Rating: 
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: 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!
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.
Rating:
Summary: From the 50s with Love
Review: FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is generally considered to be the very best James Bond book. In this case, conventional wisdom is right. I recently re-read the book, originally published in 1957, and it was even better than I remember it being. First, the flaws: Like most Flemming novels, much of the plot is implausible. The story revolves around a scheme by the Soviets to embarrass the British Secret Service by killing James Bond in a compromising position. Perhaps it is because we live in a post-Monica Lewinski world, but this doesn't seem to be that much of a big deal. The movie version of FRWL seems to acknowledge the weakness of the reasoning behind the sequence of events that make up the story. The movie makes Bond's planned embarrassing death a secondary consequence of the villains' (this time SPECTER, not the Soviets) plot to steal the Russian decoder, which in the book is merely used as bait. Another common problem with Flemming's Bond, which is again on display, is that he is rather gullible and pretty much goes along for the ride without using his wits to solve mysteries or get out of jams. In FRWL he misses obvious clues, believes a thinly disguised enemy agent enough to hand over his gun without much of a thought, and fails to ever put "two and two together."
Despite all the flaws, FRWL is a great book. If the plot has holes, the collection of words are beautiful in themselves, from Flemming's detailed description of food and drink, to the combat scenes that really come to life in this book. The character of Bond is more interesting here than in previous books - he demonstrates a sense of humor and playfulness, shows emotion and even has moments of reflection. The series of villains, while cartoonish, are fun. The lurking presence of Red Grant is menacing. Bond's interactions with the villains forms the basis for the series of events that make the story flow. Once the silly premise is accepted, the rest of the sequence of events makes a certain amount of sense. This internal coherence (which was missing to some degree in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER) added with a fast pace makes the book hold together and never seem slow or dull. What separates FRWL from the other books, however, is that it contains some genuine surprises, including its truly unexpected ending. The ending is even more unexpected because it is explained away in DR. NO. But the ending should be read for what it is in the context of the book itself, not in the larger context of the series. Finally, one of the things I enjoy about Flemming's Bond books is that because they were written in the 1950's, they have a feel for a different world, with different values, assumptions, and cultural icons. This differentness is on full display in FRWL. While I have no illusions of the world depicted in Bond books having any resemblance to actual history, the transportation into another world is achieved more purely than could be by a contemporary author writing a period piece. I love it!
Rating:
Summary: Love it
Review: From Russia With Love was written in 1957 and what was common knowledge back then may offend sensitive people today. Deal with it and keep on reading because this is going to be fun. All of Fleming's books were fast paced fun but Russia stands out among them. The characterizations are brilliant. The description of the vicious and dreadful woman, Rosa Klebb goes on for more than a page. By the time Flemming is finnished you KNOW this woman and you're afraid of her. Tatiana, the beautiful innocent caught in a web of lies, Kerim Bey, the tough half wild head of T branch and psychotic Irish giant, Red Grant are all beautifully brought to life. The Russian scenes are written with such tautness you'll wonder how anyone survived life in the Soviet Union with thier sanity in tact. If you're used to the Bond lite presented by Roger Moore' in his last two films or Pierce Brosnon's version, the Bond of the books will be a surprise. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: S.M.E.R.S.H. vs. BOND -THE FIGHT FOR POWER
Review: FRWL IS ONE OF THE MASTERPEICES OF FLEMING.s.m.e.r.s.h. -the russian organisation headed by rosa klebb & dreaded for it's methods of torture & murders has BOND as it's next target.the aim is to kill two birds with one shot- kill their most hated enemy -bond - & in the process, make the british secret service look scandalously adulturous. the trap is laid- a beautiful russian smersh agent out to seduce bond with the lure of the most sought after machine -the spektor-. the story dashes from russian smersh headquarters to the hq of the british secret service . the meeting place is istanbul where the suave bond meets the sexy tatiana romanov .they move in accordance with the master plan of smersh.& board the orient express. the leisurely pace of the luxury train is a sharp contrtast to the fast pace of the action that takes place inside it. people from both the sides are killed and eventually after a tense encounter between bond and the chief of operations of smersh (where as evident bond is the victor) he lands in paris. here he has a rendezvous with rosa klebb herself . she is overpowered by the brains of bond and is taken prisoner with the help of the french govt.but before parting she renders bond her final gift of wrath. a kick with a hidden knife laced with poison all through the book we are kept on the edge of our seats guessing on the next move by bond & the smersh. fleming's portrayal of the asexual head of assasinations is a chilling one. he convinces us of the innocence of tatiana and her vulnerability. the smersh is made to look both sinister as well as ridiculous at times ... but ther suspense remains as we wonder whether bond is the victim of the hated rosa klebb's poisonous knife...a fact that would be revealed to us in fleming's next novel.till then we could just wait and watch and hope all is well with our beloved english spy. all in all a great book to have in hand . a book definitely not to be missed. a sure treat for james bond fans.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! Not Just a Movie Script
Review: I grew up being taken to the Bond flicks by my parents. I guess that made me think that the books they were based upon were mere vehicles for screenplays. I do not remember much of this movie (except the final scene) but I can not imagine it was nearly as good as the book.
I was amazed at the quality of writing. Fleming can portray bad guys as well as anyone, if not better. He built suspense from the first page and never let it diminish. Amazingly, we do not see James Bond until the book is about a third of the way through. Once we do, he is classic Bond. Fleming throws a bit of tongue-in-cheek to add to the charm of the hero.
The gambit as devised by the Russians is terrific and nuanced. Bond's floundering then overcoming then....well can't give the end is classic, yet still "delicious".
My one disappointment is that Bond never ordered a martini.
A fun and terrific read. Fleming does spies as well as anyone, including LeCarre, but he does it with excitement and a bit of humor. Highly, highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid and suspenseful Bond novel.
Review: Ian Fleming's fifth James Bond novel, "From Russia, With Love" (1957), remains one of the most popular and exciting in the series. Here we see all the attributes that made Fleming such a remarkable thriller writer--the brilliant descriptive passages, the superb characterization, the ability to inject tension and suspense into the narrative until the inevitable explosion of violence. "From Russia, With Love" has it all, and then some. The plot is among Fleming's most ingenious. SMERSH, the Soviets' dreaded counterintelligence agency, hatches to a plot to kill Bond and humiliate the British Secret Service. Using an unwitting girl and a valuable piece of Russian hardware, the Russians lure Bond to Istanbul, setting the plot in motion. Along the way, we meet the grotesque Rosa Klebb, head of torture and murder for SMERSH, and Red Grant, SMERSH's chief executioner. Grant, in particular, is a chilling character, a bloodthirsty psychopath with a lust for killing. When Bond crosses his path, Fleming produces some of the most gripping writing of his career. Fantastic stuff. All in all, "From Russia, With Love" is a superb thriller, though I found the narrative rather slack during Bond's time in Istanbul. That minor quibble aside, this is a must-read for Bond fans and one of Fleming's finer accomplishments.
Rating:
Summary: Solid and suspenseful Bond novel.
Review: Ian Fleming's fifth James Bond novel, "From Russia, With Love" (1957), remains one of the most popular and exciting in the series. Here we see all the attributes that made Fleming such a remarkable thriller writer--the brilliant descriptive passages, the superb characterization, the ability to inject tension and suspense into the narrative until the inevitable explosion of violence. "From Russia, With Love" has it all, and then some. The plot is among Fleming's most ingenious. SMERSH, the Soviets' dreaded counterintelligence agency, hatches to a plot to kill Bond and humiliate the British Secret Service. Using an unwitting girl and a valuable piece of Russian hardware, the Russians lure Bond to Istanbul, setting the plot in motion. Along the way, we meet the grotesque Rosa Klebb, head of torture and murder for SMERSH, and Red Grant, SMERSH's chief executioner. Grant, in particular, is a chilling character, a bloodthirsty psychopath with a lust for killing. When Bond crosses his path, Fleming produces some of the most gripping writing of his career. Fantastic stuff. All in all, "From Russia, With Love" is a superb thriller, though I found the narrative rather slack during Bond's time in Istanbul. That minor quibble aside, this is a must-read for Bond fans and one of Fleming's finer accomplishments.
Rating:
Summary: The best Bond story ever.
Review: In this novel the Soviet murder organization SMERSH sets out to disgrace and assasinate Bond. To accomplish this they use the sexy Corporal Tanya Romanov to lure Bond into a deadly trap.
|
