3 replies to this topic

[Briane1911a1]

Hi, everybody. All the talk of the John Gardner reprints made me make an impulse buy at the local used bookshop of a pristine first edition hardcover of Licence Renewed. Sure, I should have purchased the new paperback, and I will, but, like I said, it was an impulse, and one I'm happy with.

I wrote up a short review on my blog and I thought you might like to see it. Here's a sample:

JAMES BOND: LICENCE REVISTED
When did you fall in love with books? For me it would have been around age 12 or 13. I was in sixth grade, we were preparing for summer, and one of my teachers took us to the library in an effort to get us reading less we spend all summer on the couch watching television (which I'm sure 99% of the kids did anyway).

For me it was a perfect storm. A tradition with me and my father, since 1983, had been to go see the new James Bond film when it came out (Dad always had to see them before me to make sure it wasn't too naughty) and when I found out James Bond had been a book series, I wanted to find an example. This library field trip provided the opportunity.

Well, I found For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy, which happened to be two of the most recent Bond films at the time, and my summer was set. I also began reading every action/adventure and spy book I could get my hands on. Ludlum to Forsyth and so on. Some of the books were out of my range of comprehension and I didn't "get" them; reading some of them as an adult, I smile at my naivete of the time and enjoy the heck out of those novels now.

Also on my reading list that summer were the new James Bond adventures written by John Gardner.

For the rest, click here:
http://briandrake88....-revisited.html

[osric]

I have to say the best John Gardner bond novels, for me, were:- For Spoecial Services, and, Never Send Flowers. Icebreaker was good but after the fourth time of the egent revealing who they actually were, the character lost credibility and spoilt it for me. I'll reread them all, but from memory the two books mentioned above, were my favourites.

[Briane1911a1]

For Special Services was indeed a terrific book. I loved the opening chapter. That one I will look forward to rereading as well.

[The ides of Mark]

This is also my favourite Gardner novel! It's a very strait forward story with punch (I don't care too much for the endless 'double-agent'-twists of his latter work).