8 replies to this topic

[dinovelvet]

Just finished Cold Fall, which brings the Gardner rollercoaster to an end for me (well, I still have Goldeneye to go actually). It was a bit disappointing; I liked the first half better, I thought it was going to take us more towards Bond going up against a Montana militia group (albeit based in Idaho) which could have had some potential, but we find ourselves in Italy (again! Third time for Gardner's Bond I believe) with another pseudo Neo-Nazi group. Doh! It ended up as a business-as-usual Gardner book which fizzled out a bit towards the end; there seemed to be a hell of a lot of preparation for the final battle which seemed to just be over and done with in a couple of pages. Far too many briefings and planning sessions, not enough action.
Still, there was some good stuff here, I liked the final chapter where Gardner brings his era to a close as Bond goes off to meet the dreaded female M! And we get some characters from previous Gardner books, one of whom gets a twist, which was decent I guess. Oh yes and then there's Flicka, as I started reading I figured Gardner had just dropped her, but then I got to the halfway mark and then it became clear. Kind of a bummer about her, but then again what did we expect as soon as it was hinted that Bond was going to marry her?
So it ends with a bit of a whimper really. A lot of ups and downs on the Gardner rollercoaster, and I think the ride went on a bit too long

PS whoever does the "relationship between books and film" section should update it to show that both COLD and DIE ANOTHER DAY feature a scene in which Bond must start a helicopter in mid-air as it plummets towards the ground.

[marmaduke]

An interesting review of Cold (Fall)Dinovelvet.One gets the impression that by that stage Gardner was only too willing to 'sign off' as Bond author.
Now that you have read Gardner, what next for you?Are you going to have a 'read through' of Benson (which is what i plan to do)?

[dinovelvet]

An interesting review of Cold (Fall)Dinovelvet.One gets the impression that by that stage Gardner was only too willing to 'sign off' as Bond author.
Now that you have read Gardner, what next for you?Are you going to have a 'read through' of Benson (which is what i plan to do)?

I actually read the six Bensons already, I alternated between Gardner and Benson for a while (it got a bit too dry reading one Gardner after another!). I'm reading Goldeneye right now, then I will try and get the TND, TWINE, and DAD novelizations, and I still have to get the John Pearson Bond biography, and that'll be all the Bond books.

[marmaduke]

O.K. Dinovelvet , having completed a read through of both Gardner and Benson, two final questions then:
1.If you had to name your favourite Gardner and Benson what would they be?
2. Who in your opinion did the better job in continuing the literary Bond, Gardner or Benson? ....and reasons why.

[dinovelvet]

O.K. Dinovelvet , having completed a read through of both Gardner and Benson, two final questions then:
1.If you had to name your favourite Gardner and Benson what would they be?
2. Who in your opinion did the better job in continuing the literary Bond, Gardner or Benson? ....and reasons why.

1. My fave Benson would be The Man with the Red Tattoo (which is also the first one I read!), though Never dream of dying is a close second. As for Gardner, that's a bit more difficult, I would pick Licence Renewed, Nobody Lives Forever, and Brokenclaw as my favorites...OK I'll say Brokenclaw then because by that point in Gardner's rollercoaster, I wasn't expecting anything particularly great so it surprised me. I knew from other people on the board that Nobody Lives Forever was going to be a good one, so BK sort of came out of nowhere. Probably not a coincidence, but BK also felt like the most Fleming-esque of his books to me.
Not that you asked, but just for the hell of it, my least favorite Benson was The Facts of Death, and of Gardner's, The Man from Barbarossa.

2. I'd say Benson. Gardner's Bond at a lot of times just doesn't feel like the same character that Fleming was writing about, and most of his missions are too grounded and ultra-realistic to generate much excitement, there's also too little of the travelogue and eccentric villains that I enjoyed in Fleming's work. Benson on the other hand 'reboots' Bond back to the same guy we last saw in TMWTGG, takes us all over the globe and makes us want to visit those places (Japan, Corsica, etc), and creates worthy foes (Le Gerant, Roland Marquis).

So marmaduke, what are your answers to these questions so far? I guess you haven't read all the Gardners yet, but you've probably read most of his high/low books, the last couple are just 'in the middle' efforts.

[marmaduke]

o.k Dinovelvet Re my favourite and least favourite Gardner : My favourites would be: Nobody Lives Forever,For Special Services and ....yes Brokenclaw.Like you, Brokenclaw came as a pleasant surprise for the reasons you mention.If I had to choose one favourite it would be NLF. I found it to be the most 'Fleminesque' of all Gardner novels as it included some glamour and interesting locations. My least favourite would have been the awful Never Send Flowers, that was until I came to read The Man From Barbarossa which i thought was just ...dull.
I have tried to think of why Gardner fails to capture what Fleming had and in the end just conclude that while Gardner was/is a competent writer , Fleming was unique.When i read Gardner it is like 'Fleming by numbers'.They lack the glamour, passion and excitement of the originals.
One thing does strike me however and it is this. It was after a 20 year gap
that I decided to re read all of the Fleming Bond novels.In another 15 or 20 years time if i am still around plan to re read them all again.However there has not been a single Gardner novel that I can ever see myself ever re reading.
Re Benson :Having only read one Benson 'Zero Minus Ten' I can only comment
on that. Like you , after reading about six Gardner's on the trot I needed a
break to be honest.I have to say that I found ZMT a refreshing change from
Gardner and liked only what I can discribe as the 'freshness,energy and edge'
that Benson brought to the literary Bond.As i come to the end of the Gardner Rollar coaster I look forward to Benson. Which reminds me, i must start a 'Benson Thread' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[dinovelvet]

Re Benson :Having only read one Benson 'Zero Minus Ten' I can only comment
on that. Like you , after reading about six Gardner's on the trot I needed a
break to be honest.I have to say that I found ZMT a refreshing change from
Gardner and liked only what I can discribe as the 'freshness,energy and edge'
that Benson brought to the literary Bond.As i come to the end of the Gardner Rollar coaster I look forward to Benson. Which reminds me, i must start a 'Benson Thread'

I think you'll enjoy Benson's books, I found his novels to be a totally refreshing change from Gardner too. IMHO Zero Minus Ten was only a middle-rank book, there are at least three of his that are better! Also another reason to like Benson, his books have good continuity, with Bond being affected in some cases by the events of the previous book(s). I got bored with the 'stand alone' nature of Gardner's books, though in the last two he started bringing back old characters for some reason!

[Double-Oh Agent]

I thought Cold Fall was an okay book but not one of John Gardner's better ones. He tried something a little different here which I think works better than his previous attempt at breaking out of the mold--The Man From Barbarossa. I kind of like the idea of Bond having to (essentially) go back years later and finish a previous mission. But while the idea was a good one, the execution wasn't quite what it could have been. Dinovelvet, like you I find the first half of the novel better than the second half and being a fan of Nobody Lives Forever and Sukie Tempesta, I was disappointed in her result in Cold Fall. The other girls I liked particularly Toni Nicolletti and Felicia Shifflet. I like Gardner's books better than most I believe and enjoyed his entire run, but in the end, the time was right for him to quit.

[Willowhugger]

Cold Fall fails on the basis that I can't actually take COLD as a genuine threat. I live in America next to groups like this and the moment they tried their coup, they'd all be arrested then get shot.