Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

11 reviews

ceejeffe's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

What an incredibly palatable and accessible spy novel! There certainly was some stereotypical 1950s sentiment but I loved seeing that, even through a modern lense! The romance was in typical Bond-style so it was mostly superficial but it was exactly as advertised!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Torture, and Kidnapping

lisaloulaa's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Torture

Moderate: Suicide and Kidnapping

Minor: Rape

fjordpingvin's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Kidnapping, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Blood and Pregnancy

crochetcat22's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Suicide, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

ru_th's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

[…] The hero kills two villains, but when the hero Le Chiffre starts to kill the villain Bond and the villain Bond knows he isn’t a villain at all, you see the other side of the medal. The villains and heroes get all mixed up. Of course, […] patriotism comes along and makes it seem fairly all right, but this country-right-or-wrong business is getting a little out-of-date. Today we are fighting Communism. Okay. If I’d been alive fifty years ago, the brand of Conservatism we have today would have been damn near called Communism and we should have been told to go and fight that. History is moving pretty quickly these days and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

willa_reads_books's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Kidnapping

marianneiriss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bronzeageholly's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

librariangeorgia's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, and Kidnapping

Minor: Rape

meganpbennett's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Casino Royale was the first James Bond book, and it's interesting. It's very dated to its time, and so it feels frozen, like a dragonfly in amber. I felt like a dictionary would have been helpful, or an edition where some of the references and vocabulary were explained. A working knowledge of baccarat would have been helpful, as well, since much of the plot of the first half of the book involved Bond's attempt to bankrupt le Chiffre at the baccarat table. 

Parts of the book are very tense and page-turning, while others aren't anywhere near as fast-paced. The 2006 movie was a very good adaptation, in terms of how close it stuck to the novel, with the necessary updates and modifications (no one would carry a 40 million Euro check around, now would they? No. That's what wireless bank transfers are for). It does explain a lot about how Bond became Bond. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Kidnapping