Max’s Reviews > James Bond: Case Files (2018): Case Files > Status Update

You know I’m a massive Bond fan from our exchanges on Letterboxd, and I’m still working my way through Fleming’s original novels, and I’m wondering if this extended canon stuff is any good. What of the non-Fleming Bond stuff is good? Also, have you read any of the John Gardner Bond books?

Whoops! I stay off GoodReads for a week and look what I miss. Sorry about that.

I'm still working my way through the extended canon as well, so my expertise is a bit limited. Obviously Colonel Sun by Kingsley Amis is considered by most an honorary Fleming novel, being by the first continuation novel and contemporary to Fleming. Anthony Horowitz's two novels, Trigger Mortis and Forever and a Day, are both good and appropriately emulate the Fleming style of writing, though I found the latter of the two longer than it needed to be. I haven't gotten to John Gardner yet. Supposedly his first few books are strong before dropping in quality, however when I read the synopsis on "For Special Services" it sounded like bad fan-fiction (Bond falls in love with Felix Leiter's daughter, Cedar Leiter, and the two of them confront a revived SPECTRE lead by *dun dun dun* Blofeld's daughter). Raymond Benson talks about his time writing Bond as an excuse to go on vacation and poop out a novel about it (he sends Bond to Disneyland in one book, seriously). I don't know much about the Young James Bond books by Charlie Higson‎ but I hear good things, while I haven't heard much positive buzz by the one-off authors who followed Benson. I'll be able to tell you more once I get to them.

Interestingly, I hear the Christopher Wood adaptations of The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker films are both quite good. I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a decent quality hardcover of them.

I can however confirm that these Dynamite comics have not been worth the effort yet. Even the best of them are a shadow of what they could have been, with this one - Case Files - being positively dreadful. Terrible writing with even worse art. A complete embarrassment.

Sweet, thanks for getting back to me. I've been excited about getting to the Horowitz and Gardner novels. I used to be way more into comics, but since I kind of got away from them, this Dynamite stuff has seemed less appealing to me. So, I'm assuming you've devoured most, if not all, of the original Fleming canon. Which is your favorite of the original novels?

Shamefully I never read his last few books (partly why I'm re-reading the series this year), but of the first 2/3s of his work I'd say DR. NO was my favorite. It's his most interesting marriage of a grounded spy thriller with fantasy elements, and as jingoistic as it is, I love Dr. No as a villain. A sadistic torturer with metal claws for hands who literally gets a shitty death. Good stuff.

MOONRAKER would be my followup. I didn't appreciate it when I first read it years ago, but it has a unique angle by having Bond work for the villain without realizing it. It's also the most different from it's movie until you reach YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, which is also a huge departure. That's actually the one I'm most excited to get to; I'll finally experience how the Blofeld story was supposed to end.

Of the books you've read, which has been your favorite?

Sadly, I've only read CASINO ROYALE and MOONRAKER so far, bur I think I enjoyed Royale more because it's a little more tightly-plotted and engaging. I'm really looking forward to THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN and GOLDFINGER the most, but YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE also looks really interesting because I'm always down for a story about Bond out for revenge. I'm hoping to read all of the originals eventually, except for THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, which looks a little lame, and apparently, a lot of people hated it and it's also the most sexually explicit. I'm still making the adjustment from the action-packed spectacle of the films to the more plodding slow-burn style of the books.