Customer Reviews

Casino Royale

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just as Sean Connery is the only real Bond, Ian Fleming remains the only real Bond author. For various reasons, I have not been as enthusiastic with all of the Fleming Bond novels, but I was very pleased to have just read this initial Bond book. The differences between the movies and the books are as different as the actors who have played the British secret agent. The book version of 007 gives us a much more human character. His confidence some times shakes, and he is left with much self doubt. Instead of a witticism at the sight of an antagonist’s violent death, he becomes ill. He is harmed, and he cries. This is a “man’s” book that I did not hesitate to offer to my wife to read.

This book did not become a traditional movie. Instead the owner of the book rights (not the author) turned the story into a spy farce. There are important aspects of the book, however, that will be noticed in the true Bond movies. The story is different from Fleming’s other stories, but the reader will not be disappointed. If nothing else, you will learn how to play the game of Baccarat, and how to make the famous Bond martini.

This is the first of Ian Flemming's original James Bond novels. James Bond is sent to the casino Royale in France, where he must outwit a Russian treasury agent at the gambling tables and humiliate him, forcing his superiors to retire him. The novel is a *very* fast read (I finished it in one single four-hour sitting), yet still very enjoyable and worth buying. Flemming fleshes out Bond really well, with a lot of attention to detail. There is a tension-filled baccarat scene, and Flemming even gives readers an effective, quickie tutorial on baccarat so they can properly enjoy it. For a spy story written in the fifties, this one doesn't feel dated in the least.

The only oddity about Casino Royale is the structure of the story. The story really ends about three quarters of the way into the book, and the remaining chapters detail Bond's recovery and subsequent romance with his assistant, Vesper. It's never boring, but I wish Flemming could have integrated the two aspects of the story in a more cohesive fashion.

Still, Casino Royale is an excellent novel, and a worthy introduction to James Bond. Every fan needs to read this one.

Normally a spy novel is the quickest to end up on the bargain pile, since it's relevant to the political times it was written in. Times change, and the book often loses its appeal. Casino Royale, on the other hand, is as gripping now as it ever was in the Cold War. Fleming captured the feel of those dark days with vivid description and a break-neck pace. It's dark and not what a Bond-film enthusiast would expect, but worth reading. The torture scene is a classic.

The first Bond written by Fleming and it is different from the others not as much action but extroadinary story tell and one of the best endings!

THE FIRST 007 NOVELLA, AND IT IS UNLIKE THE OTHERS. BUT IT IS ONE OF THE MOST ORIGINAL BONDS, AND IS THE MOST VIOLENT AND PROVIDES A MORE SHOCKING CLIMAX ENDING THAN THOSE OF THE OTHERS. I SUGGEST READING THIS FIRST THOUGH, GREAT STORY TELLING!