Reviews

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

cptcheerful's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

benallee's review against another edition

5.0

I am plain shocked by how much I enjoyed this. It is by no means a perfect book, and certainly not worthy of 5 stars in the literary sense, but for the experience of reading I can only say that I had fun.

This book simply is what it is, an unabashed and well-written adventure featuring a barely-human protagonist that was an absolute blaze of a read.

The most entertaining genre work I've read in quite some time, still processing it--so I don't expect these 5 stars to last for long...we'll see if the rest of the series changes my view!

joeymoreau88's review

4.0

The first half is a bit underwhelming, but Fleming delivers in the lead up to the finale and the end result is a quality read.

billiamdyemyhair's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

3.0

Classic and classically problematic and decrepit

logan4519's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

2.5

grantj00's review

3.0

Wasn’t a huge fan of this. Maybe this was the wrong Bond book for me to read. But most the parts I found most interesting were the little spy details, like how to avoid people listening to your conversation, or little gadgets. Unfortunately there wasn’t much of that here… mostly torture, gambling, & soft-core erotica. Perhaps Sherlock Holmes would be more my speed

yananed's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? No

2.0

rrsmf12's review against another edition

3.0

Este foi o primeiro James Bond que li. Não posso dizer que tenha ficado fã.

Sendo que já conhecia a história (do filme com o mesmo nome), o enredo não me causou surpresas. Apesar de ser relativamente diferente do filme, a ideia geral é a mesma: acção non-stop e aventura ao melhor estilo de Bond. No geral penso que a história é o ponto forte do livro e aquilo que prende o leitor.

Em relação aos pontos fracos tenho que referir as personagens. Não estão bem exploradas e claramente o livro ganharia com uma maior aposta na construção emocional das mesmas. Sendo um livro pequeno, mal não fariam mais algumas páginas dedicadas a Bond: quem é, de onde vem, porque é um agente secreto e outras quesstões que poderiam ser melhor abordadas. Em relação às outras, gostei especialmente de Vesper, a mais enigmática e, no fim de contas, a melhor personagem da história.

Recomendo para fãs dos filmes de James Bond que queiram ver de onde ele vem. De resto, não é um livro marcante.

andreaskuschwitz's review

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

2.5

joshwrose's review

5.0

007 in his debut gripped me today like it did to people when it was first published. Outstanding