7 replies to this topic

[dinovelvet]

Just read Gardner's LTK novelization, it was a pretty good read, more action packed than the usual Gardner outing of course. One thing about it was curious though - Gardner appears to try and make LTK part of the book canon. Bizarrely, it is revealed that Felix Leiter had ALREADY been mauled by the shark in LALD the book, and now he gets the mauling again, with his artificial arm and leg getting bitten off?! This didn't really make a whole lot of sense to me. Why did he incorporate the events of LALD into the story?
Stranger still, we don't even get the shark mauling scene in the book, which is the pivotal event of the entire film. Nor do we get a lot of Sanchez's early scenes, like talking to Krest at the warehouse or offering a bribe to Killifer (Killifer himself talks about this scene to Felix...its kind of odd that Killifer would say this in front of Felix and Bond when presumably he'd already accepted Sanchez's offer.) I guess perhaps Gardner was trying to make it more book-like by keeping the villain mostly out of sight until the second half, I've noticed many of his and Fleming's stories like to do this.
Yeah anyway it wasn't bad, I'll give it a moderate thumbs up.

[Flash1087]

I've been itching to read this for a little while (as my top 3 Bond movies all have novelizations, and I haven't tackled any). I too was confused when I heard about the shark attack thing, but Gardner wanted to make LTK part of HIS continuity, which was itself an extension of Fleming's continuity...so Felix had to lose the legs he'd alreasy lost...again. Goofy.

[Qwerty]

I definitely recommend giving this one a try. Gardner seems to do pretty well with these already established plots. The GoldenEye one is on par as well.

[Quartermaster007]

Got it on Christmas, been sitting on my bookshelf since. Haven't read it through. I started the first chapter and it wasn't too bad.

[K1Bond007]

Just read Gardner's LTK novelization, it was a pretty good read, more action packed than the usual Gardner outing of course. One thing about it was curious though - Gardner appears to try and make LTK part of the book canon. Bizarrely, it is revealed that Felix Leiter had ALREADY been mauled by the shark in LALD the book, and now he gets the mauling again, with his artificial arm and leg getting bitten off?! This didn't really make a whole lot of sense to me. Why did he incorporate the events of LALD into the story?
Stranger still, we don't even get the shark mauling scene in the book, which is the pivotal event of the entire film. Nor do we get a lot of Sanchez's early scenes, like talking to Krest at the warehouse or offering a bribe to Killifer (Killifer himself talks about this scene to Felix...its kind of odd that Killifer would say this in front of Felix and Bond when presumably he'd already accepted Sanchez's offer.) I guess perhaps Gardner was trying to make it more book-like by keeping the villain mostly out of sight until the second half, I've noticed many of his and Fleming's stories like to do this.
Yeah anyway it wasn't bad, I'll give it a moderate thumbs up.

It's really a mess continuity wise. On one hand he tried to keep inline with Fleming and his own continuity. For example he took away Bond's Walther PPK and gave him a Walther P38K while making a claim that the PPK is not Bond's favorite and was taken out of service years ago. He also acknowledged that Leiter was previously injured by a shark in LALD etc. On the other hand he forgets to acknowledge other bits of continuity from the novels: Milton Krest and Wavekrest for instance are from The Hildebrand Rarity and he's murdered in that. Additionally Bond is a Commander again after getting promoted in the previous book Win, Lose or Die, but he's back to being a Captain in Brokenclaw.

A lot of weird stuff. But not a bad read.

[Qwerty]

I've been itching to read this for a little while (as my top 3 Bond movies all have novelizations, and I haven't tackled any). I too was confused when I heard about the shark attack thing, but Gardner wanted to make LTK part of HIS continuity, which was itself an extension of Fleming's continuity...so Felix had to lose the legs he'd alreasy lost...again. Goofy.

A bit, yes, but I think he does a suitable job given the tricky circumstances of trying to bring those movie and literary elements together to make them work.

[Double-Oh Agent]

I've been itching to read this for a little while (as my top 3 Bond movies all have novelizations, and I haven't tackled any). I too was confused when I heard about the shark attack thing, but Gardner wanted to make LTK part of HIS continuity, which was itself an extension of Fleming's continuity...so Felix had to lose the legs he'd alreasy lost...again. Goofy.

A bit, yes, but I think he does a suitable job given the tricky circumstances of trying to bring those movie and literary elements together to make them work.

I like it that he tries to reconcile Leiter's injuries with those he suffered in the novels. Since Gardner is writing in book format, it makes sense to make Felix's injuries fall in line with the previously written works. I've always felt that the books were one medium or series and the films were another and Gardner's Licence To Kill follows that line of thinking. It's a really good read too -- one of my favorites.

[dinovelvet]

Just started reading Benson's "The Facts of Death" which also features Felix. Like Gardner, Benson sides with the books and states that the shark mauling happened in LALD, and he does give a slight nod to LTK when he mentions that Felix was with the DEA for a time. But no mention of a second mauling