This is the most movie James Bond of the books I've read so far.

There's all the cliches. I think half of Austin Powers's characters were based on the ones from this installment.

Fleming flexes his descriptive prose when he takes us to Istanbul for this outing, with Bond and Co even boarding the Orient Express at one stage.

The ending was very unexpected and made me wonder what was going on with Fleming in real life (again, I really need to read more about him).

Toby Stephens (aka Maggie Smith's son) was the narrator this time and I really liked him but maybe only 3 out of 5 for this one.

This really needs to be remade. To help move things along, I've mocked up a poster and a few seconds of dialogue for the teaser trailer...

Fleming’s fifth James Bond adventure is probably his best. Starting with SMERSH hit man Donovan Grant’s humble beginnings, Fleming builds his story. The Soviet Union needs to squelch the victory parade of the British intelligence system by scoring an embarrassing hit on some highly thought of agent – like James Bond. With months of planning, the plot is hatched. A beautiful Russian woman will seduce Bond and, unbeknownst to her, set him up for a hit, thus embarrassing Britain in particular and The West in general. The plot develops from there.

This has to be my favorite Bond book for several reasons. First, it gives us a reasonably realistic view of Russian motivation and modus operandi. It may seem fantastic, but recent history of assassinations outside of Russia are no less fantastic and brutal, just modernized. Second, there are no science fiction/deus ex machina gimmicks to spice up the story – it is pretty much a straight-forward, well-told spy/thriller story. Third, we learn a lot about Turkey, especially Istanbul. Fourth, we are reminded of the presence and importance of this part of the world. Fifth, there could be a love story somewhere there. Last, who could dislike a good story which includes a ride on the old Orient Express, not in the glory days, but still working its way through Europe from Istanbul to Paris with some sense of pride, however tarnished.

I am not a huge Bond fan, but it makes for good semi-serious reading in this troubled time. All-in-all, a good story, well-written.

Это отличная книга!

Google translate tells me this is “That's a great book” in Russian. If I’m getting catfished by Google, somebody please let me know.

Anyway, this is a great book!

First of all, oddly, we don’t even see Bond until about 60 pages in. Fleming slowly, but entertainingly, builds the Soviet era backstory with a focus on some senior Soviets cooking up a trap for our hero. They’ll use a pretty young operative to lure Bond into a “killing bottle” for their hired assassin.

Bond is described as 6-foot-tall and 160 pounds, “straight and tall as a butcher knife” and Fleming’s prose is equally angular and lean. Writers today, who don’t feel like they’ve started until they reach 400 pages, would do well to emulate this minimalist style. This is a fun page turner.

Of course even though this is a review of Ian Fleming’s 1957 novel, I would be remiss if I did not also mention Terence Young’s ultra-cool 1963 Bond film starring Sean Connery and Robert Shaw. Shaw is one of my favorite character actors and while he was fun to watch here, I cannot think of him without recalling his 1975 portrayal of Quint in Steven Spielberg’s film Jaws. Also noteworthy was the delightful Daniela Bianchi who played Tatiana Romanova. Connery has said that this was his favoriet Bond film.

** Side note: Who was the coolest: Sean Connery, Steve McQueen or Paul Newman? My vote is for McQueen, but they are all stratospheric cool in their own way.

I’m going to read all of these.

An oh-so-innocent Russian cipher clerk is recruited into a SMERSH plot, being told that she would feed England false information after "defecting". Little does she know that the actual plan is to humiliate MI6 by staging a murder-suicide between her and her escort, James Bond.

This is technically a review of the Simon Vance audiobook, but it's an unabridged reading.

The Good:

Action scenes: Fleming writes them so well. That penultimate scene with the top SMERSH killer is my favorite scene in the book.

Feel: It has that compulsively-readable, fast-paced, insubstantial, not-probable-but-not-quite-absurd, spy thriller feel.

Villians: Red Grant and Rosa Klebb do rank up there. I must admit that Grant, with the exception of his absurd full moon urges, is one of the most menacing villians I've read.

The Bad:

Bond Acts Like A Tool: From reading Casino Royale, I knew that there was a certain quality of fatalism to Bond. However, in this book he acts with such little care. Although a lot of his risky actions were justifiable, there were some points where it is obvious that Fleming needed to keep the plot going. The biggest example of this was when Bond, despite escorting a defector and some extremely valuable cargo, decides to complete a train ride which he knows has a trap somewhere, because he, by his own admission, is perversely curious to see what it is. Nice way to put England first, James.

The Bizarre:

Misogyny and Racism: Fleming was very much a product of his time. One of his characters casually mentions that the Turks are unfit for civilization and that they are only happy when they have a Sultan around to rule them. And then he goes on about how he once tamed a wild girl by chaining her naked to his table. Perhaps if I was Turkish or a woman, I would find this all offensive, but I am neither, so I just find it funny as hell.

That Gypsy Women Semi-Naked Duel To The Death Scene: Did that scene have any (non-erotic) reason for being written? Any at all?

All in all, it's not perfect, but I think it was worth the read. I recommend it to fans of fast-paced thrillers.

اسم غير مناسب لواقعنا الحالي مطلقا
لكن ما علينا؛ خلينا مع بوند المستفز

الذي لا تسير الامور معه ببساطة ابداَ
فلابد من جيش قتلة محترفين ينقضون عليه
و رصاص كالمطر ينهال عليه
لنتساءل كيف يمكن ان ينجو بوند هذه المرة؟

بثقته المفرطة التي تكاد تكون فكاهية
و شعره المهندم حتي و هو يغرق

في هذه الرواية الصادرة عام ١٩٥٧ يتم ارسال العميلة السوفيتية تاتيانا رومانوفا لاغواء ثم تصفية بوند  ثاراَ لموت دكتور نو
ثم تتطور الاحداث في تركيا و تتورط بها منظمات كبري كالعادة في مدن عدة؛ اسطنبول؛ بلغراد؛ كرواتيا؛ سلوفينيا و بالطبع لندن

Though Bond is used to finding women and trouble on the job, perhaps this is the first time they found him first. How in the world will he survive this one?


As much as I love James Bond, the novels were beginning to become slightly monotonous. Not so much that I'd stop reading per say, but I was certainly starting to read this series with less enthusiasm. This installment was like a breath of fresh air!

Bond seems more human in this story. He makes some mistakes, including some that I felt could have been avoided with some basic inferential senses. I know that Bond is famous because of his flawless ability to get the job done, but it's kind of nice to have a reminder that even the best are human and make mistakes as well.

I also liked the insight of the U.S.S.R. government that the opening gives the reader. You get to step into the shoes of the bad guys in this book and really take in both sides of the story. It was a great addition as well to be able to watch the plot be taken to Bond by surprise, rather than happen during a standard mission given to Bond by M.

Overall, a great addition to the series, and one of my favorites. Stay tuned for more 007 reviews in the future!

From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming is the 5th James Bond novel, considered to be JFK’s favorite and I can see why. The first third of the book is all about setting up this elaborate Russian plot designed to disgrace the British Secret Service by assassinating James Bond while smearing him with illicit scandal which presupposes that the "secret agent," Bond is no longer secret, so then how effective can he be? The details, Fleming used to create the players both good and bad that are so significant in this novel are perfect despite the glaring plot hole that 007 is no longer a secret agent. Karem Bey, Tatiana, Colonel Klebb, Grant, and even Kronsteen are all memorable characters. Again, not trying to be an apologist for this series, but written in the 1950s, the novels are blatantly misogynistic and even racist. If these are triggers for you then stay away. The prose is smoothly lyrical and extremely insightful (as if it was written by a former intelligence officer.) This is definitely a top tier novel.

And so, Ian Fleming joins Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the following tradition: getting sick of your famous protagonist, killing them off, and then deciding to bring them back in the next book because - well, there could have been any number of reasons. (Money springs to mind.)

So ends the superb novel From Russia With Love, which was beautifully written, almost perfectly paced, and had a gripping final 100 pages that ended on the most unexpected, outrageous cliffhanger in literary history. It’s appalling really. But brilliant.

Book Bond is a far more human, relatable, deeply flawed and hardboiled protagonist than Film Bond, an action hero through and through. Thank Christ it’s that way around - I couldn’t stand reading those action sequences in a novel. Both suit their purposes beautifully.

Bravo! Another Ian Fleming classic. I’m becoming a staunch fan of his.

Review | From Russia with Love, Ian Fleming | 4.5 Stars I love Ian Fleming. I really do. He’s got a gift for storytelling, he has the English language wrapped around his little finger, and perhaps most importantly, the man has an impeccable sense of style.
 
That being said, From Russia with Love had a love to live up to. This book is undoubtedly a modern classic. It’s probably the most famous in the James Bond series (possibly because JFK once mentioned it was one of his favorite novels; looking back on it JFK’s love of 007 probably makes more sense than the public originally realized). I have to admit, when I cracked it open I was a little afraid of being disappointed by it.
Thank God, I was so many levels of wrong.
 
From Russia with Love is undoubtedly the best in the series so far. It takes the finesse of the four previous novels, kicks it up a notch and delivers one of the most smashing spy thrillers I’ve ever read.
 
Time for me to gush about how riotously spectacular this book is.
 
First off, the title is an absolute home run. No discussion.
 
After that, the first 100 pages take the reader deep inside the sinister planning cabinet of SMERSH, and it’s clear from Fleming’s knowledge and confidence as a writer that he’s got experience to support the kind of detail that from any other writer would feel speculative at best. Interestingly, Bond himself doesn’t even appear until about a third of the way through the book. As a reader, you feel his absence acutely – not because the story’s boring, but because you have a growing sense of dread as the trap being laid out for him begins to take shape.
 
From the very beginning of Bond’s part of the story, there’s a sense of inevitable doom, and as each page turns the SMERSH plot seems to slowly close around him, like a venus flytrap. He doesn’t stumble blindly into it, of course, but nor does he fully understand what he’s walking into. For those of us who already know and love Bond, those who are meeting him for the first time and especially, I would imagine, those who were reading it when it was first published without the comforting knowledge that there would be a sequel, ‘tension’ doesn’t even begin to cover it.
 
But that alone isn’t what makes this book wonderful. It’s also perhaps the most geographically rich book in the series (so far). Bond is no stranger to exotic locales, but his adventures in Istanbul are almost more akin to the hi-jinks of an Indiana Jones movie than the city-slicker, money-to-burn explorations of the first four books. From rat-infested tunnels below the city to a naked wrestling death-match in a nearby gypsy camp, From Russia with Love is a story stepped in rich cultural detail.
 
And then there’s the train. Oh, the train. I may be a little biased here, because I LOVE trains, but all the action on board the Orient Express is made much more exciting by the sheer forward momentum of the journey. I could go on about this for ages, but I won’t.
 

 
Once Bond is off the train and ostensibly out of danger, it’s still almost impossible to relax, and with good reason – it all seems a little too easy. SMERSH isn’t quite so easily duped, and to the very last page, Bond and the reader are both waiting for the other shoe to drop – which it finally does, with (possibly) fatal results. The ending is a cliffhanger of the highest degree. The only reason I’m not already reading Dr. No is because I left it on the mainland and won’t be back there for another two weeks.
 
Really, I could stop here, but I think it would be remiss to write a Bond review without mentioning the girl. Tatiana Romanova is not, at first, too terribly different from the other women who have come and gone in James Bond’s life (Fleming clearly had a penchant for women with blue eyes). But unlike the other girls, the reader gets a much more intimate idea of what’s going on her head. She appears before Bond does, and you can’t help but wonder when she’s going to realize that she’s being lured into a trap as much as Bond is. Unfortunately, she doesn’t get to see much action. This is really a shame, because Fleming goes out of his way to explain how intelligent she is. I for one would have liked to have seen her take a more active role in the story, considering she’s unconscious or absent for the most crucial scenes in the book (this is honestly all that’s keeping me from giving this one a five-star rating). I liked her, though, and in the end the story really isn’t about her – she’s just another one of SMERSH’s pawns.
 
So. From Russia with Love is unquestionably worth a read, whether you pick it up as part of the series or if it’s the only Bond book you ever crack open. There’s a little something for everyone – and even if sweeping international espionage  isn’t your style, prepare to be sucked in by the inimitable style of Fleming’s prose. Here’s one of my favorite passages, just to whet your appetite:
 

It should have been the Arabian Nights, but to Bond, seeing it first above the tops of trams and above the great scars of modern advertising along the river frontage, it seemed a once beautiful theatre-set that modern Turkey had thrown aside in favour of the steel and concrete flat-iron of the Istanbul-Hilton Hotel, blankly glittering behind him on the heights of Pera.
 
–From Russia with Love, Ian Fleming

 
4.5 stars.

As great as the Bond movies were, the original espionage novels by Fleming offer us a different lens through which to view Bond. Where the movies always made him seem cool, calm, and collected, the character in the novels is a more complex man. It is a man who is bored awaiting assignments in London and mooning over a lover who left him a d returned to the States. He is emotionally connected to his spy partners and sad when they meet their demise. Despite his license to kill, he is uncomfortable with killing. When confronted with Tatiana Romanov, the irresistible beautiful Russian spy, he has difficulty being objective and really wants to trust her. And, Bond here is all too humanly fallible, making errors in a business that allows no slack for errors and has consequences that are permanent.

You also get more of a sense in the novel what’s going on in the minds of the Russians. Indeed, there are a couple of chapters of Russian spy activity, particularly concerning SMERSH, the killing squads, both domestically and internationally, that precedes the introduction of Bond into this novel. We are in fact introduced to a number of characters on the other side where we get to see what motivates them and their multitude of dimensions.

The plot itself concerns the assassination of England’s most esteemed agent, Bond, as a poke at the espionage agencies of the West. The idea is to lure him in with the embrace of a supposedly turncoat Russian ballerina who is stationed in Istanbul and has access to a code breaking machine. Word is put out that she has come across his fine and is hopelessly smitten with his photograph. What follows is a kind of cat and mouse game between them as to whether to trust each other. It might have been simpler just to shoot Bond, but the complex plot offered espionage with sex appeal, which would make the Bond franchise famous worldwide.

Rating: 4.5* of five

It's the 1963 movie with Sean Connery that I'm rating. I tried reading Casino Royale recently, and found it dated and even more sexist and racist than I was expecting. I'll stick to the movies. Connery's nice to look at. The gadgets are hilarious, and so is Q. The theme songs are great.