Reviews - On Her Majesty's Secret Service

220 reviews for:

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Listened to the audiobook narrated by David Tennant and honestly that man could read a phonebook and I'd give it at least 4 stars... but this was actually a very fun listen and my very first Bond book, which is out of order since it's one of the last written. 007 has a lot more internal dialogue we don't get with the on screen version, which is sad because it makes him a much more well-rounded character. My only thing was trying to follow along with all the French like Fleming just assumes we all know it, and whatever complex card game they were gambling on. He definitely likes to prove that he knows a lot about classy, high brow things.

kfrench1008's review against another edition

4.0

One of Fleming's better books. Bond seems more human here.

muffmacguff's review against another edition

0.75

dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Maybe you need to think descriptions of skiing are exciting to enjoy this (you also need to ignore the sexism and xenophobia) and that isn’t me. I mean I knew what I was getting into I suppose. I’d also add that this book is pretty aggressively dull, just very long sequences of Bond walking around barely thinking, and lengthy conversations full of abbreviations. Sorry to be a hater.

Content Warnings

samwescott's review against another edition

2.0

Weirdly, this was one of the better Bond books. Slightly less racist, in that there were so few people of color with stereotype. Still super sexist and completely rude to people with depression. But the final scene was oddly touching, for a hollow Bond romance. And honestly, bobsled-bond was pretty hilarious.

ckfraser's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

tr3nzbooks's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I would definitely recommend this book to those who love spy novels.

James Bond is 007 in Her Majesty's Secret Service, one of the highest international spies in Britain. Bond is on the track of the villainous Blofeld, who escaped Bond in the wake of his last adventure, when he falls in love - for the first time- with the troubled daughter of the French mafia. With the help of this new alliance, Bond catches up with Blofeld & fails a scheme that could fell the British economy. Still he pays the ultimate price for his victory. & Blofeld escapes him yet again.

Who does bond fall in love with? What scheme does Bond stop? And what is the price does Bond pay for his victory against Blofeld? Read the book to find out.

j_dyzzle's review against another edition

4.0

Overall a great read. Occasionally I felt that Fleming may have been diving a little too deep into the nitty gritty of things that didn't really add to the story, but I suppose that's immersive world building. I really don't need to know which levers the helicopter pilot pulls to fly the thing or the ins and outs of card games. Still, I thought the character building and story telling in this one was much better than some of the previous books. So far my favorite in the series.