Reviews

The 1953 book that kicked off the the world's greatest spy. Many of the modern attributes of James Bond can be found in this story, but this James Bond is very different than the Bond I grew up with. Overall, I enjoyed the read. The plot was enjoyable and held my attention. Fleming is able to set the scene beautifully. There's a passage where he goes on about Lady Luck and it's very well written.

The book was published in 1953 and the sexism and misogyny really shines through on a few pages. It didn't seem to add to the plot so it did take away from the overall story.

I look forward to continuing the series to see when/where/how this average bloke named Bond turns into the world's greatest secret agent.

myke's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

kimham_bookstagram's review

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3.0

My bookclub’s summer reading activity is the Summer Passport Challenge that keeps track of the number of countries we “travel” to as a reader. Each country visited provides us with one entry into the prize drawing.
For my France prompt, I chose Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale, my first time to read a James Bond novel. This is the first of 12 in the James Bond series by Fleming.
At only 212 pages, it is a quick read that introduces the world's most famous fictional spy. While I found it entertaining, it wasn’t as compelling as I expected. It does introduce several key elements of Bond movies —kidnappings, car chases, torture, showdowns, betrayals, and sexy, beautiful operatives.
think I would have enjoyed the book more had I not seen so many of the movies. The Bond in the book is a vulnerable, yet icy cold misogynist who chain smokes and drinks too much (shaken not stirred). Perhaps I couldn’t read it objectively?!?

This also fulfilled my 1950's prompt in the #10books10decades Challenge.

read_n_wright's review

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4.0

I really enjoyed this book despite being surprised, and often tickled by its blatant sexism and misogyny.

I loved Flemings way of describing feelings/emotions/experiences and often found myself relating to his expression of them. Its nice to read a passage and think "I've felt the exact same thing before, I just didn't have the words to describe it!"

The book felt very honest.

Once I got into the story it was very readable but I struggled at the beginning with the baccarat descriptions, the French, and the other big words I constantly had to look up.

abids113's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.75

wsb5037's review

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adventurous lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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