122 replies to this topic

[MkB]

Still refraining myself from reading until the whole novel is available... And it's getting harder and harder to wait, Harry!

[Harry Fawkes]

My dear MkB -

[chrisno1]

Royal Gambit continues to entrance.

The prose and the narrative displays much restraint, which is unusual. It certainly feels like unfamiliar territory from Mr Fawkes.

The plot is moving deceptively slowly. What is developing are the characters: Bond, Blofeld and Moneypenny are fleshed into genuine and engrossing personnas. I've never been one to fixate on the Bond-Penny-M axis, but I enjoyed the spin you put on it, Harry. The suggestion of a mutual need, of regret and understanding between Bond and Moneypenny worked very well. Additionally, you handle the prospect of Moneypenny in the field far better than they did in Skyfall !

I enjoyed the scenes in Malta. I remember commenting that you had forsaken some descriptive detail in the earlier chapters, but - back on familiar territory - the florid attentions have come alive. I had a vivid sensation of the heat, the aroma, the calm, laziness of the place. That Bond is acting so everyday in the face of a non-everyday situation was very well drafted. In Gardner's WLOD he attempted a similar episode in Capri, but it simply didn't work because Gardner dressed it up with fey tension and his usual double-crossing thunderbolts. The neutral attitude of both Bond and Moneypenny was much more realistic; think spy, not assassin.

The meeting with Chevalier was excellent. I enjoy characters like Chevalier, they add colour and flavour to what could essentially be a bland retelling of the locale. You allow the surrounding landscape to take shape through the mouthpiece of the indigenous, sparing us the one-note criticism or whimsy of a narrator / foreign character (ie 007).

I enjoyed your full blown portrait of Blofeld much more than the reveal you employed earlier. His cyber virus is wholy believable (and not dissimilar to our friends at Skyfall, again...) I was struck by the almost mirror image Blofeld and Bond have of their antagonistic history, how the intervening years have come to mean so little. They are pushing away the hurt beneath the skin.

Things hot up towards the end, with the arrival of some turncoat Double-Os and I guess we may see a return to your more action orientated offerings. We end on a suitable cliffhanger.

There's only one line I'd alter in the whole piece. You wrote something like 'Moneypenny got the shock of her life' - which is a cliche and, amongst a work missing the obvious, it sticks out like a sore thumb. No matter, there is plenty of excellent stuff to wash over that one error.

Congratulations, Harry, a splendid effort.

I will open a bottle of Chianti to celebrate your efforts or maybe some Maltese chardonnay if I can find some ! 

 

Chris