n  “These secret service people always seemed to have time for sex however important their jobs might be.”n

After a couple of interesting but uneven entries, the James Bond series kicks it up a notch with the third book: Gambling! Methamphetamines! Intrigue! Sinister henchmen! Beautiful operatives! Megalomaniacal Bad Guy! Mustaches! World Politics! Car Chases! Remote Lairs! Rockets! Explosions! Submarines! And a race against time to save the world (or jolly ol' England anyway)! The plot won't contain many surprises for suspense/mystery readers but it's a blast just as well, and parts of the story don't turn out the way fans of the film series might expect. In fact, the Moonraker movie shared very few plot elements - almost none, in fact - with this book which was originally published in the wee hours of the Space Race, about two years before Sputnik fired the starting gun. And if you were wondering what M's name is...

n  "I thought M was a randomly assigned letter; I had no idea it stood for..."
Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale (2006)n

This was an entertaining Bond novel that feels somewhat near-sighted compared to the other ones I have read. It takes place exclusively in Britain, so the European continental (and international) milieu of most of the other Bond novels was lacking. The plot was somewhat slowly paced. You don't understand the nature of the conspiracy that Bond is arrayed against until about two thirds of the way through, so the majority of the nov is more atmospheric, abstractly tense, and less plot driven. Gala Brand is interesting but doesn't stand out as a Bond love interest. The villain, however--Sir Hugo Drax, the multi-millionaire rocket engineer--is interesting and fun to hate. Some of the more memorable passages are when Bond is playing bridge in the opening scenes and when the Moonraker rocket finally lifts off. Fleming's writing style becomes innovative and stylistically intriguing during these scenes. I haven't seen the 1979 film adaptation but I'm told the novel is much more serious.

Moonraker was the fourth of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, appearing in 1955. By that time Fleming had the formula well and truly nailed and the result is wonderful entertainment.

A mysterious businessman has announced plans to build a missile that will ensure Britain’s defences. He is prepared to finance the project himself as a kind of gift to the nation. The rocker, known as the Moonraker, will be able to reach any city in Europe (which in 1955 made it a super-weapon).

Sir Hugo Drax is very mysterious indeed. In fact no-one is absolutely certain of his identity. During the German breakthrough in the Ardennes in 1944 a British headquarters was destroyed, and a badly burned man was found among the wreckage claiming to have total amnesia. He was tentatively identified as a former dockworker from Liverpool. After the war this man made a fortune speculating on precious metals and by the early 50s he had been knighted and with the announcement of his Moonraker project had become a sort of national hero.

Sir Hugo Drax just happens to belong to the same club as M, the head of the British Secret Service, and M had noticed something peculiar and disturbing- Sir Hugo cheats at cards. It’s peculiar because he is so wealthy he has no need to do something so petty, and it’s disturbing because in 1955 being exposed a card cheat could still mean social ruin. So it has the potential to become a matter of national security and M asks James Bond as a personal favour to find out how he does it and find a way to cure him of this unfortunate habit before a scandal erupts.

This sets up the obligatory gambling scene without which no Bond novel would be complete. Fleming was fascinated by the dangerous glamour of high-stakes gambling and always liked to find a way not only to include such a scene but also to make it integral to the plot.

The very next day a double murder takes place at the headquarters of the Moonraker project and Bond finds himself working undercover as Drax’s chief of security. Naturally there’s a beautiful woman involved, in this case a policewoman from Special Branch also working undercover in Drax’s operation. Her name is Gala Brand. At this stage of course it is still assumed that Drax is a patriotic hero and that some outside group is trying to sabotage the Moonraker. Bond will soon discover there’s more to Sir Hugo Drax than meets the eye.

Fleming’s success with the Bond novels was based on making use the traditional ingredients of the spy thriller but adding extra sex and violence and most importantly, adding extra glamour. He more or less created the stereotypical secret agent as handsome, charming, sophisticated, witty, cultured and as an all-round bon vivant. Fleming loved to drop the names, not of famous people, but of famous and luxurious products. The pages of the Bond novels are littered with references to luxury products. He was sometimes mocked for this but on the whole it was a very effective technique. Spy thrillers are after all escapist fantasies so you might as well make the fantasy as exciting as possible.

Bond also differed from earlier heroes of this type such as Richard Hannay and Bulldog Drummond in being sexually amoral. Bond is as patriotic and as courageous as Hannay and Drummond but you can’t imagine those earlier spy heroes indulging in the sexual adventures that Bond gets up to.

Fleming’s Moonraker bears little resemblance to the outrageous 1979 Bond movie of the same name. By 1979 technology had moved on and the Moonraker rocket of the novel would have seemed very dated.

The novel is immense fun and if you’ve never sampled the delights of Fleming’s spy fiction it’s as good a place to start as anywhere since there’s no particular need to read the novels in sequence. Highly recommended.

England probably suffered as much from the Second World War as any of the defeated Axis powers, what with rationing continuing until 1954, two years after Ian Fleming began the James Bond series, and the year before Moonraker was published.

Just imagine the English taking in the scene of the duel at Blades between Fleming super-villain Sir Hugo Drax and one "Commander Bond." The gambling club is flowing with rare French champagnes and Beluga caviar. The betting involves thousands of pounds sterling. This to me is the five-star part of the book.

Unfortunately, the ending involves the typical derring-do, as well as the chase of a Scotland Yard policewoman by the name of Gala Brand. Even worse, the villain commits the unpardonable faux pas of explaining his foul deeds ... and then walking away leaving James and Gala simply tied up. This simply won't do!

Fleming's popularity in the U.S. was to come later, with the popularity of such Hollywood productions as Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Goldfinger. Add to that it was splendid as Cold War entertainment.

But really, why would the Russians ally themselves with Nazis after what the latter did to their country and people in the Great Patriotic War?

The book is always better than the movie right? It's definitely the case with this installment of the Bond series.

The film was rushed into production after the success of Star Wars, they were jumping on the bandwagon with jetting Bond into space.

The book is completely different, set in England - Moonraker is actually a nuclear war head.

The story is split into 3 sections, Bond is asked to investigate millionaire Sir Hugo Drax as it appears that he's cheating at cards.
The story then moves into a mystery during the second section and finishes with a compelling action set piece.

This is my favorite of the series sofar, Fleming continues to craft Bonds characteristics perfectly. The story is fast paced, the movie is one of my least favorites in the series so went into it with trepidation. I was pleasantly surprised on how much I enjoyed this one!

This is the best Bond book I've read so far, with the sequence at the game of bridge particularly exciting (and how often do you get to write that?)

Totally different to the movie (thank God!) and the character of Bond is much more rooted in the real world, and the 1950s, than any representation in the films.

So far in this series the stories have almost seemed a little far-fetched, they have a sense of make believe. However, Moonraker seems to encapsulate the worries in the minds of those living through the Cold War. After so recently experiencing WWII. With this realism in mind, I imagine the ending helped to give fresh hope to the public.
I really liked that M was explored more deeply in this novel. We saw a side of this mysterious character that has not been seen before.
This isn’t my favourite James Bond book so far, but it’s certainly a great read that filled me with tension.

So far, this is my favorite of the Bond books so far.

Three and a half stars.

(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)

Having seen all the movies, this is my first James Bond novel and I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was the reading. I started with Moonraker because it is the highest rated in the series.

To begin I must say that the book is very different from the movie. In this regard, contrary to many opinions, I liked Roger Moore's film (it might have something to do with the fact that it was science fiction ;-).

About the book, I check that Ian Fleming knew how to set a spy novel, or more specifically a spy fiction novel or “Spy-Fi”. For example, the technical descriptions are good, specifically in the case of the missile that gives its name to the novel (more similar to a World War II V-2 than a current rocket); although today they are somewhat outdated, they complement the novel well and currently give it a touch "retro" which I find delightful.

On the other hand, I was very intrigued by the treatment of women in the 007 novels. Well, no surprise here, the man commands and disposes, in accordance with the prevailing ideas of the time (the novel was published in 1955). However, it should be noted that the heroine, Miss Gala Brand, actively participates in the plot and, by the way, she resists the charms of James Bond (but because she is engaged to another man). More peculiar is the author description -in the mouth of James Bond- of the women who work as MI5 secretaries, destined to be "spinsters", since a love relationship is incompatible with the necessary discretion in their work, which is not the case with the men.

No surprise either with 007's main adversary, Hugo Drax, as evil as you would expect.

On the recent controversy (see link below) that it is planned to correct the James Bond novels, particularly for some racist aspects, I prefer to read them as they were written, with their original doses of racism, colonialism and machismo. They were simply other times, in which there were acceptable things that now -fortunately- they are not. In other words, what was tolerated 70 years ago is not accepted today, and some that is currently being accepted in our time it will not be so in 70 years from now (if the planet holds out, of course). On the other hand, about the disclaimer by the editors: "This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace", I find it correct and the explanation could even be expanded further highlighting these undesirable aspects of the novel, but I not agree with correcting the original work. After all, I think that it should be the reader himself (or herself) who should criticize and judge whether these aspects of the novel are appropriate or not.

You can see the news mentioned here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

"Why do all the men wear moustaches?" asked Bond, ignoring Drax's question. Again he had the impression that his question had nettled the other man.
Drax gave one of his short barking laughs. "My idea," he said. "They're difficult to recognize in those white overalls and with their heads shaved. So I told them to all grow moustaches. The thing's become quite a fetish. Like in the RAF during the war. See anything wrong with it?"
"Of course not," said Bond. "Rather startling at first. I would have thought that large numbers on their suits with a different colour for each shift would have been more effective."
"Well," said Drax, turning away towards the door as if to end the conversation, "I decided on moustaches."

Moonraker, the third Bond novel, was an odd read.

The book has scenes that are very similar to Casino Royale, i.e Bond being pitched against a villain who cheats at cards. Yet, Bond seems to be a rather different character in Moonraker. He's not the condescending rake of the first two books, but comes across as quite the normal human being in this one - he has to do chores and paperwork and, like many of us, Bond doesn't like Mondays.

Of course, as in the previous books, part of the plot also has Bond in pursuit of the girl - in this case a smart, confident agent by the name of Gala Brand, who is one of my favourite female characters so far - not hard if we consider how little character Fleming has given to the ones in the first two books.
What is strange as well is that while Fleming spent more time fleshing out Bond and Gala in this one, he spent much less time on the villain of the piece - Sir Hugo Drax, who, by the way, looks nothing like his film counterpart.



"Drax gave the impression of being a little larger than life. He was physically big - about six foot tall, Bond guessed - and his shoulders were exceptionally broad. he had a square head and the tight reddish hair was parted in the middle. On either side of the parting the hair dipped down in a curve towards the temples with the object, Bond assumed, of hiding as much as possible of the tissue of shining puckered skin that covered most of the right half of his face. Other relics of plastic surgery could be detected in the man's right ear, which was not a perfect match with its companion on the left, and the right eye, which had been a surgical failure. It was considerably larger than the left eye, because of a contraction of the borrowed skin used to rebuild the upper and lower eyelids, and it looked painfully bloodshot."

Drax is a mere cliche, a comic book villain, a re-hash of the stereotypical Nazi surviving WW2 and trying to fight on.
I can see that this might still have been an exciting idea in 1955, when the book was written, I really can. However, I've really grown tired of this plot line - so when this background was revealed in the book I was disappointed. I guess, one of my favourite aspects of the Bond books are the colourful villains. So, when the villain is a mere two dimensional character, my enjoyment of the book suffers because of it - and, as I dislike Bond, more page-time for Bond doesn't make up for that failure.

What was kind of interesting, was that Fleming based Drax's background story on a real event - there really was an attempt by the SS to breach Allied lines by dressing up in Allied uniforms. However, it is unlikely that Fleming intended for any historical facts to spoil a good story, so he doesn't go into a lot of detail (and of course leaves out that the same tactic was employed by all parties).

Which brings me to my biggest gripe about the book: Fleming's shoddy research.

I had a good discussion with my reading buddy, Troy, about this very issue and I guess we dissected the life out is trying to find an explanation for Fleming's odd use of military address. All I can say is that, to my mind Fleming messed up. Big time.

While there are officers ranks in the US and British army that hold the title Captain, this is does not translate into German as "Kapitän" - at all. Nowhere near. Not possible. The only time the address of "Kapitän" would apply is with respect to a naval officer.
Shoddy research.

Also, Drax's real name doesn't work. It seems grammatically erroneous to me, but I'm happy to be disproved on that point.
It is unlikely that his name would be "von der Drache". It should be something like "von Drache" but the article "der" does not correspond with "Drache" in this case.

Anyway, rant over. This was not the best Bond novel ever, but not the worst either and probably quite enjoyable if you're into pulp fiction, comic books, or card games.

What it certainly was not, was a space adventure. The book's plot once again had nothing to do with the film, but how could it when it was written before the space age really began?

So, less "Bond in Spaaace" and more "Bond in a ventilator shaft" or "Bond for Die Hard Fans" or "Bond and Gala discuss the Ethics of Flower Picking".
Yeah, it doesn't have the same ring to it.

Bond smiled warmly at her. "I'm jealous," he said. "I had other plans for you tomorrow night."
She smiled back at him, grateful that the silence had been broken.
"What were they," she asked.
"I was going to take you off to a farmhouse in France," he said. "And after a wonderful dinner I was going to see if it's true what they say about the scream of a rose."
She laughed. "I'm sorry I can't oblige. But there are plenty of others waiting to be picked."

Ed eccoci alla terza avventura del più famoso agente segreto britannico, ovvero Bond, James Bond! Stavolta dovrà affrontare addirittura una minaccia nucleare ad opera del cattivo di turno, Hugo Drax, il quale vuole lanciare appunto un missile nucleare proprio a Londra.

Rispetto ai precedenti due titoli che ho già letto, qua vediamo la vita ordinaria che fa Bond nel suo ufficio (e infatti nei primi capitoli potrebbe un po' annoiare), cosa mai narrata prima ma che rende il personaggio più credibile, perché mica sta sempre in missione a rischiare la vita! L'azione ci sarà, naturalmente, ma dopo la seconda parte del romanzo, quando Bond dovrà infiltrarsi nella tana del cattivo.

Anche in questo caso mi è piaciuto, praticamente amo di più il Bond dei romanzi che quello cinematografico!

Flat, linear and predictable, another proof that dear Mr. Fleming is one of the most overrated writers ever. The start (only the first twenty pages) is promising, but after these ones, the level decreases:
- bridge is a gentlemen's game, but here is described as shuffle between cheaters, not to mention those who don't know the rules and do understand almost nothing
- Drax is such a horrible guy, physically and mentally, which makes too obvious the fact that he's the villain
- the description of the rocket is dull and non-attractive at all
- I've never heard that a secretary, even a pretty one, deals with the scientific part of rocket-science!?!
- the final, foreseeable as hell, is boring, not to mention the most important fact: after all his trouble, Bond only gets a kiss or two.
Too little for him, too little for us...