved this audiobook. It amazes me, but Fleming seems to do something different with every Bond story, as though he's constantly trying different styles and structures. Here, for example, he juggles a lot of seemingly unconnected plotlines that are, of course, very much entwined, skillfully drip feeding their relevance to the reader at just the right moment. So pay attention, 007!
This book is also interesting from a Bond mythos perspective. It has a lot of background information about 007's arch-nemesis Blofeld and we get some glimpses into the more everyday life led by the jobbing secret agent.
There is, of course, also all the standard items you'd expect in any Bond book worthy of the name; exotic location (Bahamas), feisty female lead (Domino), a villain to defeat (Emilio Largo), rich living (the super-yacht the Disco Volante). There's also the usual sex and violence and, perhaps surprisingly, humour. There were parts of the first few chapters that actually made me laugh aloud, not something I would've predicted!
Jason Isaacs did a fantastic job of reading 'Thunderball' and I think his contribution to how much I enjoyed this audiobook shouldn't be ignored. I shall definitely be looking out for other work read by him in the future.
As you might be able to tell, I thoroughly enjoyed 'Thunderball' and can't wait to read/hear it again. That will have to wait, though, as I still have a few (ahem!) more books to read first. However, I've no doubt that this James Bond will return.
Related Posts
'Casino Royale'
'Live and Let Die'
'Dr No'
'For Your Eyes Only'
'Octopussy, the Living Daylights and Other Stories'
 |
| 'Thunderball' by Ian Fleming Read by Jason Isaacs (AudioGO, 2012) |
I absolutely loved this audiobook. It amazes me, but Fleming seems to do something different with every Bond story, as though he's constantly trying different styles and structures. Here, for example, he juggles a lot of seemingly unconnected plotlines that are, of course, very much entwined, skillfully drip feeding their relevance to the reader at just the right moment. So pay attention, 007!
This book is also interesting from a Bond mythos perspective. It has a lot of background information about 007's arch-nemesis Blofeld and we get some glimpses into the more everyday life led by the jobbing secret agent.
 |
| 'Thunderball' by Ian Fleming (Penguin Modern Classics, 2004) |
Jason Isaacs did a fantastic job of reading 'Thunderball' and I think his contribution to how much I enjoyed this audiobook shouldn't be ignored. I shall definitely be looking out for other work read by him in the future.
As you might be able to tell, I thoroughly enjoyed 'Thunderball' and can't wait to read/hear it again. That will have to wait, though, as I still have a few (ahem!) more books to read first. However, I've no doubt that this James Bond will return.
Related Posts
'Casino Royale'
'Live and Let Die'
'Dr No'
'For Your Eyes Only'
'Octopussy, the Living Daylights and Other Stories'
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