504 reviews for:

Live and Let Die

Ian Fleming

3.27 AVERAGE

adventurous dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous challenging
adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Voodoo, conspiracy, romance; All the things that make this 007 novel a must read
adventurous dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No

"When you were young, and your heart was an open book,
You used to say live and let live
(you know you did you know you die you know you did)
But in this ever changing world in which we live in
Makes you give in and cry ...
Live and let die ..."

(cue guitar riff)

With that out of the way - Paul McCartney and Wings, later covered by Guns 'N Roses - Live and Let Die is the second James Bond book by Ian Fleming, but the eighth film in the series, and the first to star Roger Moore in the lead role.

And reading it with contemporary eyes, boy has it aged. Quite different than the movie - although the key elements (vodoo, Baron Samedi, Solitaire, American southwest setting) are intact, it can also be quite uncomfortable reading this with modern sensibilities, particularly in how Flemings (and Bond) treats the female characters, and in how the Harlem culture and denizens are portrayed.

Allowances must be made, I suppose, for the time period in which it was written ...
adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated