You Only Live Twice: James Bond Series #12 (James Bond Novels) (Audio CD)

by Ian Fleming (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Gone to pieces after the murder of his new bride, top agent James Bond has become a security risk. M gives him one last chance: a near-impossible mission in Japan, where he will encounter an old enemy revitalized

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks, Inc.; Unabridged edition (February 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1433261359
• ISBN-13: 978-1433261350
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #688,252 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Bond in Japan, May 28, 2009

By	Graves (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

Most people are familiar with the films of James bond, agent 007, licensed to kill, but the novels written by Ian Fleming can be very different from the books that provide their names. Certainly this is the case in "You only Live Twice." Both the film and the book are set in Japan but beyond that they part ways quickly.

In the book James Bond is nearly finished. 8 months after the murder of his wife Tracy at the end of "On Her Majesties Secret Service" he has gone from M's best man to the dregs of the service. M, considering his dismissal is prevailed upon to give Bond one last chance.

Bond is promoted out of his beloved 00 section and transferred to the diplomatic branch with the code number 7777, and given a near impossible mission. He is go to Japan and convince the head of the Japanese Secret Service to share with Great Britain their decrypts of top secret Soviet messages. The problem is that post WW2 the United States views Japan as its private preserve and does not like poachers.

The rather more serious problem is that Bond does not have much to bargain with and when it is quickly revealed that the Japanese are not interested in his one bargaining chip he is left with very little to go on.What he has is his own life and skills, and in return for these magic decrypts, Japan requires Bond to kill a Swiss botanist named Dr. Shatterhand, a man of evil intent and deed who, for political reasons the Japanese police cannot move against but a gaijan whose arrest if he fails cannot be tied to the government? This is acceptable.

This is actually one of Fleming's weaker outings for Bond. Although he is in full force in his pacing and plotting and character development, part of what is missing is the setting. During the Second World War, Fleming was deeply involved in the planning and control of British and American espionage units and his writing carries the flavor of how things really work, a far cry form the gadgets and gizmos of the films,

However part of the charm of the books is his descriptions of the places where Bond's missions take him. Fleming knew France, Jamaica and the United States well and this carries over in his descriptions of the places. The reader truly gets a feel of the casinos, the beaches, the hotels and the streets. But Fleming did not know Japan and this is reflected in his writing, details that are common in other books are lacking here.

If this is the first Bond book you've read, it is highly enjoyable but if you are well familiar with the books by Fleming, this will be a little disappointing. James bond is still in effect with all his prowess but the world he is moving in, compared with earlier books, is empty and unfulfilling.

Vance is fast becoming the voice of James Bond on audio books and does a masterful job of working his way through Fleming's rich cast of charatcers.