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Maybe it’s the terrible books vefore coloring my impression, but I liked it. The parts that really held up were Gardner bailing the feel and fear of combat, the sense of momentum and danger that Fleming had, and the twisted unclear reasoning early on where Bond was trying to suss out the loyalties of the two women. The plot itself......well, the less said, the better.
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Oct 20, 2020 01:47
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Again, I like the description of the airplane fight here. The guy “not spinning or being thrown” by the bullet, just suddenly falling forward, is too real for anyone but a combat vet to write. It’s good, the fight is cinematic but not flashy and tense and realistic. SPECTRE being back? Bond realizing it because of a single muttered word? EHHHH, they can’t all be winners.
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Oct 21, 2020 01:18
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This whole bit feels pretty nonsensical. It reads like he wrote this with a "How to Make Fun Book" chart that required nudity and violence every twenty pages, and he suddenly realized he was almost out of space. That, and the whole weird introduction of the guy who'd met Bond in the lobby, makes this feel very much like a one draft and done kind of affair.
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Oct 29, 2020 19:34
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Just catching up, and I want to make sure I have the plot straight in my head: -CIA wants to investigate this guy in Texas because he has a big, weird house -Everyone they send is found dead, so they go find James Bond, who knows about this guy -This guy knows James Bond, so they disguise him as a professor with rare woodprints, which they fake -The Texas sends four thugs to attack the professor and bring the woodprints to him, but Bond uses throwing knives to knock them all out -Bond then abandons his disguise completely and travels to a random hotel hundreds of miles away -They find Bond anyway, and try to kill him by turning off the elevator, but there is a safety catch -Bond goes to Texas and shows up at the guy's house, both abandoning his cover and also perpetuating it -Bond meets the target, as himself secret agent James Bond (knowing they know this) and also under cover of selling the woodprints -Bond takes a nap in the guest house
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Nov 9, 2020 15:29
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Strategic Tea posted:I guess I thought the books by an actual commando might be a bit more... grounded? The action bits are still pretty good. The plot and intelligence work is just garbage. I think it's a combination of Fleming being a better, more imaginative writer and better prose author; and this guy having combat experience but maybe no real espionage field work. Those parts read like dime store detective novels.
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Nov 9, 2020 21:25
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That neither of them are expecting him to pay? How does any of this make sense? Weird prediction time: this dude is actually just super dumb and being manipulated by SPECTRE without knowing it, the mangled person is a person from Bond’s past that he can’t recognize, and may or may not be a woman
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Nov 16, 2020 02:15
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Sixteen?!? Yikes.
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Nov 20, 2020 20:13
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I could really picture this being a Roger Moore movie plot, complete with a terrible ADR Cajun accent overdubbing all of these scenes.
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Dec 10, 2020 16:21
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So the hideously scarred-beyond-recognition brains behind the throne who had particular unexplainable hatred for our protagonist just turned out to be a nobody that was killed by accident. Huh. Not like Bind’s previous encounter with SPECTRE ended with fire, such as the kind that would cause Luxor’s injuries, or anything. So was this a red herring, a dropped plot point, or just an attempt at a memorable henchman? And what’s with the ending? Did he suddenly realize he’d hit the contracted page count?
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Dec 15, 2020 01:50
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Whatever happened with those goons from Nrw York? Weren’t they out for revenge? Why did Blofeldaughter show Bond the secret entrance? Why did they want Bond to find out the plan before brainwashing him? What was the point of the Louisiana manor? Was there any payoff to having the girl be Felix’s daughter? Some kind of parallel with the daughters of his friend and enemy? Why didn’t he just go get help right away? What’s with the overly complicated ice cream factory and monorail? Why have a deadly car race / art purchase bet if they just wanted to gas him the whole time?
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Dec 15, 2020 20:22
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I’m waiting for Gardner to drop the ball but this is a pretty decent hook. Im guessing they’re some kind of Soviet splinter group
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Dec 21, 2020 21:35
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Prediction time: it’s going to turn out the Brad is also a Nazi, and in a classic “the butler did it” twist, the Soviet guy will turn out to be on the level
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Jan 26, 2021 00:24
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chitoryu12 posted:Chapter 19: Loose Ends Agreed. This is just collapsing around basic plot reality now. Awful, just awful. It’s like reading a spy thriller written by an AI, where everyone just starts being triple crossing jezebels
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Mar 13, 2021 02:52
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“Oh I guess this person is also pulling a double cross” “Ok it was a triple cross”  It feels very much like the movies, where everyone is doing stuff for no reason (just so that something new can happen to/around Bond). It was bad, but bad with decent potential to have been good.
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Mar 20, 2021 13:32
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Liking the setup so far, so I can't wait to see how he drops the ball this time. Also taking bets on whether Bond will be inhumanly competent or a complete fuckup this time.
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Mar 23, 2021 22:59
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An insanely old Roger Moore wearing a leather trench coat: “I’m in.”
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Apr 1, 2021 21:39
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Oh now I’m STRAPPED IN
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Apr 3, 2021 00:54
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He took a 10 in Luck, op. And 3 intelligence
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Apr 5, 2021 00:47
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chitoryu12 posted:Tamil Rahani Sorry, who is this?
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Apr 24, 2021 23:32
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chitoryu12 posted:Chapter 13: The Numbers Racket oh come on
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May 12, 2021 00:06
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Wait a minute. You’re typing all these updates out?!
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Jun 13, 2021 21:52
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I can’t tell if it’s my bad comprehension or this book but I have no idea who any of the characters are anymore
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Jun 16, 2021 12:44
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I didn't need to see that to be able to tell you that Gardner just lazily opened up the morning paper and saw an article about wargaming, another about computers, and then some gun ad below that, and that was how he came up with this plot
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Jun 22, 2021 18:07
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Let's be honest, I couldn't tell any of the characters apart at the end. The names were just a jumble of people doing things, and I couldn't keep them straight. At least I could remember the general age, sex, and race of one character in this book.
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Jun 30, 2021 04:14
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In the past, spy stuff attracted people with tenuous grips on reality, especially fabulists who lived serial cons. It’s great, because you can explain away anything by referring to James Bond and a “secret mission.” These days, it’s all people pretending to be Spec Ops or seals.
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Jun 30, 2021 14:20
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This is actually pretty good so far. Maybe it's just because we're coming right off of last crap, but it's way more coherent and captures the characters better.
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Jul 1, 2021 02:11
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Yeah a LOT of this is feeling very familiar. Phrases, characters, lines of dialogue or observation are all probably lifted. Honestly seems like more work than just writing a bad book on your own, without reference
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Jul 4, 2021 14:07
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 It's like Dalton's Bond
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Jul 7, 2021 03:34
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That’s my James Bond: World’s Worst Spy, saving the day by being really good at blunt unthinking violence. This dude gets it!
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Jul 11, 2021 00:01
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Which is dumber: that this is a real service and Bond now has two new allies, or that they are clearly lying and Bond just isn’t catching that these two are actually after him?
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Jan 16, 2022 01:21
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“And finally, James, we’ve installed this device inside your car. You see this tube near the driver’s seat? Simply blow into it before starting the ignition. It will stop the automobile from starting the engine in the event that the device recognizes a blood alcohol level above the legal limit.” “Amazing, Q. What if I were to have my date blow?” “Oh, grow up, James!”
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Jan 16, 2022 22:56
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Any interesting insights on the movies? They strike me as cheesy and flawed with some cool ideas, on the whole
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Feb 14, 2022 21:54
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How does one get stunt and flight training? That sounds awesome
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Jul 9, 2022 22:48
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No, they loudly announce that they are highly trained secret agents with the British intelligence service, then they declare that they think you’re up to something, then they accept your invitation to your remote island fortress
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Jul 9, 2022 23:55
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I like this version. He's the first Bond in a long time that hasn't seemed like a complete idiot.
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Jan 7, 2023 22:04
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Gonna raise a strong martini to a real one next time I get a chance. Thoughtful, insightful, and entertaining. He’ll be missed.
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Feb 10, 2023 17:20
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 17:51 |
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This whole book has been better than I expected by a wide margin
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Mar 3, 2023 00:10
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