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The Man With the Golden Gun: A James Bond Novel

The Man With the Golden Gun: A James Bond Novel

List Price: $12.00
Your Price: $9.00
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A disservice to Fleming's legacy.
Review: "The Man With the Golden Gun" was published in 1965, the year after Ian Fleming's death, and was his last work of fiction to feature the character of James Bond. After the magnificent "You Only Live Twice" (1964), which carried the Bond series to a level beyond its previous heights and remains Fleming's finest novel, many readers had high hopes that Fleming's final Bond outing would be of high quality as well. They were bound to be deeply disappointed.

This is the worst published fiction (albeit posthumously) Fleming ever wrote; indeed, it is, by common consent, the worst of all the James Bond novels (including the much maligned "The Spy Who Loved Me"). Even some of John Gardner's later forays from the 1980s are better than this. Fleming is clearly uninspired, even bored, and the limp plot is in no way helped by the character of Scaramanga, who, rather than being menacing, is reduced by Fleming to an obnoxious, stupid, loudmouthed bully. Easily the worst villain Fleming ever conceived.

This was written in the last months of Fleming's life, and it may have been a rough draft. Let us hope it was very rough. It probably should never have been published, but it is not worth reading unless one is a Bond completist.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A disservice to Fleming's legacy.
Review: "The Man With the Golden Gun" was published in 1965, the year after Ian Fleming's death, and was his last work of fiction to feature the character of James Bond. After the magnificent "You Only Live Twice" (1964), which carried the Bond series to a level beyond its previous heights and remains Fleming's finest novel, many readers had high hopes that Fleming's final Bond outing would be of high quality as well. They were bound to be deeply disappointed.

This is the worst published fiction (albeit posthumously) Fleming ever wrote; indeed, it is, by common consent, the worst of all the James Bond novels (including the much maligned "The Spy Who Loved Me"). Even some of John Gardner's later forays from the 1980s are better than this. Fleming is clearly uninspired, even bored, and the limp plot is in no way helped by the character of Scaramanga, who, rather than being menacing, is reduced by Fleming to an obnoxious, stupid, loudmouthed bully. Easily the worst villain Fleming ever conceived.

This was written in the last months of Fleming's life, and it may have been a rough draft. Let us hope it was very rough. It probably should never have been published, but it is not worth reading unless one is a Bond completist.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: hey, it's not THAT bad
Review: Afraid I've got to take issue with a one-star rating for this novel. Sure, it's not the best Bond novel -- that's probably "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," although I've also got a soft spot for the unusual "The Spy Who Loved Me" -- but it's hardly a bad novel. Scaramanga, far from being a terrible villain, is actually one of the more memorable Fleming ever wrote. I enjoy the way in which he serves as a sort of dark mirror for Bond himself, and that makes me feel like Fleming was actually just trying something different with this novel. That may or may not make it one of the lesser of his Bond novels, but I think saying that it's just plain bad is an overstatement.

Anyways, if you're a Bond fan, you still ought to give the novel a look.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: hey, it's not THAT bad
Review: Afraid I've got to take issue with a one-star rating for this novel. Sure, it's not the best Bond novel -- that's probably "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," although I've also got a soft spot for the unusual "The Spy Who Loved Me" -- but it's hardly a bad novel. Scaramanga, far from being a terrible villain, is actually one of the more memorable Fleming ever wrote. I enjoy the way in which he serves as a sort of dark mirror for Bond himself, and that makes me feel like Fleming was actually just trying something different with this novel. That may or may not make it one of the lesser of his Bond novels, but I think saying that it's just plain bad is an overstatement.

Anyways, if you're a Bond fan, you still ought to give the novel a look.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An introspective look at Bond
Review: Again I am surprised at the one star ! I wrote this review when I first read the book back in 1998 and still stick by this !!!

This book gets away from the complex plots and world threatening villains usually associated with many of the other books to concentrate on Bond in the limited surroundings of a half finished hotel in Jamaica with the man he is to assassinate. This book seems to centralise more on James Bond the man and his inner thoughts, the lack of action is easily made up for with the mind games between Bond and Scaramanga leading upto the final gun fight !


Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Did Fleming Finish This Book?
Review: The James Bond novels have been a staple in my home for over 40 years, since I started reading them at 10 years old. I read every novel once every two years it seems, as Fleming's impeccable writing, his plots, his villians, and most of all, the decription of detail that makes reading these novels the ultimate escape.
That said, I think I know how Fleming writes...
Each time I read this book, I get a growing feeling that not only did Ian Fleming not finish the book, it seems like he wrote almost exactly HALF, and some one else took over upon his death.
As a little Fleming is better than none at all, I still read the book.
Ian Fleming wrote 007 Novels for 11 years. They are all superb, wuth the earlier, grittier ones being the best. I don't play cards, but I was sweating along with Bond while he played Le Chiffre at Casino Royale.
You get that same marvelous sense of being in the story the first half of The Man With The Golden Gun, and then the story (and the writing) seem to go wrong.
I report, you decide.


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