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Moonraker
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Moonraker
James Bond series, Book 3
Ian Fleming
Hugo Drax: super patriot, war hero, and the man behind Britain's top-secret Moonraker missile program. But there's more to this enigmatic millionaire than meets the eye. When M suspects Drax of cheating at cards, he dispatches Bond to the gentleman's club to catch him in the act. Drax is no gentleman, however, and bridge isn't the only game he's playing. As the world is about to discover - London, in particular - Drax has both a sinister past and his own secret plan for the Moonraker.
The beginning of this novel was a bit of a disappointment. Bond was sent back into a casino to gamble against a man using high stakes and was expected to win in order to make a point. This was too reminiscent of Casino Royale for me, and considering that was only too books ago, it was a bit redundant. Yes, they did need to start the plot out some way, but something other than another casino could have sufficed.
However, as this novel went along, I became more and more impressed with it. While not as good as the previous book, Live and Let Die, this one did manage to hold its own in the action department, too bad it had to take half the book to get there. While the first half is a bit stale, the last half is a good read. There's plenty of action that most Bond fans seem to crave.
My chief complaint with this novel was the portrayal of the Bond Girl. She was engaged the entire time, and while she never has sex with Bond as most Bond Girls do, she did kiss him and head in that direction. I understand that this novel was written in 1955 and the views on women were different then, but still, it portrays an engaged woman as being willing to cheat on her fiance and become weak in the knees when coming face to face with a handsome man with a mysterious job. That tended to pull me out of the novel and annoy me.
In the end, the book was enjoyable and if you're reading the Bond series, I would recommend it. However, I do not recommend these books as stand alone books - make sure to read them in the order that they came out in.
My rating: Three and a half snails.
James Bond series, Book 3
Ian Fleming
The beginning of this novel was a bit of a disappointment. Bond was sent back into a casino to gamble against a man using high stakes and was expected to win in order to make a point. This was too reminiscent of Casino Royale for me, and considering that was only too books ago, it was a bit redundant. Yes, they did need to start the plot out some way, but something other than another casino could have sufficed.
However, as this novel went along, I became more and more impressed with it. While not as good as the previous book, Live and Let Die, this one did manage to hold its own in the action department, too bad it had to take half the book to get there. While the first half is a bit stale, the last half is a good read. There's plenty of action that most Bond fans seem to crave.
My chief complaint with this novel was the portrayal of the Bond Girl. She was engaged the entire time, and while she never has sex with Bond as most Bond Girls do, she did kiss him and head in that direction. I understand that this novel was written in 1955 and the views on women were different then, but still, it portrays an engaged woman as being willing to cheat on her fiance and become weak in the knees when coming face to face with a handsome man with a mysterious job. That tended to pull me out of the novel and annoy me.
In the end, the book was enjoyable and if you're reading the Bond series, I would recommend it. However, I do not recommend these books as stand alone books - make sure to read them in the order that they came out in.
My rating: Three and a half snails.
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