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hirvimaki's review against another edition
3.0
A ridiculous plot that made zero sense and yet oddly entertaining...
ninethreeo's review against another edition
3.0
Not what I was expecting and enjoyably so. Pretty much the only similarity with the film is that the villain is called Scaramanga. Bond is not the killing and shagging machine of the films, at one point he has a shower and spends the evening sitting about in his pants. Not that there aren’t bits that will make a modern reader cringe, but hearing the self-doubt in Bonds internal thoughts is refreshing.
I don’t know why I’ve started with the last in the series, which apparently isn’t like the others, I might start from Casino Royale and read a few more.
I don’t know why I’ve started with the last in the series, which apparently isn’t like the others, I might start from Casino Royale and read a few more.
cptcheerful's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
andrew_j_r's review against another edition
2.0
I confess that I was slightly underwhelmed by this one.
I really enjoyed the last three books, they made up a trilogy of tales concerning Blofeld. What is irritating about this one is that the story I really wanted to read about was what happened between this book and the last.
This starts with a brainwashed Bond attempting to kill M. I would’ve liked to have seen the brainwashing process, and the book ending with this attempt. What we actually got was the attempt, followed by a very quick recovery that we don’t even get to see in which he is cured, then put on a dangerous mission that will prove whether he is still the man he needs to be. It’s very wishy-washy and the whole brainwashing thing was glossed over far too quickly.
We then get a fairly average story In which Bond returns to Jamaica, somewhere we have seen so many times before in these books it kind of feels like the writer couldn’t be bothered to research anything and just used a locale he already knew well. The story is not that exciting and the end is predictable. It is a shame that this is the final novel in the series, I’m sure the short stories that follow it are fine and I will read them, but as the final full novel it ended with a whimper rather than a bang. Rather disappointing.
jon288's review against another edition
4.0
(Re-read). One of the few where I think the film may have improved on it (with the exceptions of some dated scenes), but maybe that's just Christopher Lee. A relatively low key mission, but a good final confrontation and interesting beginning with a brainwashed Bond
duparker's review against another edition
4.0
Fun, and very different from the last Bond I read. I like the more modern feel to be storytelling, and the local was cool. Haven't seen this movie in a long time but I suspect it's vastly different overall a really enjoyable read with a great flow and fun tone.
historyrebel's review against another edition
3.0
I've heard some people think Fleming died before he could really revise this book. I don't know if it's true, but it does feel plausible. It's a decent story. There are some good, tense moments, but the story also feels very rough at times. The beginning of the book is better than the rest.
stuporfly's review against another edition
2.0
The last of Ian Fleming's original James Bond novels is one of his least successful, with the author having died before the editorial process was completed. Would it have been a more enjoyable book had he lived long enough to see it to completion? I'm not convinced.
The Man With the Golden Gun is one of the most incongruous of the Bond series, picking up where its predecessor left off, with the secret agent having been brainwashed by the Soviet secret service to kill the head of the British secret service, known as M. The assassination attempt is thwarted in the moment, and Bond is soon returned to his sour, alcoholic, womanizing self. Bond is then tasked with the job of killing Francisco "Pistols" Scaramanga, who as the title suggests, has a golden gun. Though Scaramanga has killed British secret agents, he seems less the sort of megalomaniacal villain Bond is normally set against, and is instead sort of a hitman. Which is fine, I guess, except it doesn't really work.
For the second time in Fleming's original works, Bond is given the job by a bad guy of taking notes at a meeting of gangsters. It didn't make much sense when it happened in Goldfinger, and it doesn't make much sense here. But not much makes sense here anyway. As a farewell to the original James Bond series, it falls flat. It's not a worthy goodbye, which is partly why I've undertaken the self-appointed task of reading the James Bond timeline following roughly from 1950-69, including books written by other authors (please see my Goodreads blog for further information).
I started reading the series on the page, but a cross-country drive pushed me over into audiobooks. Ordinarily that worked out beautifully, especially as the Fleming estate in 2014 enlisted numerous British actors to read a book each. David Tennant was particularly good, though there were others as well. Kenneth Branagh narrated The Man With the Golden Gun, which was something of a mixed bag, primarily when it came to his interpretation of Scaramanga. In the oft-reviled film adaptation, Scaramanga is played by Christopher Lee with a sort of homicidal aristocratic voice. Here, Branagh Americanizes Scaramanga's voice, and he just sounds like a lazy goon.
Though this is the last of the Fleming works in the timeline (including the short story collections), there are three novels which follow. For more on those, I'll again refer you to my blog, and I will also be reviewing those separately as well.
The Man With the Golden Gun is one of the most incongruous of the Bond series, picking up where its predecessor left off, with the secret agent having been brainwashed by the Soviet secret service to kill the head of the British secret service, known as M. The assassination attempt is thwarted in the moment, and Bond is soon returned to his sour, alcoholic, womanizing self. Bond is then tasked with the job of killing Francisco "Pistols" Scaramanga, who as the title suggests, has a golden gun. Though Scaramanga has killed British secret agents, he seems less the sort of megalomaniacal villain Bond is normally set against, and is instead sort of a hitman. Which is fine, I guess, except it doesn't really work.
For the second time in Fleming's original works, Bond is given the job by a bad guy of taking notes at a meeting of gangsters. It didn't make much sense when it happened in Goldfinger, and it doesn't make much sense here. But not much makes sense here anyway. As a farewell to the original James Bond series, it falls flat. It's not a worthy goodbye, which is partly why I've undertaken the self-appointed task of reading the James Bond timeline following roughly from 1950-69, including books written by other authors (please see my Goodreads blog for further information).
I started reading the series on the page, but a cross-country drive pushed me over into audiobooks. Ordinarily that worked out beautifully, especially as the Fleming estate in 2014 enlisted numerous British actors to read a book each. David Tennant was particularly good, though there were others as well. Kenneth Branagh narrated The Man With the Golden Gun, which was something of a mixed bag, primarily when it came to his interpretation of Scaramanga. In the oft-reviled film adaptation, Scaramanga is played by Christopher Lee with a sort of homicidal aristocratic voice. Here, Branagh Americanizes Scaramanga's voice, and he just sounds like a lazy goon.
Though this is the last of the Fleming works in the timeline (including the short story collections), there are three novels which follow. For more on those, I'll again refer you to my blog, and I will also be reviewing those separately as well.