A Bookish Blog
About: The Man from Barbarossa by John Gardner is the 1999 entry in the James Gardner James Bond series. This book is more of a return to traditional spy craft than a fantastic supervillain story. My rating for The Man from Barbarossa– 5Buy The Man […]
About: Brokenclaw by John Gardner is the 10th book in the author’s tenure as the official author of the James Bond novels. The book expands the 007 universe, and goes back to a more suave secret agent, which made the earlier books […]
Win, Lose or Die might have fared better had it not been shackled to the Bond franchise, which comes with certain expectations of derring-do fantasy
I think No Deals, Mr. Bond reads better in 2025 than it did when published in 1987, it reads much more tongue in cheek than it was probably meant to be
Taking over for Fleming is a big job, this is the best Bond book Gardner wrote so far. Giving Bond a reason to get angry and personally involved works
This is an easy read; the plot moves fast and some of the parts are very good. Unfortunately, that’s when Gardner leaves tech alone and goes back to spy craft
The strong plot in the first half of the book is very enjoyable but loses it in a bizarre second half. I enjoyed it very much even though
Licensed Renewed updates the Bond to the 1980s. The author accomplishes this task seamlessly, finds his own voice, and does not attempt to write it as Fleming
As a book, License to Kill by James Gardner is not bad at all. I’m not sure when the overlap between the script/production and the novel happened
Scorpius by James Gardner follows James, Bond, agent 007, as he infiltrates a religious cult run by a terrorist whose goal is to assassinate politicians
