Rating: 
Summary: Shows Fleming's potential, but does have its flaws.
Review: This is the first book in the James Bond series, and Ian Fleming's first novel. Fleming has a pace which takes te reader, wraps him/her in its embrace, and starts running through the streets of France with no looking back. It's a great storytelling technique, and I hope he uses it as effectively in his other novels. This is the only Fleming Bond I've read so far, a fact which I intend to change very quickly. The story is fraught with suspense, and the only thing keeping me from giving this story a higher rating is that its climax occurs two-thirds of the way through the bok, the last third a romantic subplot of sorts which does have its purpose, but which I feel could've been done somewhere in the iddle of the book, or interspersed throughout the book, and still retaining the ending. If you're expecting the movie Bond, you're in for a disapointment. This Bond is cold, ruthless, and gets hurt. Physically and emotionally. One thing I really enjoyed about this book was Fleming's attention to detail. I don't know whether all the details are authentic, but I don't care. Fleming made me believe they were while I was reading hte book, and that's what is most important to me. That's almost a contributing factor in Fleming's technique I mentioned earlier; it's not just pacing, he really immerses you in his locations. If you're a Bond fan at all, you need to read this book--if for no other reason than to find out what started the whole phenomenon.
Rating: 
Summary: Strongest Fleming writing of all
Review: This truly is a novel in a sub-genre of its own. Fleming revolutionizes here the suspense/action thrillers presenting to us a modern-day hero (still modern 35 years later). The style of this book is fresh, hard, sensuous and nerve-wrecking, but with high class and humor (specially in the René Mathis character). But is also realistic and written in a straightforward, clear, simple style that makes the story more strong. From his second Bond novel on, Fleming showed a distinctive sweeping, fluid and rich style that emphazised scenery and detail. But in "Casino Royale", for once, Bond is the British spy modern equivalent of US private eye Philip Marlowe, only more idealistic and sensible (007 really falls in love in his frist 00 assignment). The plot is original and modest, specially when it comes to the villain's plan. Leiter is introduced here, and one hopes to read much more of Mathis (he did only a brief appearence in "From Russia, With Love" four years later). Regarding the films, though, the story would be (for better or worst) too intimate, human and modest to follow the screen treatments other 007 books had.
Rating:
Summary: He's no Sean Connery.
Review: I wasn't sure what to expect when reading this book, this having been the first Bond book that I have read. I have seen all of the movies (official and unofficial), though, so I thought that I'd probably have a feel for the book. Wrong! This Bond is not Sean Connery or Pierce Brosnan. But he's good. He takes chances, and things don't always work out like he has planned, but he makes up for that with a bit of brutal justice. This Bond is a bit more vulnerable, too, as the ending reaveals. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Meet James Bond
Review: Having seen all of the Bond films, I decided that it was time to begin reading the novels that started it all. Where to begin? With "Casino Royale", of course, where the world was introduced to 007. I found this book to be entertaining, with a bit of a dark edge to it. Not much character development; we don't really get a very good description of who Bond is or even what he looks like. This could possibly be due to the fact that Fleming did not intend to create a series of 007 novels, or it could've been a conscious effort to leave character development for later books. Regardless, "Casino Royale" is a good read, if not exactly a hot page turner. It is definitely interesting for those intrigued by 007; an absolute neccesity for those who wish to read the entire series
Rating:
Summary: Good all round book.
Review: Casino Royale is basically about a Soviet agent working in Southern France (as far as I can gather) misusing state funds to pay for his prositution and other rings, but France has passed some laws, meaning that he has to re-coup his money, Bond is sent in to brake his bank and funds by outplaying him at Baracatt (spelling).
The book shows Bond as a dark and moody character, there was never any real character description of what Bond looks like but you get the feeling of who is he is and how he ticks (works). James Bond is written to be a hard gambler, and not the super suarve spy we all know today.
The plot, is somewhat misunderstandable, firstly, if Le Chiffe (the bad guy) is misusing State funds, and has bascially lost it all due to prositution laws, this means that SMERSH (the part of the KGB which kills off traitorous agents, etc) would already be tracking him down, so why was there the need for James Bond in the novel, all he really did was to speed it up.
Then there was the girl, a very good description of an equally brilliant girl, who has a sting right at the end of the tail.
Of course the book was enjoyable at times, the haunting beating scene and the gambling scenes are brilliantly written, and a good atmopshere is created, but I still don't understand why Bond was used
Rating:
Summary: An impressive debut by Ian Fleming
Review: Fleming kicks off his series with a bang. Here he establishes his classic mix of exotic locales, beautiful women, and breathtaking action. The reader can really feel the tension in the casino during Bond's showdown with LeChiffre. In addition, the titles in the James Bond Classic Library series are inexpensive but very nice-looking hardcover volumes
Rating:
Summary: The best James bond book!
Review: This is the book that started it all. It contains a young James Bond with only two kills under his belt. His mission? To break SMERSH's bank account by beating Le Chiffre in...BACCARAT. This book has him meet Felix for the first time, gives the exact formula for his Vodka Martini. The is a must for any true bond fan. It also has a surprize ending
Rating:
Summary: Fleming's first and best James Bond thriller
Review: Bond movies, which typically only share Fleming's book
title, and possibly a few character names, do not
represent the quality of these thrillers. In particular,
Casino Royale is one of the best thrillers of this
generation. It offers tough characters, atmosphere, and
tension from page 1. For crime lovers, this is a blend
of the tough guy, Raymond Chandler type characters with
the more modern action-oriented plot. Unlike the movies,
you feel you know the characters by the end of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Royale With Cheese
Review: I'm not the world's biggest fan of the James Bond movies, although I do enjoy them a bit. I've seen a handful of them in the cinema, and will gladly watch one on TV on a Sunday afternoon if there's no football on. But I'd heard good things about the novel series that the movies were based on and I was curious to see how James Bond worked in print. I'll probably read more books in the series, because I liked the style, but my overall impression of CASINO ROYALE, the first James Bond novel, was negative. The plot revolves around the need for government agent James Bond to beat a Russian spy decisively at the Baccarat table in a ritzy casino/vacation resort. It doesn't get much more complicated than that, although the sections of the book involving the initial stakeout and the game itself are satisfying and competent. They seem to be very influenced by the pulp thrillers that had come in years past, though they bring little new to the table. They're fun though. My main problem came once the initial conflict has been resolved, all the way at the two-thirds point. The final third of the book involves a bizarre romance and an even stranger set of ruminations on good vs. evil. This section is, to be frank, childishly inept, and ruins any good will I had stored up from the casino plot. Yes, deliberations on what separates agents working for the "good" guys and spies working for "evil" governments is an interesting idea and one which has sparked numerous thought-provoking debates and discussions. But this isn't one of them. James Bond himself isn't terribly developed yet; I assume his persona would become better established in subsequent novels. He's humorless, moody and drab. I never really felt there was enough to get a grip on the character. The rest of the cast are sketchy as well. Of course, since most of them are lesser agents who only show up when they have a plot point to fill, that's to be expected. Bond's love interest receives more characterization from her slinky portrait on the cover than from anything that appears in the pages. To be honest, I'm faintly surprised to hear rumors of Hollywood producers wishing to film this (on the premise that it's the last James Bond novel that hasn't been faithfully adapted to the screen). It seems to me it would be rather dull after the excesses recently displayed in the movies. There's only one explosion, a relatively tame car chase sequence, no helicopters, jet-planes, or space vehicles. In short, it's comparatively tame. Hopefully they'll adapt the better parts of the book (the gambling and casino intrigue) and cut out the bad (the last sixty or so pages). Merging the book's successes with the better-established characters may result in an entertaining film, but it has its work cut out for it if it wants to be great.
Rating:
Summary: Meet...THE SECRET AGENT
Review: In many ways,CASINO ROYALE is most fascinating of the 007 adventures. Ian Fleming himself is not yet sure what he wants his once-and-future super spy to be, and the uneven writing craft of the novel makes this evident.The mission Bond is given is far less exotic, much more down to earth than most(SPY WHO LOVED ME is exception where a 007 love affair is reported by a paramour during the world-wide hunt for the arch terrorist of SPECTRE, Blofeld). He is simply commissioned and bankrolled by MI-6 to bankrupt a French Communist fellow traveler named Le Chiffre who funds Moscow Fifth Column operations in Europe.
Bond is initially characterized as vodka-drinking;rally-level driving; chain smoking(Morland's three-gold banded,custom-rolled Turkish blend) benzedrine-for-a-wire employing hard-ass spy. He is a gourmet and champagne label snob. He drives a super-charged Bentley. He carries Colt.38;not yet .25 Beretta or movie-famous, Walter PPK. He is a practical misogynist("'Women were for recreation; on the job they got in the way';closing paragraph chapter 4:'L'enemi Ecoute'"). He is one of three(again pre-film era)extraordinary British agents,LICENCED TO KILL.
Although Le Chiffre is not of Dr. No's or Ernst Stavro Blofeld's
"Napoleonic" ilk,he is master sadist worthy of the infamous Marquis'name. The TORTURE/INTERROGATION...chapter 17,"My Dear Boy"...is the most harrowing and genuinely brutal climax of all Bond books(only the opening Prison Sequence of DIE ANOTHER DAY,even hints...in fictional tableau...of mind-spinning viciousness of professional torturer-killers guised as soldiers).
The irony of how BOND survives...is rescued...to Live & Die Another Day is left for readers to discover. CASINO ROYALE is a thriller.It is no where near the depths of Le Carre's brilliant character studies but it is no pulp cartoon. Ian Fleming was a gifted writer.In this premier outing,he introduces what...in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE..moguls of Death, within the thugocracy of the KGB's most sinister apparat, gudgingly acknowledge as England's most "dangerous professional terrorist and spy."
JAMES BOND is to become the most well-known,flamboyant,invincible
outrageously cool UN-SECRET/SECRET Agent the world has ever known. He is "spy" fiction's SUPERMAN; and cinema's,perhaps, greatest hero. He now "lives" among myth as what Joseph Campbell terms one of The HERO(S)with a THOUSAND FACES. In CASINO ROYALE, he is still a very flawed, recognizably"ordinary" man on the way to super-herodom. Reading this first James Bond thriller is an opportunity,a literary trip into genesis of how fictional"heroes" are made,not born.
Meet:THE SECRET AGENT...
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