Elliot Carver - the ultra-rich media mogul - has found a way to "create" news and broadcast it all over the world as it happens. Now he has devised the ultimate to start a war between Great Britain and China. The conflict will reach every television in the world and garner the highest ratings in history. A man who can start a war anytime and anywhere he pleases - and then profit from it - will be the most powerful man in the world. But Carver didn't count on James Bond.
Raymond Benson is the author of approximately 40 titles. Among his works are the critically-acclaimed and New York Times best-selling serial THE BLACK STILETTO, and he was also the third--and first American--continuation author of the official James Bond 007 novels. His latest novels are HOTEL DESTINY--A GHOST NOIR, BLUES IN THE DARK, IN THE HUSH OF THE NIGHT and THE SECRETS ON CHICORY LANE.
I had not read this novelisation of the 2nd Pierce Brosnan outing, based upon the screenplay written by Bruce Feirstein. Which explains some of the differences between the book and the movie. Raymond Benson was the continuation novelist on duty when this Brosnan movie was released and like the writer before him, John Gardner, hé got the job to write the novelisation of the movie. Raymond Benson was a much critized writer who was chosen to continue the 007 books and did a pretty decent job. Hé did write a book on the phenomonom 007 so was pretty much in the family of James Bond before hé did started writing the James Bond novels. The one critism which felt True was that his Bond felt like the Brosnan version, so this novelisation was his cup of tea. In this book we get more characterisation of the various characters than we did in the movie. The story is like the movie not particular difficult to follow and pretty straightforward. The Benson books generally have more depth but this novelisation is just a bit of fun. For 007 completists only or for fans of novelisations.
I've always been a little weary of novelizations. Usually they're poorly written with little to add to the film, TV show, or whatever they are adapted from. Yet with the novelization of Tomorrow Never Dies, Raymond Benson does something almost extraordinary. He manages to take the film and make it seem like a genuine literary Bond adventure.
The Bond of the book is much the same as the Bond of the original literary novels written by Benson, meaning that it's pretty much Brosnan. But as always, Benson's 007 is best in action and it is this part of the character that Benson really taps into with no problem.
The rest of the characters are really well fleshed out and put their film counterparts to shame big time. We learn of the sinister rise to power of Elliot Carver which makes for one of the most chilling chapters I have ever read in a Bond novel. Plus Carver seems to be less of the film's super villian and more like a real, albeit evil, person. But the two other characters that are fleshed out are the two Bond girls. Wai Lin is given a whole chapter dedicated to her mission that led her to the party in Hamburg. She comes across less as a female version of Bond more as a real person. The background we are given on Paris helps out with her character as well. Even though she appears in even less here then in the final film she is a much better character here.
The story also reads a lot better. Benson was obviously working from an earlier version of the script and from what is in the novel it is a shame that the filmmakers didn't stick to this one. Because let me tell you it's a much different story here. Not that the sequence of events is much different. But the nature of Carver's plan is much different and in fact considering the world today, the plan as seen in the book is chilling to say the least.
As for much of the content, those of you familiar with the Benson 007 novels will have much to like about this. If you aren't then this is a book you should read to see how good Tomorrow Never Dies should have been. This might be the one time a novelization has actually been better then the actual film.
The book was just like the movie (written from the screenplay), but better. It fleshed out some of the background that wasn't in the movie. Really enjoyed it because I could picture all the scenes. One of my favorite Bond books and movie.
James Bond is up against a power-mad media mogul, in this story that ranges from the snowy Khyber Pass to a sea battle off the communist-controlled Hong Kong. And once more the stakes are high: only Bond can prevent the outcome a third world war. Adapted from the screenplay by Bruce Feirstein, this was written by the then-current Bond novelist Raymond Benson. He does a good job of imitating Fleming’s style though, unfortunately, he also recreates some of the sexism too and it feels badly out of place for a 1997 book - Wai Lin, the major female character, is introduced with her breasts described as “like small apples” and it jars badly. That aside, after a slow opening, the book really picks up pace and Benson keeps things moving along well, with some nicely judged comedy and thumping action. Given the space, he provides backstories for Elliot Carver (which gives much more dimension to the book character than the film version got), Paris Carver and Lin herself, as well as painting a completely different picture of Stamper. While some sequences are identical to the film, there are plenty which aren’t - including the climax - and a lot of them work better than appeared on screen. An entertaining read, apart from a few odd bit as mentioned above, I really enjoyed this and if you like Bond (and the Brosnan era), I’d recommend it.
With no offense to John Gardner, author of the previous series of 007 novels post-Fleming, I could not make it through the novelization of "Goldeneye" because - frankly - it added literally nothing to the movie. Like his novelization of "Licence to Kill" it actually took away from the film - it was lesser.
Benson's "Tomorrow Never Dies" however adds a whole new element to the story: backstory for the heroes and the villains, detail and whole new elements to scenes we know and love, and a whole new way of looking at the film.
I enjoyed reading this novel - not as much as some of Benson's other original 007 works, but it was excellent nonetheless. The detail he puts into each scene, the way he talks so in depth about each location Bond travels to; it all equates to excellent storytelling and a worthwhile read.
the content is shorter than that in any playboy magazine..looks like a promotional book for playboy magazine... if this is made into tv series, it can be wrapped up into a single episode..
utter shit... 1 star for bond character, that's all!!
Benson is at his best and worst in this novelization. There are moments of pure cliche and moments that enhance the film narrative. One of the more humorous Bond novels.
Raymond Benson's Tomorrow Never Dies is the best novelization of a Bond film since Christopher Wood'sJames Bond, the Spy Who Loved Me, for what that's worth. It's still a breath of fresh air after the stinkers that were John Gardner's novelizations: Licence to Kill, which was half-assed, and GoldenEye, which lacked everything good about the movie and openly hated the script. Benson doesn't seem to be doing this just for the paycheck, and that's refreshing.
The movie is familiar to fans, so I'll just stick to how the book differs. (I consider it to be the most underrated Bond film, which isn't to imply it's the best, just that it has a lot of qualities fans seem to ignore.) Benson adds backstories for the characters, particularly Elliot Carver, which add to the experience. He also includes a subplot which was probably cut from the screenplay, and we get a conclusion to the General Chang character that was missing from the movie. (Remember in the movie when Bond and Wai Lin passed a Chinese general in the hallway of Carver's headquarters, who Carver explains is planning a coup against the Chinese government? What ever happened to that guy? It's explained in the book.) Benson adds the sort of atmospheric details Ian Fleming would have included. But my favorite part was a throwaway line (I paraphrase): Bond often got romantically involved with a woman he encountered on his mission, and his missions typically ended with him sleeping with the woman, who he would quickly move on from. That was a sort of subversive wink to the audience about the Bond formula, which made me laugh.
The flaws have mainly to do with Benson's writing style. His background information wasn't always seamlessly integrated into the narrative, and he has a tendency to state the obvious while adding exclamation points! It reads like it was written by Jerry Seinfeld! Like Gardner's novelizations, Benson is clearly working from an earlier draft of the screenplay, which was inferior to the one that was shot. Also, in my opinion, action scenes tend to play better on film than in print, generally. In print, less is more, as a drawn out action scene become tedious. Fleming's action scenes tended to be short. Print is more satisfying with clever plotting than a lot of action.
If you loved the film and are looking for a fresh way to enjoy it, you'll appreciate what Benson has done with Tomorrow Never Dies. As a work of literature, it is middling.
Novelization of the movie, the one where Pierce Brosnan takes on Rupert Murdoch and his magic stealth boat. A British warship may or may not have entered Chinese waters. The Chinese send two MIGs to check it out. The warship ends up sunk and the MIGs shot down and it looks like the start of WWIV. James Bond is called in to see if the incident may have been initiated by some tampering with the GPS system. This leads him to Rupert, global media kingpin, where he runs into Lucy Lui, Chinese super spy, who is investigating a stolen stealth radar system. They do some high wire Kung Fu with some goons and James Bond plays Captain Blood and drives an RC car and they have dinner and sexy time in Vietnam.
It looks like Raymond Benson was not thrilled with this part of his contract. Writing someone else's story instead of your own does not seem to agree with him, especially a story as sparse on plot as this one. James Bond basically goes from one action scene to another with little plot in between. Bond's dialogue is limited to one line quips, and he does very little introspection. Benson manages to fluff out the story a bit with some travelogue stuff, but we only get one breakfast and one meal really described, and we hardly even know at all what he is wearing when it's not a wetsuit. Benson accurately describes the multiple action scenes. On film the motorcycle chase is especially memorable, but writing it down just reveals how totally ridiculous and physics defying the whole thing is. When watching it you can forget how silly it is, but when reading it not so much. Benson does his best anyway and does help by filling some obvious plot holes, but it's still barely 200 pages with 150 pages of open hand chops, dodging machine gun bullets, and banking jokes.
It's good enough as a James Bond movie, not a great one but entertaining. As a James Bond novel it is missing a great deal.
The first film novelization of Benson’s and it comes off pretty decent. His style of writing seems to mesh well with the action, visuals of today’s Film Bond. At this point we are half way through Pierce Brosnan’s role of Bond. However, with Benson we have the added pleasure of the back stories of heroes and villains alike, adding a quality that doesn’t usually go with film novelizations.
Where an Egomaniac News Producer, creates his own exclusive world events to become the highest ranking program in history. We return to China, in his second novel and go to brink of nuclear war between Great Britain and The Chinese.
And the story is pretty important into today’s TRUMP administration. Where tomorrow’s NEWS is made today. Amazing how it parallels the alternative facts our current news agencies are delivering to us.
And it’s a Bond story, Worth the read and I’m excited to keep going into Bensons part of the Bond cannon.
overall rating of book series: 1 - Casino Royale / On Her Majesty's Secret Service 2 - Goldfinger 3 - From Russia with Love 4 - Live and Let Die 5 - Diamonds are Forever / Dr. No 6 - Moonraker / For Special Services 7 - Scorpius 8 - Thunderball / License Renewed 9 - Colonel Sun 10 - You Only Live Twice 11 - James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me (Wood) 12 - Icebreaker / GoldenEye 13 - Zero Minus Ten 14 - For Your Eyes Only / Octopussy & The Living Daylights 15 - The Man with the Golden Gun / Tomorrow Never Dies 16 - The Spy Who Loved Me 17 - Nobody Lives Forever 18 - No Deals, Mr. Bond 19 - James Bond and Moonraker (Wood) 20 - The Man from Barbarossa 21 - Win, Lose or Die 22 - Role of Honor / Brokenclaw 23 - Death is Forever 24 - Licence to Kill / Never Send Flowers 25 - SeaFire / COLD
I started reading this a few months ago so my memory of the earlier segments is a bit foggy. I recall enjoying the opening and most of the middle of the novel. Having finished Thunderball in the time since I started Tomorrow Never Dies, I find that this novel is not a bad James Bond novel, and in fact the differences in the two stand out all the more. I think I enjoyed the action sequences more in hindsight.
Stamper was a convincing Bond-Villain-mook. Carver received the death he was due - gruesome. Yet the ending in the final few pages now strikes me as a bit too absurd - that Bond and Wai Lin are down to bang after what they've just gone through and killing a man together in particular.
In all, not the best book that I've read this year, yet a refreshing breath of air to return to after concluding The Misplaced Legion.
AWESOME NOVELIZATION TO AN AWESOME, UNDERRATED BOND FILM
When I was young, I would love to read Benson's Bond novels! Although I think the Die Another Day novelization was a tad more to my appeal, Tomorrow Never Dies is still a great read. If you are a Bond fan and haven't read this novel yet (or seen the 1997 film) this is up your alley!
Review from Amazon Bestselling Author Julian Michael Carver Author of Triassic and Megacroc
This one wasn’t for me - but it certainly did the job on the tin! Good writing, good dialogue, and an effective handling of the experiment that novelising a film really is. (Tomorrow Never Dies is my second favourite Bond film after Casino Royale, so I was keen to see how Benson did it!)
I just realised halfway through that I would rather have just watched the film...so maybe novelisations aren’t for me after all. But if you’re in the mood and up for it - this is not at all bad!
I think it’s the best of the novelizations from Benson. A mix of good starting material and good additions. The movie makes a good book, and the character backstories add a lot and feel so natural that I have to remind myself of what is in the movie actually.
Some of the action scenes were lacking though. They didn’t feel gripping, compared to other novelization sequences. That was a let down. I kinda forgot some areas were really suspenseful in the movie because of how brief and lackluster it was.
Raymond Benson's third Bond story of 1997 — following the short 'Blast from the Past' and Ten Minus Zero — is a pretty straight adaptation of Bruce Feirstein's script, with a few more details on Carver's medical afflictions and the fate of some characters. I think I enjoyed this more than the film because in retrospect, there was still too much late-era Moore in the Brosnan run. A curious musing on 'fake news' almost two decades before...it's current usage.
(A longer review will eventually turn up on The Reel Bits).
Un 4 étoiles pour ce qu' une nouvelisation peut apporter: des chapitres décrivant les personnages secondaires, des scènes en plus et une envie de revoir le film.
Cependant peu de différence avec le film s'y trouvent. Un scénario trop formaté à l'avance? Casino Royale et Bon baiser de Russie sont fidèles aux romans aussi. Donc cohérent? L ajout de la cicatrice de Bond tel que voulu par Flemming est là, je dirais que l'auteur a respecté le créateur.
An inoffensive, charming little Bond outing that faithfully adapts one of the most underrated Bond films, while also expanding on the story in subtle, yet satisfying ways. Well, satisfying to hardcore Bond fans anyway. Benson’s writing was pulpy and breezy from start to finish. Definitely a departure from Ian Fleming’s sophisticated style and frequent tangents, but it was quite refreshing all things considered.
Raymond Benson does Ian Fleming great credit in his 007 novels. This one is lifted from an early version of the 'Tomorrow Never Dies' script, and features a number of scenes different to what made it onto the screen. Interesting backstories on some of the characters, too, like Carver and Stamper. A good read.
Unfortunately this suffers from being based on the screenplay. It pretty much describes the scenes and background information is added in a rather clumsy fashion. However, the action moves swiftly and its a quick and easy read.
In all honesty it might be better than Ian Flemming's books. It is also not a carbon copy of the film. They diverted from the movie enough so that this book gave greater insight to the story. If you liked the movie, give it a shot.
This novelization of Pierce Brosnan's third James Bond film is as fast and action-packed as the film, naturally. Benson doesn't attempt to make this Bond match the Bond of his other novels, though he does attempt to tie it to previous Bond films. Entertaining and enjoyable.