My foray into the world of audiobooks continues.

3.5 stars for the stories and the extra 1.5 stars for the excellent narration.

I've not ever been what one could call a James Bond fan. I'm not a James Bond hater, either. I had no strong feelings about the character/books/movies one way or the other. This was based on my trying to watch assorted Bond movies when I was younger and not being able to get into them. Therefore, I never attempted to read any of the books, assuming I wouldn't like them.

Flash forward to me discovering audiobooks narrated by actors whose voices I find appealing and I end up owning a copy of this book narrated (mostly) by Tom Hiddleston, and I find my opinion has changed somewhat.

It consists of several short stories:

Octopussy
The Property of a Lady
The Living Daylights
007 in New York

It also has an interview with Tom Hiddleston.

I'd have to say my favorite of the lot was Octopussy, but The Living Daylights is right up there with it. I enjoyed all the stories enough that I am considering trying out at least one more in audiobook format. Though, having looked at the lengths of some of the other novels, I'm feeling a bit cheated that the one Hiddleston narrates clocks in at just under four hours.

Speaking of Tom Hiddleston...I won't go into how his voice affects me--anyone who's known me any length of time knows that. But I will give him major kudos for his narration. The voices he gives the characters are all distinctive and his narration flows smoothly. He also did a great job with various different accents, and never fell into sterotypical, disrespectful sounding accents. And his ohmygosh, his voice, y'all askadsgdjslaldjsha. *coughs* Sorry, it just slipped out.

The final story is narrated by Lucy Fleming, and she does a fine job with the extremely short, 007 in New York.

All in all, I was very pleased with this collection. I only wish it had been longer.

A novella and three short stories. Is Bond/Fleming running out of steam?*
1) Octopussy - 4 stars: A novella with treasure, perhaps, and animals from the deep. Major Smythe prefers his creatures over people. Is he wrong to do so? This is an unusual Fleming, but very good. Less we forget, Fleming CAN INDEED write a darn good yarn.
2) The Property of a Lady - 2: Jewels and an auction. Not much else.
3) The Living Daylights - 3 stars: The most Bond-like story here. And Bond hates this ugly kind of work. (I have a hard time believing Bond's leisure reading material is a cheap soft-core porn-bondage paperback. Then again, maybe he is reading Fleming's own "The Spy Who Loved Me", a book so poorly reviewed it was published in America in Stagg Magazine as "Hotel Nymph" if I recall correctly. Intentional meta-reference? ) At the end, Bond is concerned he will lose his '007'. Final words: "Let's go."
4) 007 in New York - 4 stars: This one has a recipe for scrambled eggs. There is lunch, cigs, Central Park, a lady (Solange) a Cadillac (!), phone calls, a break-up, and Bond day-dreaming. Does Fleming say, "That's it, this is the retired Bond"? In just 8 pages, Bond gives us a bittersweet farewell. And it's pretty much perfect.
SUMMARY - 3.3. *It's just that Fleming retires Bond. I've read worse goodbyes. Overall, the structure, the goodbye, the final mission, etc., is satisfying.

Hard to rate this one, as it is a short story collection. Obviously, some are better than others. I think Bond was more "himself" in these than in The Man With the Golden Gun," but the final story in this book (and ultimately the series) was a bit anticlimactic (though ironic).

The title story is very good, with wonderful animal symbolism. The "outside" view of Bond really crystalizes the power of his personality.

Reading the Bond series this year has been such an enjoyable "study." Fleming's ability to build tension in action is masterful, and his characters evoke strong sympathies (for or against). Never have I encountered such truly despicable villains or such flawed, lovable heroes. M. is a star in his own right, and Moneypenny is a symbol of unattainable stability that allures Bond, yet repels him, like the poles in magnets.

Bond's appeal lies in his dedication to his work, to M., and to his own pleasures. His brute inner honesty is refreshing, even though it is clearly not a healthy way to live on any level. What really draws the reader to him, though, is his conflicting desires for constant change and stability. This creates situations that cannot be resolved--professionally and personally. There is depth to Bond that the movies cannot capture, and I hope movie fans will venture into these wonderful works.

Well, I guess I shouldn't be too harsh on this because it was compiled from unfinished documents after Fleming died. Still, these stories are not nearly as compelling as the shorties in For Your Eyes Only.

The title story, Octopussy, really doesn't contain much of Bond at all. Now, that alone doesn't mean it's a bad story (I loved the Quantum of Solace story even though Bond was merely an audience member), but there really was nothing Bond-like to grab your attention here. It is just not that great of a story.

The Property of a Lady was actually really interesting, or at least, as much as a short story could be. It had that little extra spy edge where Bond used his instincts to outsmart the enemy and score a victory, although probably a minor one, for Queen and country.

The Living Daylights was also fairly interesting, from a spy v spy perspective. I love the Bond tales where it is him against his same number on the opposite side. Although this story was short and to the point, I found it very interesting.

The fourth story, 007 in New York, really isn't a story at all. It's just Bond sightseeing in New York for a few pages. That's about it. There are no rival spies, no real danger, and no outwitting the opposition.

I don't give a DAMN about James Bond, but I listened to this audio book, and Tom Hiddleston's voice is MAGIC and should be used for everything. He should record all the audio books, provide all the narration, make all the announcements, and replace Siri and her non-Apple kin. The world would be a better place.

Bear in mind, when I say 5 stars, I mean 5 stars as a thriller or Fleming book. This isn’t Shakespeare, Potok, or Fitzgerald, of course.

With that disclaimer... this book is a lot of fun. It comprises three short stories, none of which bear much resemblance to the films. In the case of the first, “Octopussy”—well let’s just say thank god it’s nothing like the film, because that film was horrendous! (It was so bad I almost didn’t read the book.) But actually, the story is quite good. Great, maybe, if I think about it. Without spoiling anything, it is the profile of a middle aged, ex Royal Marine, living a Caribbean retirement of narcissism, self destruction, and decay. It is very refreshing to see Fleming, once again, delicately spin a story of Bond not from Bond’s point of view but from that of a seemingly unimportant character. Moreover, Bond himself barely appears, except in one scene (although it is one in which he has a profound impact on the story). It’s very well staged, well told, and suspenseful. And it is satisfying.

The second story, “Portrait of a Lady”, is a bit dull, in my opinion. In fact, I was unsure if Fleming had actually pulled one over on me by lulling me into unconsciousness while secretly, deftly, distracting me from the real action. So I read it again. But nope, I hadn’t missed anything (or let’s be honest, I possibly missed it a second time and I’m really just that stupid). Or, hear me out on this—it’s maybe just that dull. Please let me know in the comments.

Finally, there is “the living daylights”. Again, mercifully, it is better than the film, with which it shares a bit of plot. This is a more straightforward account of a simple mission, but it reveals more than usual about Bond’s training, his judgment, and his character.

All said, this is one of the better Bond books, and for those fatigued by Fleming’s constant stream of racism and misogyny (oh god am I become a feminist now, too?), he keeps that stuff to a minimum here.

"Whether it is tracking down a wayward major who has taken a deadly secret with him to the Caribbean or identifying a top Russian agent secretly bidding for a Fabergé egg in a Sotheby's auction room, Bond always closes the case—with extreme prejudice."

Ahh, the world of international espionage. Thanks to Fleming, being a spy has never been so attractive. He single-handedly painted the otherwise secret world of Mi5 operatives in gold gilt. The genre itself became synonymous with the Christian Dior style of 1950's glamour thanks to titles like 'Diamonds are Forever', 'The Man with the Golden Gun' and 'Casino Royale'. Fleming wrote 14 Bond novels altogether, and is said to be his last. Unfortunately he didn't live long enough to see his beloved character hit the bigtime; but word has it most of what he wrote came from his own life as a jet-setting, suave intelligence officer.

This is my first taste of Bond, and the four short stories or 'scraps' as I came to see them, was a nice introduction to Fleming's work. I say 'scraps' because some of these stories have a distinct 'unfinished' quality about them; as if they were fleeting scenarios penned-down in the heat of the moment. In a little over 100 pages we have 'Octopussy', 'The Property of a Lady', 'The Living Daylights' and '007 in New York'. Two of these titles were made into full-length films only because they were the only two that had half-decent endings and enough of a back-story to build a script around. 'The Property of a Lady' had a very good premise, but needed a stronger ending in my opinion. I would have loved it if the secret bidder was sitting right next to Bond and he was thwarted just this once. It would have made for a killer cliff-hanger ending. '007 in New York' was more of a thinly-disguised personal view of the city rather than a Bond story (and Fleming admits as much).

What I enjoyed about the stories were the flashbacks into the world 50 years ago. In 'Octopussy' I got a real flavour of the Caribbean with all it's drug-running gangster culture. 'Property of a Lady' transported me to the elegant auction rooms of Sotheby's, when a rare Faberge egg would take you back £100'000 and 'The Living Daylights' of the days when Germany had an East and a West and a border like no-man's land that still reeked of the dregs of Hitler's threat.

Bond stories are not so much about the intrigue, the flashy cars (you get to read about one in this book), the women or the spoils of spydom. The real star of the show is the countries. I was more seduced by the scenery than the characters. Fleming has a gift for 'painting' the world around him and if you like that sort of thing then this is right up your street.

One of two short story collections. The last short story ‘In New York’ really never got off the ground.

A collection of four short stories. Two share titles with James Bond movies, but the substance is nothing like the subject matter of the stories. Will review more later.

Number 14 in the James Bond series, 'Octopussy and The Living Daylights' is the last Book penned by Ian Fleming in the series. It consists of four short vignettes:


-Octopussy

An officer succumbs to a moment of greed after World War II in collecting a couple of bars of Nazi gold, a crime which catches up to him.


-The Property of a Lady

A surprising payday for a KGB spy! and one of the few actual spying cases done by James Bond in this series.


-The Living Daylights

An East-Germany escape, a cello-playing assassin and a killer job for 007.


-007 in New York

Bond has a nice tourist trip to New York City - not. America, the home of sterilized food and unimaginative hotel decor!


These little short stories share almost nothing except their titles with the movies that were made by Hollywood under the same titles. Bond is shown undertaking (yes, that is a pun) quiet little jobs without the usual wham-bang excitements. But these experiences give Bond (and readers) pause for thought about long-term undercover secrets.

This audio book includes the novella Octopussy as well as three other James Bond stories. I've seen many of the films, but until now had never "read" any of the Ian Fleming novels. During a recent road trip, I decided to start with this because I'm a fan of the reader. Hiddleston reads with a clear, strong voice, changing his cadence or accent as the characters change. I look forward to hearing him read other books.

It probably wasn't a good idea to start with the very last, posthumous collection of Bond adventures. OCTOPUSSY is very short, and is told almost entirely in flashback. But what I found most surprising is that James Bond has only a cameo in his own story! The book is told from the POV of Dexter Smythe, the "villain." It opens with him describing his villa and the lagoon he swims in - where the titular octopus lives. He then mentions a visit from James Bond and that sets him off on the sequence of events which led to Bond being in his home. The story was interesting but not especially suited to the audio format. However, it does inspire me to try other Bond books.

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS was my favorite story from this collection. It describes a brief mission that sets James Bond against another sniper, with surprising results. This story has a lot of tension that kept my attention through to the finish.

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY is a bit of cat and mouse where Bond must determine the identity of a bidder at a Sotheby's auction. This story has a lot of detail and would make a great piece for a Bond film - very enjoyable.

The last story, 007 IN NEW YORK, was my least favorite of the collection, not the least because it wasn't read by Tom Hiddleston. Lucy Fleming reads the story in a flat almost monotone that very nearly put me to sleep. On top of that, the story was boring. Most of it is a description of Bond's arrival in NYC, what he's seeing, where & what he intends to eat, what he'll do while waiting to fulfill his mission, etc. The ending was quite cheeky, and might have been fun if delivered by a more engaging reader.

Overall, though this collection is obviously not the best example of Fleming's Bond material, it was worth a listen to pass the time on a long drive. Recommended to Bond completists - newbies should start with something else.

Tom Hiddleston telling a story. I cant tell you anything better.