14 replies to this topic

[MrDraco]

The Man With The Golden Gun first off i'd like to say that was one of the least like Bond books of the series or of Fleming, it went from being a classic spy thriller to a wild west train ride and quick stay in a hotel, what happened here? Bond had plenty of time to kill scramanga.
it just didn't have that feel....

Second off You only live twice (Finished this one last week)
Its kind of slow at first but picks up, i like the dark depressed feeling Fleming gives over Bond and the revenge vibes are cool, Tiger is a classic i like his style its a pitty he isn't in any other book besides this and Tattoo... Blofeld though was strange in this one, it was like he had transformed from a slick..Insane/Genius villain with everything planed...to just a madman...the whole ballon excape was....err..kind of corny...but hey thats life with fleming..not bad though.

[Triton]

Man with the Golden Gun was published posthumously in 1965, because Ian Fleming died on August 12, 1964.

Many Fleming scholars believe that Man with the Golden Gun would have been a stronger book if Fleming could have revised the book with later drafts. Other Fleming scholars are convinced that the manuscript was incomplete at Fleming's death and that the book was finished by another author or authors. Some believe that novelist Kingsley Amis was chosen by Glidrose to complete the novel in 1965, although there is no evidence to support this. Amis would later write Colonel Sun in 1968 under the pseudonym Robert Markham.

[Mister Asterix]

The Man With The Golden Gun has the skeleton of a great book. Jim gives a great arguement that Gun was an effort on Fleming

[Qwerty]

I couldn't agree more Mister *. You Only Live Twice was the very first Bond book I ever read and it left me a little unsure. However after a second, and third, and fourth read... I come to love it more every time. A true masterpiece.

[deth]

I read YOLT before OHMSS.... I wish I had read it the other way around.... even though I already knew what was going to happen....

...as a result I didn't enjoy OHMSS so much....

[Mjr. P.Townsend]

While YOLT is better, TMWTGG has a fantastic beginning and it features me! He didn't look brainwashed to me!

[MattCasey009]

ok, i thought TMWGG was ok. it was might wild west at the end, and the fact that somehow scaramanga survived is a little odd. felix (as usual) came out of no where and "took care" of scaramanga. who may i say again, survived major gunshot wounds and jumped out of a train and moved about 300 yards. the hotel stay was a little short, but ok - it served its purpose... an one more thing - i forget the mans name, but he worked with the KGB and was the other european guy in there, he was in "The Group" ... anyway, fleming hyped him up with toughness, but is the first to die in the shootout at the OK Caraul.

[Genrewriter]

I like both but YOLT is considerably better as far as i'm concerned. Golgen Gun has a very good beginning and a nice ending but the middle drags a bit.

[jwheels]

You Only Live Twice is one of Fleming's best in my opinion. Very dark, and I love the Garden of Death. TMWTGG was the first Bond novel I read, and while many people think it is inferior, I quite enjoy it.

[zencat]

I agree YOLT is one of Fleming's best. I love that book.

I remember first reading TMWTGG on vacation in Maui and, I don't know, maybe it was being in the tropics and looking out across a field of sugarcane, but I LOVED it. I remember really loving hearing a James Bond dream. But I recently re-read it and now it's just okay. I see what people have said all along; that if feels unfinished. But it is a strange little book. James Bond as gunslinger hero. Very wild west with scenes set in saloons, stream trains, etc. It

[Qwerty]

I do agree with you zen, it is the only Bond novel by Ian Fleming that I consider to be "different." I don't know what it is, it's just not in the flow of things.

[deth]

I enjoyed TMWTGG probably because I was listening to Carribean music at the time.... it just seemed to "work"....


.........plus, I went into it expecting a pretty bad book (considering what everyone was saying about it)

[Neil S. Bulk]

You Only Live Twice is my favorite James Bond book.

Golden Gun has a fabulous opening, but quickly falls after that. At some point I'll re-read them both, but I remember absolutley falling head over heels in love with YOLT and being dissapointed with TMWTGG.

Neil

[Harmsway]

YOLT is Fleming's definitive Bond masterpiece, IMO. It's powerful and chilling, and has a fantastic end. As much as I like the film YOLT, I think it would be interesting to see a direct adaptation of this great novel.

[Qwerty]

I'm with ya there Harmsway! Although, it would certainly be another departure from the norm, which they aren't always keen on doing much more.