Devil May Care (The New James Bond Novel )
by Sebastian Faulks
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Book Reviews of Devil May Care (The New James Bond Novel )
Book Review: The devil may care - I sure don't!
Summary: 1 Stars
How much do I think of this novel? Not much. So little in fact, that I've just put the copy I bought for myself for sale on Ebay.
I really wanted to enjoy this novel, but in my opinion it just doesn't entertain the way a Bond novel should. In fact I didn't find it entertaining at all. "Writing as Ian Fleming" - rubbish.
The first time I tried to read this book I stopped after about forty pages. I realised that at no point during that time had the book felt like a Bond novel, or had been entertaining.
A few weeks later I thought I'd give it another try. This time after about 80 pages I gave up for good. The book quite simply is uninspiring, and I had both total indifference to both the plot and the characters.
While not all of Raymond Benson's ideas of what to do with the Bond novels worked, at least the majority of his novels were entertaining. This in comparison is quite simply does not have enough of a Bond feel to it. It's no Goldfinger, or even Colonel Sun, that's for sure.
Since other authors, like Clive Cussler, can consistently turn out interesting and entertaining novels, there's really no excuse for uninspired writing. Over and out...
Book Review: The style is there, but there's no substance
Summary: 3 Stars
Devil May Care is a lightweight, enjoyable pot boiler that is highly reminiscent of the Ian Fleming novels and also the Sean Connery 007 movies. I definitely felt that Sebastian Faulks nailed Fleming's writing style. Unfortunately he has been less successful in constructing a compelling plot and characters.
I very much enjoyed the first half the book which vividly recreates the late 60s. Bond's initial confrontation with the villain is over a game of tennis that reads more like a duel and has all the tension of Casino Royale. The love interest, Scarlett, also makes a dramatic entry. However the second half of the book rapidly loses momentum and pace and the overly-complicated plot gets bogged down with lengthy explanations and the introduction of characters (like Felix Leiter) who add little to the story. The villain's motivations are clichés and the book concludes with a final twist that comes as less of a surprise than it seems it was intended to be.
Three stars, because it's still a quick and fun read. But not what it could have been.
Book Review: An Egg from the Cock that Crew.
Summary: 3 Stars
I've always admired British writers because of their precise control of the language. I've read every James Bond novel written, and all of the other (non-Bond) novels written by John Gardner, and most of Raymond Benson's. I've enjoyed them all. Devil May Care is enjoyable too, yet there seems to be some sort of inside joke associated with it. Grammatical errors are rare with the British, yet Faulks throws in a few perplexing anomalies, e.g. "orientate" instead of "orient", "disorientated" instead of "disoriented", and "acclimatize" instead of "acclimate". He uses "height" instead of "altitude" when a plane is in flight. I've never read any of his books before so I don't know if it's his style, or his attempt to write as Ian Fleming, or the general deterioration of the English language. Then there's that concluding page about the "Type". Does anyone care that, "This book has been typeset in Montotype Garamond, a version of the original Garamond first introduced in 1541." I would have preferred the font that Ian Fleming used to type his original stories!!
Book Review: Reads like a real Bond book
Summary: 4 Stars
Author Sebastian Faulks did a reasonably good job of imitating Ian Fleming as writer of James Bond. Fleming, you will recall, passed away in 1964. Pick up 'Devil May Care' as pleasant summer reading and you will not be disappointed.
All the Bond elements are here: the villain, girl sidekick, drinking, tradecraft, and international travel. I read Casino Royale-(c)1953-just before 'Devil May Care.' Faulks stated in an interview that Fleming used a lot of verbs and few adjectives or adverbs. That's the "Fleming voice," he said. Fleming was a newspaper reporter first, so he fell into the reporter's style of making short, direct statements. Faulk is pretty good with a short sentence too.
I won't go over the familiar plot, which takes us from London to Paris, Iran, and other 'dangerous' locales. Faulks saves us from the classic techniques of the Bond films, so we don't have to hear "Bond, James Bond" again. Think of this as Fleming's 15th Bond book and you will enjoy this summer reading. At 278 pages, you get your money's worth.
Book Review: Dollar Store Rip Off
Summary: 1 Stars
Devil May Care (James Bond)
I was so excited to hear there was a new book for Bond fans, but this one is a cheap rip off of old ideas from Goldfinger and other Bonds. This book is such a let down :( I was reading Spycraft at the same time and Spycraft is the most AMAZING book on real spys and the history of the World of Spying. Anyway, a much better read. Hope I saved you $20Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to al-Qaeda
Also don't fall for the Quantum of Solace short story. It is about 3 pages of junk. Not sure how they made a movie from this, but I'm sure it will be awesome.Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories
Bond books seem to be the only ones that the MOVIE is BETTER than the books. lol