Solo: A James Bond Novel Author: William Boyd | Language: English | ISBN:
B00BATKNZM | Format: EPUB
Solo: A James Bond Novel Description
It's 1969, and, having just celebrated his forty-fifth birthday, James Bond—British special agent 007—is summoned to headquarters to receive an unusual assignment. Zanzarim, a troubled West African nation, is being ravaged by a bitter civil war, and M directs Bond to quash the rebels threatening the established regime.
Bond's arrival in Africa marks the start of a feverish mission to discover the forces behind this brutal war—and he soon realizes the situation is far from straightforward. Piece by piece, Bond uncovers the real cause of the violence in Zanzarim, revealing a twisting conspiracy that extends further than he ever imagined.
Moving from rebel battlefields in West Africa to the closed doors of intelligence offices in London and Washington, this novel is at once a gripping thriller, a tensely plotted story full of memorable characters and breathtaking twists, and a masterful study of power and how it is wielded—a brilliant addition to the James Bond canon.
- File Size: 602 KB
- Print Length: 341 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0062223127
- Publisher: Harper (October 8, 2013)
- Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00BATKNZM
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,809 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
This addition to the Bond series sees it taken back to 1969. Bond is sent to a west African country to assassinate a rebel leader. After some mis-adventures there the action moves to Washington DC where plot is unravelled.
This is not a bad story, better than Sebastian Faulks effort but I did enjoy Jefferey Deavers book which I would put on a par with this.
The positive for me is that Boyd has made the effort to write in the style of Ian Fleming, we have a Bond who is not a superman just good at his job. The plot itself is reasonable, a bit anti-American in my opinion or very cynical at least if taken against the back drop of recent world events.
The two main negatives for me are his first love interest. I won't mention why because others are to read the book but once its read I think it will be apparent. The second is Bond's use of one of the modern rap singers favourite words. This particular word is one of my favourites as well but I really don't see the need for Bond to be using it now after 50 plus years of not needing to.
All in all a good adventure, not great but some good escapisim and thats why I have read these books for forty years.
By Paul Rooney
If you're going to (allegedly) make a claim that your own writing is better than Ian Fleming's; then have the courage to retract your statement when your work fails to live up to the potential.
Solo is a James Bond adventure that will polarize fans. Some will hate to love it, or love to hate it. William Boyd was given the chance to take a beloved character and put him in a great concept and in a great adventure. Instead, Boyd creates a tedious Bond set out on a tedious mission he nor his government has no business getting involved in the first place. The actual reason for Bond going to Africa, which is explained toward the end of the book...if anyone gets that far...is kind of astonishing in an appalling way.
To be honest it left me thinking why bother? Other deals could have been made by better representatives. The idea of stopping a war seemed good on paper, but put into practice loses plausibility when it's enacted out on the pages.
Another aspect I absolutely loathed was Boyd's flagrant misuse of Bond's treatment of alcohol. Boyd has the gall to turn Bond into a full on alcoholic and I am not ok with this. Albeit there have been times where Bond has used alcohol as a crutch to keep his demons at bay, Fleming, Gardner, Benson, Faulks and even Deaver would always have Bond recover and come back to his senses. Whereas Boyd just sends his Bond right over the edge; simply because he can.
Shame on you and your arrogance William Boyd. You knew better.
It would be a great shame to let William Boyd continue on writing Bond novels. He has no grasp of the character, no idea of the world James Bond lives in. He has no business with this franchise at all. Hopefully and thankfully Solo was a one shot deal and we can all expect a much better author to take the reigns for a much much better outing.
By M. Swint
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