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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
This was my favorite of all the Bond books.
Bond is fully developed as a character and shows (what a concept) human emotions! No more robot Bond, which I found highly interesting. Also, the history of Bond's ancestry is explored.
And of course... Bond gets married and then his wife dies before they even get to go on there honeymoon! WTH?!?!?!!?
Bond is fully developed as a character and shows (what a concept) human emotions! No more robot Bond, which I found highly interesting. Also, the history of Bond's ancestry is explored.
And of course...
Elmore Leonard's 10 rules for writing posits that one must only use two or three exclaimation points for every 100,000 words of prose -- in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, I calculated using my ebook copy that Ian Fleming used exactly 540, including in his deeply strange chapter titles such as "Fork Left For Hell!" and "Sweet Dreams - Sweet Nightmare!" (Leonard also advises one to never use the phrase "all hell broke loose", the exact use of which I found on page 234).
This is only the second Bond book I've read, but it is a pretty heavy step down from how much I enjoyed Casino Royale. While I was pretty much swept along with the mammoth descriptions of gambling in that book, as technical as they were, I cannot say the same about the level of detail about genealogical and heraldic research in this one. On top of that, Fleming ratchets up the amount of action set-pieces which don't read as well on page as they do on the big screen, and most of which I found myself skimming.
I guess like everyone else I found that it was James and Tracy's relationship that was the most rewarding part of this book, but that only began to emerge for me after a long and sluggish first half, including the entire mostly uninteresting escapade in Blofeld's mountaintop lair. It was only in the second half, too, that Tracy actually emerged as a fulfilling character after being nothing but a cipher in the beginning and just disappearing in the middle (I guess the Swiss psychologists Bond sent her to did their best and cured her personality disorders, despite their treatment never being mentioned?). Bond, too, also gets some quick depth that I didn't expect -- I particularly liked one passage that went "It never crossed his mind that anybody really cared about him. A shake of the head from his Mends when he went, a few careful lines in the obituary columns of The Times, a momentary pang in a few girls' hearts [...] Now, if he got himself killed, there would be Tracy who would at any rate partially die with him."
This is only the second Bond book I've read, but it is a pretty heavy step down from how much I enjoyed Casino Royale. While I was pretty much swept along with the mammoth descriptions of gambling in that book, as technical as they were, I cannot say the same about the level of detail about genealogical and heraldic research in this one. On top of that, Fleming ratchets up the amount of action set-pieces which don't read as well on page as they do on the big screen, and most of which I found myself skimming.
I guess like everyone else I found that it was James and Tracy's relationship that was the most rewarding part of this book, but that only began to emerge for me after a long and sluggish first half, including the entire mostly uninteresting escapade in Blofeld's mountaintop lair. It was only in the second half, too, that Tracy actually emerged as a fulfilling character after being nothing but a cipher in the beginning and just disappearing in the middle (I guess the Swiss psychologists Bond sent her to did their best and cured her personality disorders, despite their treatment never being mentioned?). Bond, too, also gets some quick depth that I didn't expect -- I particularly liked one passage that went "It never crossed his mind that anybody really cared about him. A shake of the head from his Mends when he went, a few careful lines in the obituary columns of The Times, a momentary pang in a few girls' hearts [...] Now, if he got himself killed, there would be Tracy who would at any rate partially die with him."
https://emryal.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/on-her-majestys-secret-service/
I’m not a fan of the James Bond movies. Actually, if I am really honest, I have never watched one in its entirety but I get the feeling that they are not for me. However, I decided to give one of the books a try because I didn’t want to be too judgemental without cause to back it up. Maybe I just prefer books to movies.
What I found was this: the books haven’t aged aged well. They are quite mysogenistic and I really don’t think glib conversations about rape really endear a reader to the characters.
However, taken as an action thriller and removing sexual abuse I can see why the books (and I guess the movies) have such a following. They are fast paced, have clear discernible villains and heroes and as a reader you have the clear knowledge that you know the hero will win. It is is the knowledge that you know that the story will end well that makes readers (and viewers) enjoy the stories. The knowledge that they good guy will win that makes it quite satisfying.
I have surprised myself by acknowledging that I would be willing to read more of the Bond, James Bond series.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming is available now.
What I found was this: the books haven’t aged aged well. They are quite mysogenistic and I really don’t think glib conversations about rape really endear a reader to the characters.
However, taken as an action thriller and removing sexual abuse I can see why the books (and I guess the movies) have such a following. They are fast paced, have clear discernible villains and heroes and as a reader you have the clear knowledge that you know the hero will win. It is is the knowledge that you know that the story will end well that makes readers (and viewers) enjoy the stories. The knowledge that they good guy will win that makes it quite satisfying.
I have surprised myself by acknowledging that I would be willing to read more of the Bond, James Bond series.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming is available now.
After the diversion of style in The Spy Who Loved Me, normal service is resumed in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and, if Thunderball felt big, this story feels bigger.
With changes looming in Bond's life, both at the beginning and end of the story - and, both hoping and not hoping that the film shared its iconic ending with the novel (some of the other iconic scenes had been changed from page to screen) - I raced through this book at breakneck speed, almost as fast as Bond's escape from Blofeld's HQ on skis, a set piece as exciting as the later sequence in which Bond jumps onto a one-man skeleton-bob was ludicrous.
There have been previous hints that Fleming's stories took place in "our" world - the history of Las Vegas in Diamonds Are Forever had me reaching for Google - but the throw-away reference to Ursula Andress in this novel is amusingly cheeky, given that it was written around the time that she would have been filming (or just completed filming) her part in Dr No.
Something about Bond's conversion from a man who practically denounced marriage in earlier books to one who can't wait to be married in this one feels rushed. It's almost as though Fleming wanted the ceremony just to set up the novel's ending and, presumably, given how the books follow each other much more linearly than the films, Bond's state of mind in the next book. It does, however, lead to an amusing exchange over the phone in which he berates his wife-to-be for he loving sighs, telling her, "For God's sake pay attention." You can't help but wonder what married life for the couple would have been like. Equally amusing is Bond's reaction to the European greeting he gets from Tracy's father just prior to the wedding - staid Englishman (or Scot) meets expressive European.
My favourite of the series, taking over from Dr No, and a book that focuses as much on Bond's character as it does on his adventure.
With changes looming in Bond's life, both at the beginning and end of the story - and, both hoping and not hoping that the film shared its iconic ending with the novel (some of the other iconic scenes had been changed from page to screen) - I raced through this book at breakneck speed, almost as fast as Bond's escape from Blofeld's HQ on skis, a set piece as exciting as the later sequence in which Bond jumps onto a one-man skeleton-bob was ludicrous.
There have been previous hints that Fleming's stories took place in "our" world - the history of Las Vegas in Diamonds Are Forever had me reaching for Google - but the throw-away reference to Ursula Andress in this novel is amusingly cheeky, given that it was written around the time that she would have been filming (or just completed filming) her part in Dr No.
Something about Bond's conversion from a man who practically denounced marriage in earlier books to one who can't wait to be married in this one feels rushed. It's almost as though Fleming wanted the ceremony just to set up the novel's ending and, presumably, given how the books follow each other much more linearly than the films, Bond's state of mind in the next book. It does, however, lead to an amusing exchange over the phone in which he berates his wife-to-be for he loving sighs, telling her, "For God's sake pay attention." You can't help but wonder what married life for the couple would have been like. Equally amusing is Bond's reaction to the European greeting he gets from Tracy's father just prior to the wedding - staid Englishman (or Scot) meets expressive European.
My favourite of the series, taking over from Dr No, and a book that focuses as much on Bond's character as it does on his adventure.
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Definitely the best of the Bond stories I've 'read' so far. Tennant gives a stellar reading as always, but more importantly there's less of the typical (and usually ever-present) rampant sexism and 'ladykilling' from Bond. Seeing him capable of change is refreshing, though also frustrating in that so rarely is this turn seen to influence the character's portrayal outside of this one story.
Also, Fleming is still clearly a pompous, playboy douche, but his need to show that off is also toned down in this story.
Also, Fleming is still clearly a pompous, playboy douche, but his need to show that off is also toned down in this story.