Rating: 
Summary: First Bond Book -- A Sign of Things to Come
Review: Casino Royale was Ian Fleming's first stab at writing about James Bond and as a result, the book doesn't carry quite the same flair as some of the later books. In fact, those who know Bond only from the movies will probably be severely disappointed by Fleming's rather subdued novel. Still, this is a book with much to recommend it, beyond just nostalgia value. The character of James Bond is actually very intriguing in this book. Rather than the smirking superhuman that most younger readers like myself have grown up with, we are instead given a rather vulnerable romantic -- cold hearted enough to kill but also capable of falling tragically in love with the enigmatic Vesper Lynd. As well, this is a Bond who finds himself seriously doubting his commitment to the life of a secret agent and perhaps the book's strongest passages are simply philosophical debates between Bond and a colleague concerning the nature of evil in the post-World War II role.In the end, this book surprised me by turning out to be less as thriller and more of a tragic love story. The mechanics of Bond's mission and the book's rather forgettable villians take a very definite back seat to Bond's intense infactuation with Vesper and its tragic consequences. As well, though Fleming's prose is at times awkward, he ends the book with one of the strongest final lines I've ever come across.
Rating: 
Summary: Hated it
Review: I had some change in my pocket and I was passing a bookstore and decided to go in for a look. I had every intention of buying a book and when I saw a number of James Bond books in a row, I decided to buy Casino Royale as the reviews on the back were rather convincing. I read 2 chapters... I find it difficult to ...enjoy such a boring, pointless in some parts, story.
Rating: 
Summary: How it all began.
Review: It's good to read the book that introduced the world to James Bond. In this novel we see Bond be as ruthless as he can to get Le Chiffe, an agent of Sovirt murder organization SMERSH, has a tragic ending and doesn't show Bond riding off into the sunset with the girl though.
Rating:
Summary: "Bond. Hoagy Bond."
Review: The first Bond book may also be the best (I believe this is a common phenomenon; I think Tom Clancy's and Michael Crichton's first efforts were also their best). Fleming created a fascinating personality -- one very different, as other reviewers have pointed out below, from that portrayed by the various screen actors. (A minor note: the girl, Vesper, comments that Bond's appearance reminds her of the famous songwriter Hoagy Carmichael. Roger Moore always seemed to me to be totally wrong for Bond, from a physical standpoint at least. Take a look at http://www.redhotjazz.com/hoagy.html to see how far away Moore was from an approximation of Fleming's Bond).
Rating:
Summary: Enter James Bond
Review: It's hard to believe the book is nearly 50 years old but it is. This novel marks the entrance of James Bond into the world. The real Bond doesn't have much to do with his movie counterparts--he's colder, more ruthless and has no charm or humor. He's also a deeper character. 10 years later at the end of the Bond cycle he would grow and become more humorous and personable, (See "You Only Live Twice") but here meeting him may be like taking a cold shower if you're only familiar with Connery, Moore, and etc. As the prototype novel of the Bond series "Casino Royale" has less action and more concentrated violence than the future books. Its mood is claustrophobic but it's grasp of defined character is somewhat airy. Bond is not quite fully fleshed out--what we can grasp is that he believes himself a professional but often loses or comes close in both love and business. He speaks like a misoygnist but falls very badly for women; he plays cards like a pro but needs to be bailed out. The other characters are also compelling--Leiter and Mathis are agreeable national stereotypes, while LeChiffre is the first of Fleming's great villains--subtly monstrous and grotesque to the point of being king devils, not people. Fleming never wrote a convincing female character until he spoke in first person for the heroine of "The Spy Who Loved Me," but Vesper Lynd is one dimensional in a non-shameful way. Fleming's style isn't yet fully formed, but it's still evident. No one has written better scenes of torture (And this undoubtedly one of the most harrowing torture scenes you'll ever read) or card games than Fleming, and as an action writer on the whole he was undoubtedly a master, and deserves to be acknowledged as one. At the moment his literary reputation is quite low. Fleming was hardly the reactionary super-evil crypto-fascist, rabid-racist, hyper-misognyist, ultra-snob that some have claimed him to be (In books full of astoundingly stupid errors and lazy readings), and the coming years will hopefully force many to fully note his many flaws and his considerable strengths. He deserves the same ranking as Chandler or Hammett--minor artists, but artists none-the-less. The biggest difference from the later novels is the degree of moral exploration Bond undergoes. The novel's supposed climax is engineered to come very early, and Fleming daringly gives an entire chapter for Bond to afterwards think--he actively questions his job and the role he plays in the entire Free World/Soviet struggle. Beyond that he questions the nature of evil. After CR, Bond never attempts this sort moral exploration again, and the future novels as a result aren't as deep. There's a reason for this.... Fleming's master stroke was his realization that a convincing adventure tale in the spy genre could not arise from the conflict between the ideologies of the Soviets and the West. It was too much of a gray area and Fleming did not want to be a political writer--he wanted to create myths and fairy tales for adults, and he turned out to be the best writer of the century in doing so. So Fleming decided that Bond would not fight against Communist spies but rather the organization of terror that made them spy--evil fantasy villains--so he created SMERSH as Bond's opponent. He would use them as villains until the lessening of cold war tension enabled him to create an even less political replacement--SPECTRE. The first part of the novel thus details Bond fighting against Communist agents, but Fleming builds the climax early. Afterwards he builds another tale dealing with the ramifications of the first. During this he has Bond question his role, and by the end, with its shocker finish, Bond has renounced the role he has questioned and decided to from now on go after the force that makes spies spy. Having created an all-purpose group of fairy-tale villains for Bond to fight in future novels, Fleming has no more need for any further moral exploration by Bond--the knight doesn't bother wondering whether he should slay the dragon. That I think is why Fleming's friend Raymond Chandler always said that he had never bettered "Casino Royale" and to an extent I agree--the novel marks the point where Bond is in between the realistic world of betrayals and moral ambiguity and the thrilling world of surrealistically evil villains and larger-than-life exloits. Bond never returns to this point again, and we are deprived of the pleasure of seeing him walk that edge.
Rating: 
Summary: Casino Royale Review
Review: Casino Royale was the first of the bond books. It was strange compared to modern day Bond. It was strangely oddly old fashioned and really never had much action in it. It involved Bond going on an assignment which involved card games. He was trying to bankrupt a Russian Smersh agent. Smersh is a Russian spy killing agency if you didn't know. When Bond was succesful at winning it, one of his assistants, Vesper was captured. I'll let you find the ending for yourself. I would r ate this book as one star. it may be Bond, but it is to boring. It managed to make me get to sleep every night. It could bore anyone to death if they want to read the thrills of Bond. Help! I hate just thinking about it. I do NOT want to see the movie.
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Summary: Fleming or LeCarre?
Review: This first Bond is a bit unusual for the series. The first part of the book gives us a typical Bond adventure-gambling, women, and sinister villains. The last part is an atmospheric espionage tale in the LeCarre style. This is not a bad thing. This is a Bond novel that will appeal to people who are not Bond fans. However, it will be a disappointment to those who only know 007 from the movies. One can only hope that this book will get made as a serious adventure sometime in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: OK,BUT FLEMINGS COULD OF DONE BETTER
Review: It was good ,but had more detail than action,I also think it had a stupid last 30 pages. I suggest that you try and get it from a library ,but it's out of print. Not worth what I paid.
Rating:
Summary: Bond, James Bond
Review: James Bond, the British Secret Service's most expert gambler, travels undercover to the French Riviera. His mission: to break the bank of "Le Chiffre", a French gangster secretly in the employ of the KGB. Joined by Vesper, a beautiful spy, Bond plays Le Chiffre for a fortune at the luxurious Casino Royale, raising the stakes sky-high even as Le Chiffre's assassins close in. This novel first introduced James Bond to the world, and its conclusion is perhaps the most shocking of any of the books in the series. A great book for 007 fans to read! Buy this book when it is back in stock!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Being the first book to ever start off James Bond, I think it is a great book! The discriptive analisation (sp?) of the baccarat table as Bond and Le Chiffre duke it out in gambling, and the chilling climax when Le Chiffre is shot by SMERSH. Brillent, bloody brillent.
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