17 replies to this topic

[shakenandnotstired]

Ok this will probably only appeal to the teen members.
I have just finished 'By Royal Command' its a great book and I have added it to my top 5 books. Yes I have also got Alex Rider and Jason Steed, but they deserve a place.

My Top 5 books of all time.

1) Fledgling Jason Steed

2) Silverfin Young James Bond

3) Hurricane Gold Young James Bond

4) Stormbreaker Alex Rider

5) By Royal Command Young James Bond.

Maybe this is not the site to mention Alex Rider, but the books are great and he has plenty of gadjets, there is a 'Q' type charater in the Alex Rider series. Before you say Anthony Horowitz has copied James Bond/Ian Flemming, you need to take a closer look at Hurricane Gold Young James Bond and Skeleton Key Alex Rider. Skeleton Key came first. Let me tell you the plot, The Teen hero ends up on a tropical Island owned by the biggest villian in the world, and the head villian wants to adopt the teen hero and give everything to him. If you have read Hurricane Gold or Skeleton Key you will know what I mean. they are the same.
Anyway whats your top 5 teen hero books?

Edited by shakenandnotstired, 13 September 2008 - 05:37 PM.

[zencat]

Interesting observation about Hurricane Gold/Skeleton Key, shakennotstirred.

I haven't read any of the Alex Rider books. I did see the Stormbreaker film and it was just too much of a Bond imitation/rip-off. It was Moonraker (the book). Ironically, the Young Bond series borrows less from Bond than Rider does. But, like I said, I haven't read the books, so maybe they become more original as they go on.

[Gabriel]

I always assumed that Alex Rider was named after Honey Rider!

[Matt_13]

I liked Stormbreaker when I read it long time ago, but I can't say I'm a huge fan of the others. I think Silverfin is my favorite when it comes to teen spy novels.

[shakenandnotstired]

Hi Matt
I have to agree with you Silverfin is the best Young Bond book, I have it rated as my second best book ever. I guess Charlie Higson did a great job on his first book to make a good impression. These others are great but dont have the depth, saying that neither does Alex Rider after Stormbreaker. So now I wonder if the next Jason Steed novel will be as fantastic as Fledgling!

[shakenandnotstired]

I just read that Anthony Horowitz author of Alex Rider also wrote Fledgling Jason Steed under a pen name. It was on Yahoo answers. can anyone confirm this. That would make sense,as its brilliant, but why do authors write under a pen name?
Did Flemming ever write under another name?

[Jaws0178]

Shaken, I don't think it is true and here is why. I have found this website called Fantastic Fiction ,looked up the entry for Anthony Horowitz, and it is not showing that he wrote it. Also, according to Mark Coopers website, he lives in Florida. Anthony Horowitz, according to his website and the back of the books, lives in London. Also, to your other question, I don't believe Ian Fleming ever wrote by another name. However, to be honest, there are people here who would know better than I. Last thing, just because people say that these kinds of books are mostly for teenagers does not mean that there are not adults out there who enjoy them. Just a heads up. Alex Rider rules

[shakenandnotstired]

Hi ya Jaws.
I did as you said and checked it out and you are right bud. Anthony Horowitz did not write Fledgling Jason Steed. Mark A Cooper did write it. He has also announced that the next Jason Steed book will be out in May 2009.
Plus Anthony Horowitz has announced that the next Alex Rider book "Crocodile Tears' will be released in April 2009.

[Jaws0178]

Glad that was cleared up.

[sharpshooter]

I haven’t read any of the Alex Rider novels, and probably never will. As for the Young Bond series, I’m of the opinion that Blood Fever is definitely the best. SilverFin didn’t win me over the way Blood Fever did. I wouldn't call SilverFin childish, but I think it does have a different feel to the rest. They’re all solid outings, though.

[[dark]]

I haven’t read any of the Alex Rider novels, and probably never will. As for the Young Bond series, I’m of the opinion that Blood Fever is definitely the best. SilverFin didn’t win me over the way Blood Fever did. I wouldn't call SilverFin childish, but I think it does have a different feel to the rest. They’re all solid outings, though.

I haven't read the Alex Rider books, either. Any time I've leafed through one in a bookstore, I can't help but think they'd lack the adult appeal that Higson's books have. In fact, I often find myself forgetting the Young Bond novels are for kids.

I think you and I have the same thoughts on Young Bond rankings, sharpshooter, and I'd agree with your opinion that Blood Fever reigns supreme, while SilverFin reads as more of a children's book than the others (understandably, though, given Bond's character arc over the five novels).

[K1Bond007]

Before you say Anthony Horowitz has copied James Bond/Ian Flemming, you need to take a closer look at Hurricane Gold Young James Bond and Skeleton Key Alex Rider. Skeleton Key came first. Let me tell you the plot, The Teen hero ends up on a tropical Island owned by the biggest villian in the world, and the head villian wants to adopt the teen hero and give everything to him. If you have read Hurricane Gold or Skeleton Key you will know what I mean. they are the same.

That sounds like the episode of The Simpsons where Mr. Burns selected Bart to be his heir. Is the island the only similarity? Because it just kind of sounds like a theme that's been around for Bond for a long time. e.g., Dr. No.

I haven’t read any of the Alex Rider novels, and probably never will. As for the Young Bond series, I’m of the opinion that Blood Fever is definitely the best. SilverFin didn’t win me over the way Blood Fever did. I wouldn't call SilverFin childish, but I think it does have a different feel to the rest. They’re all solid outings, though.

I used to think Blood Fever was the best, but.. I don't know. I think I have to read them again. I kind of want to say that Double or Die is the best now. I'm conflicted.

[shakenandnotstired]

K1 Bondoo7; You make a good point, I have seen that Simpson episode. The only point I was making is that Alex Rider was not a wanna be Bond.
Charlie Higson has not done alot withe the Young Bond series, he does not have the skill of Flemming or Horowitz.
Horowitz can write a book, stick a pen name under it, publish it with an unknown self-publishing house and its still a huge hit.
Fledgling Jason Steed is one of the best teen spy books ever written.

Charlie Higson had the name; BOND... He had all the hype from sites like this and Ian Flemming productions behind him and his books have been a flop.
An unknown named author from a self publishing (Vanity press) published Jason Steed and outsold all his Young Bond book with just one book.
Now, that is brillaint. Maybe Horowitz was trying to prove a point. It worked.

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Edited by shakenandnotstired, 17 March 2009 - 01:44 PM.

[[dark]]

Charlie Higson has not done alot withe the Young Bond series, he does not have the skill of Flemming or Horowitz.

I haven't read any of Horowitz's books, but I strongly disagree with the first part of your statement; Higson completely understands Fleming's style, and writes his novels with reverence for it, but doesn't cross into tired pastiche (see Devil May Care). Indeed, Higson is the best continuation novelist ever.

Charlie Higson had the name; BOND... He had all the hype from sites like this and Ian Flemming productions behind him and his books have been a flop.

Here, you're dead wrong. Higson's books have been a critical and commercial hit. No-one could dispute that.

[shakenandnotstired]

Hi Dark

We are all allowed an opinion and you and I will have to agree to differ on Higson.

Maybe we should just leave it up to the public and book sales, Oh no that would not be fair as Higson has the James Bond name and the backing from Flemming productions, But okay we will still let him have that, now lets look at book sales with his HUGE advantage.

Let me see Alex Rider has sold 8 x (THAT EIGHT TIMES) or 800% more books World wide than Higson.

Fledgling Jason Steed by an unknown author, and a unknown NEW charater, this single book has out sold all 5 of Higsons young bond books combined.

So as this form post is on BEST TEEN SPY BOOKS, I think we can clearly name a Loser. And what is a BEST TEEN SPY BOOK.

Wether you and I like Higson or not, The book sales suck, You can bet that Flemming Productions would have loved to have had the sales of the rivals.

In my opinion Higson should have stuck to comedy on late night TV shows.

[[dark]]

Hi Dark

We are all allowed an opinion and you and I will have to agree to differ on Higson.

There's an opinion, and there's a statement that Higson's books were a "flop", which quite simply isn't the case.

Maybe we should just leave it up to the public and book sales, Oh no that would not be fair as Higson has the James Bond name and the backing from Flemming productions, But okay we will still let him have that, now lets look at book sales with his HUGE advantage.

Gardner and Benson also had the James Bond name and most of their books didn't come close to selling the number of copies that Higson's books have.

Let me see Alex Rider has sold 8 x (THAT EIGHT TIMES) or 800% more books World wide than Higson.

Fledgling Jason Steed by an unknown author, and a unknown NEW charater, this single book has out sold all 5 of Higsons young bond books combined.

Not sure where your statistics come from, but Fledgling Jason Steed's current Amazon.com sales rank is #180,738. Compare that with, say, the yet-to-be-published Hurricane Gold, with an Amazon.com sales rank of #10,228. Neither books are burning up the US charts, but that's a big difference.

So as this form post is on BEST TEEN SPY BOOKS, I think we can clearly name a Loser. And what is a BEST TEEN SPY BOOK.

"Best" (presumably favourite) is subjective, anyway.

Wether you and I like Higson or not, The book sales suck, You can bet that Flemming Productions would have loved to have had the sales of the rivals.

I think IFP are exceptionally happy with how things have turned out.

Anyway, why are you slagging off Higson when in your first post in this thread you say that SilverFin is your second-favourite book of all time and you rank three of Higson's Young Bond novels in your top five of all time?

[Matt_13]

I recently saw the Stormbreaker movie, it was dreadful. I would also like to mention that after going through Double or Die and Blood Fever, the latter has taken to the top of my list of favorites of the YB series. There is a wonderful character arc and foreshadowing element to these books that I find very appealing. I'm looking forward to HG when it's released stateside this April.

As for Alex Rider, the books aren't THAT bad, but the film was.

[Trident]

An almost forgotten series from the 'golden spy age' of the 60's are the French Langelot books by Vladimir Volkoff, penned under the pseudonym 'Lieutenant X'. Running from 1965 to 1986 it's one of the longest running young adult series with 40 novels. Unfortunately, they have (to the best of my knowledge) never been translated into English and only about 18 of them (with some substantial cuttings) into German. Currently, they are reprinted in France by Editions du Triomphe, unfortunately with modern covers. The more stylish original covers of Librairie Hachette's 'Bibliotheke Verte' have been dropped in favour of modern comic style ones.

The stories themselves are well written young adult spy stories with little gadgets and shootings, generally employing a 'realistic' approach to the action. Due to the young target readership, violence is very much toned down. Shootouts are rare; killing, maiming, torture generally not an option. Likewise the sexual side of affairs: all flirts stay very definitely on the platonic side, always between the (never ageing) 18 year old secret agent and females of roughly same age. Emphasis of the plots is laid mainly on suspense. A few recurring adversaries are the series answer to real-life persons and places (Colonel Chibani = al-Gaddafi; Côte d'Ebène = Lybia) and an espionage, crime and terror organization named SPHINX Langelot's version of SPECTRE.

In appearence, Langelot is a French anti-Bond (the 'anti' not too serious though): short (about 5.5 ft) slim and blonde, looking quite young (even for his 18 years) and innocent. He's a trained judo practitioner, fast driver and crack shot (preferring a .22 lr gun), but generally relies more on his wits and cleverness to accomplish his missions. On occasion he's using disguises, thus losing a bit of the series' credibility. He works for a fictional sister/rival organization of the real-life SDECE, the SNIF (Service National d'Information Fonctionnelle = National Service of functional Information; perhaps a quip against SDECE, making the real service a source for dysfunctional information?), and even has a three-digit code number: 222, although it's not used very much.

It's almost 30 years since I've last read one of the Langelot books. As I remember them, they were quite fun, although, being aimed at kids, they naturally didn't deliver the same amount of action, sex and suspense as their adult counterpart. Yet, some of the plots, while rather straightforward, still used to be far more enjoyable than some Bond continuations. Of course they are 'kids books', and rather tame ones, compared to Young Bond. Still it was easy to imagine some of these with little changes and additions as 'proper' adult novels. I'm told Volkoff was writing some decent adult spy thrillers in his time under his real name and supposedly used to work for French intelligence for a short time. Some of this expertise, however toned down, shows in his Langelot books. If you speak French (the only language the whole series is currently available in) and happen to come across one of these, pick it up and judge for yourself.