Rating: 
Summary: A PAGE TURNER, THE BEST 007 NOVEL!!
Review: "Casino Royale," "Live an Let Die," and "Moonraker," and "Diamonds are Forever," were all very good novels. Plenty of action in all, but no match for this. From the begining to end, the descriptions of the plans and characters are incredibly superb. The best and toughest villians and henchmen. Ian Fleming is at his best. Read this you will not be disapointed. The closet and best books next to this are "Dr. No" and "On Her Majstye's Secret Service."
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Summary: Trust no one!
Review: "From Russia with Love" by Ian Flemming is one of the best James Bond thrillers ever written. It has everything from sinister secret agents to lovely backstabing beauties. Ian Flemming grabs your attention from the very beginning and doesn't let go till the end. With non stop thrills, spills, and chills it is guaranteed that you'll want to keep reading
Rating: 
Summary: Bond, James Bond
Review: After only reading 6 Flemming Bond Novels, this is by far one of the best. Right from the start, Flemming introduces a menace of a character (Red Grant) who plays a major part in a clever trap created by SMERSH to put Bond to his death. There is some great character development in this novel, especially the relationship between Bond and his counterpart in Turkey, Kerim Bay. There are some believable ememies and great locations. The train journey on the Orient Express is the main highlight of this book. This is a must for all Bond fans, make sure you have Dr. No ready for when you've finished this one.
Rating:
Summary: Fleming's Best
Review: As 007 creaps closer to being on the big screen Ian Fleming's novels get even better. Although there is a slow first few chapters it starts to speed up when charecters like General G, Rosa Klebb, & Kronsteen. The conference room is very well written (and it features references to Fleming's first four novels. Then the gypsy camp sequence - both sexy and violent - is another well written sequence as is the death of Krilencu. On the Orient express is the next good part where Bond fights Norman Nash (Red Grant) in a train cabin. Then the book closes up when James Bond fights Col. Klebb in the Paris Ritz. From London to Moscow. From Greece to Italy. From Paris to Istanbul. From Russia, with Love is Fleming's best.
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Summary: A Great Cold War Thriller
Review: By far the most realistic of the Bond books. Fleming's description of the MGB (later KGB) headquarters in Moscow's Dzherzinsky Square, where the plot to lure British agent James Bond to his death is first revealed, is reputedly based on information to which he was privy in his capacity as a WWII officer in British Naval Intelligence -- likewise the recruitment and training of the psychopathic killer Red Grant, one of the most formidable of Bond's enemies (and the only one in the films who looked for a while about to kill Bond for sure! 007 meets his match in Grant!) This is the book behind what in my opinion is the best of the Bond movies, steeped in the atmosphere of the Cold War into which the Bond series was born. 007 travels to Istanbul in pursuit of the bait, a Lektor decoder which can read top secret Soviet military and intelligence signal traffic. Another form of bait is the beautiful Tatiana Romanova, an MGB cipher clerk allegedly in love with Bond, willing to defect with the Lektor if only 007 will come and fetch her. (Fleming takes yet another jab at the Reds by choosing this name for Bond's love interest -- Romanov was the family name of the last Czar of old imperial Russia, the family doomed to extinction by the Russian revolution.) Kerim Bey adds a bit of panache, mischief and mystery as "Our man in Istanbul," Head of Station T (for Turkey). A truly great and suspenseful plot!
Rating:
Summary: One of the two best Bonds by Fleming
Review: Competes with Dr. No as one of the two best Fleming bonds. Not as much action, but tremendous on description, evocation of place and mood. Vivid characterizations: Grant, Klebb, Kronstein, Darko, the girl. Great descriptions of 50's USSR, Istanbul, romantic Orient Express. Best parts: Kronstein at chess match, Grant's history, girl in Kleb's apartment, tunnel scene with rats and periscope, gypsy camp, assasination at Marilyn Monroe's mouth, confrontation on train with Grant, final fade-out scene with Bond and Kleb. Gets better with each reading
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Summary: SMERSH battles against 007 with their deadliest plan yet....
Review: Considered by many to the be the best James Bond 007 book of all time, From Russia With Love delivers the perfect formula for a James Bond novel. Originally, Ian Fleming's tales of 007 were not going so good, so he intended with this book to kill off James Bond once and for all. The end of this novel is quite a surprise to a first time reader. The book begins by telling of the commanding rule of SMERSH. The leader of this organization is General Grubozaboyschikov. Also working is Colonel Rosa Klebb and director of planning Kronsteen, who treats real people as if they were chess pieces. The muscle of the group is a homicidal madman, who follows orders, and is in practically perfect physical shape, Donovan "Red" Grant. These evil minds have planned the perfect way to destroy the life and reputation of James Bond. Their plan is to lure 007 with the beatiful Tatiana Romanova and a Spektor cipher decoding machine as bait. Then Grant will meet up with them eventually and kill them both. However, SMERSH will take it a step further to lie to the public that Bond and Tatiana were in an affair, and that Bond commits suicide. It's a perfect plan.
Bond indeed does travel to Istanbul, believing that this girl wants to defect, and will give him the Spektor machine only if he personally helps her. 007 meets Darko Kerim, and a wonderful gypsy fight adds to the fun of the story. Bond and Tatiana travel on a train back to Europe, where he meets Red Grant and is told of the plan to kill him. An extremely bvrutal gun and fist fight breakes out between the men with 007 shooting Grant. 007 goes to Paris with Tatiana to catch Rosa Klebb in a meeting. However, Klebb releases a poison knife from her shoe and kicks 007 in the leg, before being taken away by the police. The story ends with 007 lying on the floor of the hotel room... Perhaps the finest story of Ian Fleming, filled with the excitement and adventure to give this book it's reputation as on of the best 007 novels ever!
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Summary: Fleming's tale-telling prowess severely underrated.
Review: Few authors pack as much action into relatively short novels as Ian Fleming does. See the "007" insignia and you automatically think Bond movies - but give credit where credit is due. In today's television-movie-computer age, Fleming's seemingly ancient novels go unnoticed. "From Russia With Love" is simply one of the most outrageously entertaining pieces of literature ever written. If you've seen all the movies, please remember the books. Read Fleming for the ultimate "007" experience.
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Summary: Bond and Fleming at their best
Review: Fleming seemed to have used his first four novels (Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, and Diamonds are Forever) to warm us up to the Bond character and used the same plot style for the first four novels. In From Russia, With Love, Fleming takes Bond and his writing style to a higher, more intellectual level. Fleming is masterful in setting the scenes without being too boring. Bond doesn't appear until the second part of the book (Part II-The Plan) and you hardly even notice. Another interesting note is that of the James Bond movies, From Russia, With Love the movie follows the novel pretty well, even in lesser scenes such as the gypsy fight. This, perhaps, is due to the fact that Fleming was alive only for the filming and release of Dr. No and From Russia, With Love. This book is clearly Fleming at the top of his game and an outstanding entry to the series.
Rating:
Summary: The Best of Bond
Review: From Russia with Love has all the elements a good spy thriller should have: exotic settings (Istanbul, the Orient Express), silenced pistols, beautiful foreign women, sex, code machines, et al. It's thicker than the other Fleming novels, but so rich in detail and description that even the most impatient reader will cruise right along. It also shows how cookie-cutter boring modern thriller writers have become. Nobody writes like Ian Fleming.
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