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.

Moonraker has a good premise, a very human and quirky main villian who has an interesting background, but the pace of the book is really slow. James Bond doesn't even fire his gun the entire book. I don't expect Bond to shoot someone every page, but he doesn't even engage in combat. There is very little hand-to-hand combat, a couple car chases, and no gunfire. If there is only a little action, I expect deep and thoughtful espionage to substitute, but the book doesn't give you that either. There are some interesting chapters here-and-there, I like the card playing scenes, and the story Drax tells bond at the end, but the book is kind of non-eventful as a whole. I have read several of Ian Fleming's Bond books, this one is at the bottom of the list.


The most infuriating thing about this book is the middle third section which gets bogged down in pointless detail about rocket ships, missiles and physics. We also get more pointless details about food and drink in the casino scene and this obsession gets so dull that at one point, I almost put the book down for keeps. Should you decide to read Moonraker be warned that it gets EXCEEDINGLY boring at points and will require some perseverence and resolve to get through. Another negative for me was the formulaic quality of some of the scenes. They appear to be lifted straight from Casino Royale without the freshness and tension of that first novel - there's the casino stand-off, the night-time car chase, the kidnapping of the girl, the kidnapping of Bond and so on. It does appear that Fleming was struggling with ideas at this point and it shows.

Fleming may have felt himself slipping into formula and therefore tries to mix things up a bit in Bond's third outing. The main thing that differentiates this book from the others in the series is that Bond never leaves England, and is instead assigned to investigate mysterious goings-on around Hugo Drax's "Moonraker" rocket that is scheduled to launch mere days after the novel begins... and shortly after Bond humiliates Drax in a high-stakes Bridge game.

It is a testament to Fleming's strength as a writer that he is able to make Bond's bridge game with Drax so damn exciting, and its denouement so satisfying. It's to the novels' weakness that the rest of it almost doesn't live up to the quality of that initial confrontation. The middle of the novel drags, simply because Bond has to go through the slow, painful process of investigation to figure out that Drax is an evil mastermind when to us readers, knowing what to expect from a Bond novel, it's obvious from the get-go. However, Fleming pulls it together in the end with a truly thrilling conclusion.

Another plus for Moonraker is the book's "Bond Girl," Gala Brand, who I believe is the best in the series so far. She upends the expectations of the role in a way that, unlike Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, serves to strengthen the character instead of weaken her.

Of the first three books in the canon, this is my favorite. Fleming appears to have allowed himself to play with language more than in _casino royale_ and _live and let die_. he is less the correspondence reporter and more the poet--not Tennyson, but moving closer on the poetic scale (albeit a small increment). for those still chilled by memories of the movie, fear not. the movie uses only the villain's name. with but three books read, i must admit that I like the literary Bond so much more than his celluloid counterpart. I write that fully acknowledging my love of the movies. a good read that has none of the distasteful racism of l&ld...if you don't count the antipathy toward nazis.

And, 70% into the third Bond novel, I'd say the Fleming formula is complete: a cartoonish supervillainous conspiracy to launch an atomic warhead at London inspired in the main by monomaniacal spite and vengeance, followed by Bond listening to the villain monologue his plan, and, upon this rant's completion, 007 taunting its author with a few cutting remarks with the object of making him lose his cool. Aaaaaand...SCENE.



For all the ludicrousness of the plot this book was definitely less problematic than its predecessor, and the downfall of the boorish Drax is of course quite satisfying in ways that the deaths of the odious Le Chiffre and supercilious Mr. Big didn't match.

7.5/10

This was the best Bond I’ve read to date (admittedly, it is only my 3rd) with the book split into three parts and each one having a different feel to them. The action is toned down compared to what some would expect from Bond and there was no action in space – not once did Bond go Pew Pew, which I’m pretty sure he did in the film.

First things first, my approach to all the Bond books will be tainted by the films. With “Live and Let Die” I knew the film well and enjoyed it – the book less so. I must have watched “Moonraker” once as a child and my memory of it was very poor. I remember Bond in space and Jaws (not the shark) – I don’t even remember the theme song which is unheard of!So with no preconceptions I was able to enjoy this for what it was.

As I mentioned it felt like the book was split into 3 distinct parts:

The 1st part where Bond is playing cards to find out why Hugo Drax is cheating at an exclusive club. This was a little like Casino Royal but the tension builds well and it was a good battle of wits. Admittedly I didn’t know the card game they were playing so I was lost on some of the terms but it shows how well it was written to draw me in.

The 2nd part is Bond being sent to the Moonraker site after someone is murdered. This felt like Agatha Christie/Shutter Island in the mystery of why someone was murdered in a secure community leaving Bond to find out what has gone on and unravel a deadly plot.

This leads to the 3rd part where everything kicks off. I won’t spoil anything but it was a good, if not great, finish to the story with some emotional toying with Bond at the very end.

Overall, this was Bond but not as I know him but that didn’t alter the fact that it was a good read and a welcome improvement over “Live and Let Die”.

If you like this try: “The Mozart Conspiracy” by Scott Mariani

I continue to enjoy the James Bond novels, but I also continue to be shocked at just how different the novels are than the books. I really shouldn't be surprised, as the novels were written in the mid 50s and this movie, for example, was made in the last 70s. I find it a credit to the movie writers that they are able to take a story and restructure it into what the movie scripts finally became.

So in this one there's no outer space action, no giant snake fight (boo!), and no Jaws. But the Moonraker is instead a rocket that can deliver its atomic payload to anywhere in Europe from Great Britain. I'm guessing at the time that was science fiction. The villain is still Hugo Drax, but his background...well, I don't want any spoilers.

Overall this is a good novel, although a much more straightforward spy action/adventure story rather than the far out movie of the same name. Both are really good in their own way.

As a huge James Bond fan, I'm not sure why I have waited so long to read the novels but I'm glad I'm finally getting around to it.

If you like the movies, you'll probably like the books even with the differences. If you don't like the movies, you may still like the books because they are more realistic and pretty good reads.

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!

* The third Bond book.

* And far and away the best of the three. Tense, exciting; cards and spycraft. Always hard to believe when such an excellent book is turned into such a dismal movie.

* Hugo Drax is the most fully realized villain, and the most frightening. Le Chiffre was a bit pedestrian, Mr. Big little more than a criminal; Drax is highly neurotic, yet a patriot, motivated by vengeance and national pride. He comes off as Bond's first truly worthy foe.

* Fleming devotes the first third to a card game in which Bond must cheat a cheater, and during which the author deftly lays his foundation for the real battle to come. The game itself is even better than the one in Casino Royale, and infinitely more personal.

* Interestingly, Bond has yet to kill his nemesis face to face. In fact, only once can he be said to kill him at all. I wonder how that compares to other similar novels both modern and contemporary.

* And as for "getting the girl," well, he hasn't had a lot of luck there, either. One commits suicide and another one runs off to get married to someone else.

* These aren't formula books, which must be one reason they continue to be so popular.



* The eleventh Bond movie (Roger Moore).

* No relation to the book, other than the presence of a secret agent named Bond and a character named Drax.

* Everybody's least favorite Bond movie, right? An opinion I shared at the time and for years afterward (as you can see from my comments above). Seeing it again, though, I had the same reaction I have to most Bond films: it has good moments and stupid moments, and (because the whole series takes place on some other-Earth where someone always possesses technology far in advance of our own) not even the battle in space fazed me. Hope, as they say, springs eternal, and I always have to fight with my brain at the beginning of a Bond movie, but, when I'm lucky, after a half hour or so, my brain shuts down and I just sit back and watch all the pretty colors. I was lucky this time, so I rather enjoyed it.

* I have this image of the screenwriters slapping themselves on the back and high-fiving each other when they somehow manage to work in a scene from the book. They got one in this time: when Bond and "a girl" are trapped under the shuttle just before take off. At least Drax actually admits that his attempts to kill Bond (he, like most Bond villains, is obviously a fan of the Batman TV series) have more to do with amusement than functional execution.

Chiar mi-a plăcut cartea asta, se vede că Fleming crește că scriitor, deși nu era vreo capodoperă. Are multe limitări, dar îmi place că încearcă.

Acțiunea se petrece de data asta acasă. Cumva Fleming e conștient de propriile clișee și se joacă cu ele. Investigația lui în jurul șantierului rachetei Moonraker devine foarte interesantă foarte repede, însă mai avem timp să aflăm mai multe despre organizația din care face parte Bond, despre omul de dincolo de aventura la limită, și, evident, dacă se combină cu Gala Brand.

The movie Moonraker is the one I like to refer to as Bond! In! Spaaaaaace! or Star Wars: Attack of the Bond. I figured the book would be relatively similar, but you'd think I'm new at this project. Silly rabbit! The book was published in the mid-50s, the movie came out in the late 70s - the book's Moonraker referred to a nuclear weapon whereas the movie's Moonraker referred to a space shuttle. Clearly making a movie about spacelandia would be appealing to the masses following the release of Star Wars. Good job, masses - going and ruining it for the rest of us.

Again the trailer above shows very few things that appeared in the book, but it's my own fault for thinking one of these times there's going to be something more in common than simply the title and the James Bond character.

But, see... the book has this whole long beginning sequence involving a card game between James Bond and the one-who-turns-out-to-be-the-villain Hugo Drax. As fascinating as that can be in print, card games don't translate well to film - at least not until the later Bond movies like Casino Royale because Daniel Craig makes a hot-damn poker player. But I digress. Space, however, especially on the tail of Star Wars can be really exciting, even if rationally it makes no sense whatsoever.

The Bond girl in the movie is (hehe) Holly Goodhead, a much better name (to 14 year boys across the world) than Gala Brand of the book. And then there's this whole Nazi busy in the book and blah blah blah. But SPACE! And LASERS! And Jaws in space! These things are in the movie, so therefore the movie is better.

Clearly.

Theme song by (OMG NOT AGAIN) Shirley Bassey. I think so far she's had the most theme songs for Bond movies? It was great at first, but now it's like Share the love, Shirley, give someone else a chance, mmkay?

Not the best Bond book by any stretch of the imagination. Had there been a laser or two then maybe it'd be decent enough, but this was a bit ho-hum for my tastes. Movie was better. Implausible but better.

Next up... For Your Eyes Only.

Moonraker gets fiendish with its plot and villains, making this the first of the James Bond books to feel like a James Bond movie.

Pure Cold War spy bliss, this book taps into our collective fear of mass annihilation after the successfully brutal bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A war hero has offered his vast fortune, ambition and knowledge to create and construct a missile supposedly capable of defending Britain in case of attack. A test of the missile is scheduled soon and Bond is put on security detail, because something just isn't quite right with the whole situation, so thinks he and his boss M.

Iam Fleming's own spycraft knowledge from having worked in intelligence during WWII is put to good use in these books. For a genre guy, he's also a decent writer. Doesn't it seem like all public-school-trained Englishmen know how to string along a decent sentence or two?

This is the first book in the series where we get a real decent in-depth look at M. It was a pleasant and unexpected treat to get to know M more intimately and see a little bit about what makes him tick. The book in general was fun, even if the bad guy and his righthand toady were a bit over-the-top...maybe it was fun because they were soooo dastardly!