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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great!,
By
This review is from: Brokenclaw (Paperback)
Brokenclaw is an excellent Bond novel, up there with Gardner's best (Icebreaker). "Brokenclaw" Lee is one of the better villians Gardner has created, and the ending is unbelieveably unique in pushing Bond to the limit. It really annoys me when people who don't understand the literary Bond pick up a book like this and cast it off as horrible because it doesn't correspond with the movies . . . . this is a great read if your really into Bond, it's Gardner at his best!
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Somewhere the wheels came off I think...,
By
This review is from: Brokenclaw (Curley Large Print Books) (Paperback)
I don't know, but I think that somewhere along the way the wheels came off of this particular Bond vehicle. Brokenclaw is a fast read, kinda fun, but in the end it is rather disappointing, and the ending itself is, in my opinion, pretty ridiculous. The villain--Brokenclaw Lee, a half Chinese,half Blackfoot Indian gangster who controls most of Chinatown in San Franciso--is intriguing, but by the end of the novel, after the ludicrous showdown between him and Bond, it seems a shame that we didn't get more about him or his plans. It feels like Gardner was going fine and then sort of jettisoned a number of elements and fine setups and instead rushed to end it nicely in the (usual) 300-page format. And when all is said and done, a lot of things are just pretty damn unbelievable, even for a Bond story. For instance, and perhaps most strikingly, is the relationship between Bond and "Chi-Chi" (a code name), his Chinese female partner on the case. Hardly knowing each other they seem to fall in love like that, and the finale involves Bond entering into a completely ridiculous one-on-one matchup with Brokenclaw all because he has to save Chi-Chi because he would do ANYTHING for her because "love stays." Um, is this the James Bond we know? Certainly Bond would save a damsel in distress, but here it seems rather cheesy, because the love and attachment is unconvinving at best. I mean, Bond beds down with gals on every case, so what made Chi-Chi so special? I don't know, and neither does Gardner seem to. It's frustrating. There really isn't a lot of action, but the book is never really boring either, and that's a good thing. Gardner sacrificed some more involving elements for the sake of a quick, smooth read. 'Tis a shame, because the story and the villain especially have potential. As a matter of fact, I am pretty disappointed with Brokenclaw, especially since the beginning and parts of the middle and even some nice details are wasted. We never get to learn too much about Brokenclaw's plans, they are mentioned and taken for granted. There is Ed Rushia, a good supporting character, and M has a bigger part than usual in it. I can't totally knock the book because I enjoyed many parts, but as a whole, Brokenclaw seems lazily slapped together toward the end, the romance just plain cheesy and trite. Maybe Gardner got bored or something, but he can do much better than this.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Meh...,
By Joel B. Kirk (Bay Area, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Brokenclaw (Paperback)
I stopped at chapter 10, then skimmed/skipped around the book.
'Brokenclaw' has a confusing plot: James Bond is initially followed by a man, who is killed for no reason other than being in the back of a club, and Bond is blamed for the murder; he is then shipped off to a navel carrier where he is given his assignment to infiltrate Brokenclaw's courier system....which also involves a device called a LORDS and LORDS DAY.... The pacing is choppy and slow; characters are going from one place to another, and it's not entirely clear why they are doing so. (This mainly refers to Bond himself, as well as his companion 'Chi-chi'.. There is technobabble that even Tom Clancy would say 'What?' to...[that technobabble adds to the even confusing plot]. As the reader is already trying to keep up with the plot, he or she then has to keep up with unfamiliar terms... With certain character(s) that show up, then disappear for the rest of the story (or at least until the very end)...i.e. an Chinese-American agent named Wanda who is sleeping with the main villain to pay her father's debt; she relates the story to M, Bond, and an American agent. She actually turns up later on in the story, but it is not stated why the government just stood by why she did her duty, which wasn't for the country, but for herself and her father. On page. 161, the character 'Chi-chi' is a young Chinese-American agent uses the term 'splendid' in a conversation. Now, the story is set in the 1990s, and as aforementioned she is American, yet she speaks like an older white Englishwoman from the early 20th century...[I think Gardner does this with other young characters as well]. She is also not written as a very strong character; she makes a point to be treated like the males, and later on in the novel she is screaming and asking not be left alone when in danger, etc. Bond has to eventually save her from the main villian. Furthermore, there is a big deal made about the Chinese intelligence and Brokenclaw's people using Caucasians to infiltrate Europe and the US. Now, as there are many agents who are of non-white background at this time in the US and Europe, the question is why are they--Chinese and Brokenclaw's people--focusing on and using only whites when not using Chinese? What is the significance? (Interestingly, there is a black man--who shows up very briefly--named Andrew who works for Brokenclaw as an equipment man). This book didn't seem to have much quality control in terms of plot and characterization.
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