- Paperback: 353 pages
- Publisher: Puffin Books (2008)
- ISBN-10: 0140925988
- ISBN-13: 978-0140925982
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
With By Royal Command Charlie Higson brings the Young Bond series in for a picture perfect landing, touching down cleanly and evenly on every aspect of James Bond's past and future life. Within its own universe, By Royal Command is the equivalent of 2006's Casino Royale or this year's The Dark Knight -- a surprisingly profound, introspective, and ultimately tragic chapter that takes a leap in quality and maturity from all that has come before. At the same time, By Royal Command is a kinder and gentler Young Bond novel that doesn't have nearly the level of gruesome violence that has become a hallmark of the series, and even contains a love story! It's a surprising book in many ways. Of course, all the Young Bond books have been individualistic and, in their own ways, surprises, so By Royal Command fits perfectly into a series that has never repeated itself.
Structurally, By Royal Command is somewhat similar to Devil May Care (the celebrated Centenary adult Bond novel by Sebastian Faulks), particularly in its post-caper third act flight. But By Royal Command has an emotional depth that the adult Bond adventure didn't. There is a real sadness that permeates By Royal Command, a steady drip drip drip of Bond's innocence, of which Bond is all too aware. After the bloody events of the past four books, especially the relentless Hurricane Gold, this James Bond wants nothing more than to live a normal schoolboy's life. He's a 14-year-old with post traumatic stress. But Bond discovers he is fated to be a magnet for danger and death, and his reserves of stamina and strength in such situations have not gone unnoticed by leaders who soon need young men with such reserves. Not only does Bond lose what remained of his innocence in By Royal Command, it's made clear to him that the world will soon lose what remains of its innocence as well. The specter of World War II and the Cold War looms large over this novel and, in the end, Bond is resigned that his will never be a normal life. In time, he will become a number.
So where does By Royal Command stand among the other Young Bonds? For me, it's clearly the best -- which qualifies it as one of the very best James Bond continuation novels, period. For fans who still refuse to read the series based on the concept alone, it'll be hard to justify why they won't at least read By Royal Command, as it depicts a key event established by Fleming (the infamous "maid incident") and IS a spy novel. While it's preferable to have a knowledge of what came before (the book touches on all the past Young Bond novels with several returning characters), By Royal Command can still be read as a stand alone.
While there has been talk of more Young Bond adventures at some point in the future, Charlie makes it clear in his acknowledgments that By Royal Command is the end of a five book cycle started in 2005 with SilverFin.
What a spectacular end it was.
Structurally, By Royal Command is somewhat similar to Devil May Care (the celebrated Centenary adult Bond novel by Sebastian Faulks), particularly in its post-caper third act flight. But By Royal Command has an emotional depth that the adult Bond adventure didn't. There is a real sadness that permeates By Royal Command, a steady drip drip drip of Bond's innocence, of which Bond is all too aware. After the bloody events of the past four books, especially the relentless Hurricane Gold, this James Bond wants nothing more than to live a normal schoolboy's life. He's a 14-year-old with post traumatic stress. But Bond discovers he is fated to be a magnet for danger and death, and his reserves of stamina and strength in such situations have not gone unnoticed by leaders who soon need young men with such reserves. Not only does Bond lose what remained of his innocence in By Royal Command, it's made clear to him that the world will soon lose what remains of its innocence as well. The specter of World War II and the Cold War looms large over this novel and, in the end, Bond is resigned that his will never be a normal life. In time, he will become a number.
So where does By Royal Command stand among the other Young Bonds? For me, it's clearly the best -- which qualifies it as one of the very best James Bond continuation novels, period. For fans who still refuse to read the series based on the concept alone, it'll be hard to justify why they won't at least read By Royal Command, as it depicts a key event established by Fleming (the infamous "maid incident") and IS a spy novel. While it's preferable to have a knowledge of what came before (the book touches on all the past Young Bond novels with several returning characters), By Royal Command can still be read as a stand alone.
While there has been talk of more Young Bond adventures at some point in the future, Charlie makes it clear in his acknowledgments that By Royal Command is the end of a five book cycle started in 2005 with SilverFin.
What a spectacular end it was.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
By Royal Command was the final book in the Young Bond series. This is really a shame. Myself not being a particular fan of the series surprisingly, I am sad to see the last of our young soon to be 007. We started off with Young Bond in Silverfin. This was a dissapointing book, though it was not bad it didn't meet the high expectations that I had for it. The second was Blood Fever, which I did not like at all. It was a step back from Silverfin and I was angry at Higson, this is because I believed that he was turning a book series that should be up there with Alex Rider, CHERUB, Jimmy Coates, and Jason Steed as the best teen espionage series. Sadly at that point it was outclassed. Higson did not put the elements into the books that would make it feel quite like a Bond storyline. It lacked excitment, and the writting was very poor. Double or Die showed improvment, but still showed it was not at the point of being compared to the best of young adult teen espionage fiction. Hurricane Gold was a great book, it in my mind was a breakthrough for good old Charlie.
Now to the book I'm suppose to be reviewing. I was scared that he would not keep it up with By Royal Command. I didn't believe he could do it, I thought this because Hurrican Gold resembled Skeleton Key, the third Alex Rider adventure. I heard about the plot and was scared that Charlie may not be able to come out with a book, with mainly his own idea. I am glad to say he proved me wrong. By Royal Command was by far the best of the series. It has all of the elements to make it a Bond adventure. This book had it everything you would expect the girl, the sinister villin, the action, and finally Charlie showed us how Bond was carved into our favorite MI6 agent. Was it a little formulated sure, but isn't that what we all want? This was the perfect formula for a Bond adventre, and it is a shame that Charlie is done with this series. Is it in the same discussion as our other favorite teen spys yes. It never reached the point of the others but, as a long time critic of Higson I have to say on this one good job mate!
Now to the book I'm suppose to be reviewing. I was scared that he would not keep it up with By Royal Command. I didn't believe he could do it, I thought this because Hurrican Gold resembled Skeleton Key, the third Alex Rider adventure. I heard about the plot and was scared that Charlie may not be able to come out with a book, with mainly his own idea. I am glad to say he proved me wrong. By Royal Command was by far the best of the series. It has all of the elements to make it a Bond adventure. This book had it everything you would expect the girl, the sinister villin, the action, and finally Charlie showed us how Bond was carved into our favorite MI6 agent. Was it a little formulated sure, but isn't that what we all want? This was the perfect formula for a Bond adventre, and it is a shame that Charlie is done with this series. Is it in the same discussion as our other favorite teen spys yes. It never reached the point of the others but, as a long time critic of Higson I have to say on this one good job mate!
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having just read By Royal Command in about seven hours, it's clear it's a page turner. Whilst not as lean and thrilling as Double or Die, or as action packed as Hurricane Gold, BRC is a more complex beast but just as good, and a fitting end (sadly) to the Young Bond series (at least for now).
The edges of enemy sides are blurred as Bond discovers people are far greyer than he originally thought. The whole book has the ominous presence of the upcoming war. People are paranoid, violence starts to become a way of life, loyalties are questioned. It's a dangerous time.
The book is very well written, with no easy answers for who's right in war or fighting. Bond is a more angry, conflicted character, very much in the mold of Fleming's novels.
My only minor gripes were some of the characterisations of the villains and henchmen weren't as well developed as some of the previous books. There were some nice links to previous books, but i felt they weren't as explored as much as i'd like (and occasionally smacked of plot contrievence) and a few of the later action set pieces have a slight over familiarity to previous Young Bond books...
But it's still a cracking read, and links the character to the older Bond nicely (unlike say the Star Wars prequels did with Darth Vader).
So another belter from Mr Higson, and given the success of the series, i can only hope to see him follow them up with Bond at Fettes... and then lying about his age to join World War 2 for further adventures.
The edges of enemy sides are blurred as Bond discovers people are far greyer than he originally thought. The whole book has the ominous presence of the upcoming war. People are paranoid, violence starts to become a way of life, loyalties are questioned. It's a dangerous time.
The book is very well written, with no easy answers for who's right in war or fighting. Bond is a more angry, conflicted character, very much in the mold of Fleming's novels.
My only minor gripes were some of the characterisations of the villains and henchmen weren't as well developed as some of the previous books. There were some nice links to previous books, but i felt they weren't as explored as much as i'd like (and occasionally smacked of plot contrievence) and a few of the later action set pieces have a slight over familiarity to previous Young Bond books...
But it's still a cracking read, and links the character to the older Bond nicely (unlike say the Star Wars prequels did with Darth Vader).
So another belter from Mr Higson, and given the success of the series, i can only hope to see him follow them up with Bond at Fettes... and then lying about his age to join World War 2 for further adventures.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Unbelievable romance
The book starts well but the romance between "darlin" Roan and James never seems more than a schoolboy crush, and showed he had the emotional maturity of a 14 year old public... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Dunfermline woman
A good read
A great read. A must have for young people. A follow on from his other books. Great entertainment. Can't wait for the next book.
Published 5 months ago by bookworm
Action packed, fun with a great twist!
it's such an amazing book not least because of its excellent description but also due to the outstanding plot, which I absolutely loved! Read more
Published 7 months ago by Inheritanceftw:')
One of the best
This book is one of the best in the series only beaten by double or die but an excellant read worth bying.
Published 18 months ago by Jam2597
Nobody Does It Better
Anybody who likes thrillers - but not necessarily the modern tendency to fill them with swear words and brutality and serial killers - is not doing themselves a favour by looking... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mr. G. Lawrence
There was silence in the house for 2 days .....
My 14 yr old son was hooked - again - only problem was he read it so quickly ....
Published 23 months ago by Gill
Young Bond
This is an improvemnt on the prevoius books as told to me by my grandson of 10 years old, whom it was bought for.
Published on 4 Aug 2009 by B. K. Airton
Bond at his best
This is a really excellent novel. Not only is the action superb, but the whole 'coming of age' angle that Higson creates is so touching. Read more
Published on 14 July 2009 by Royale
A great book for all ages.
I bought this book for my 13 year old son. He always has been reluctant to read, though he did enjoy this book. Read more
Published on 8 July 2009 by D. Durke
Very poor, and not worth the wait.
Ian Flemming would turn in his grave if he read this. What was the author thinking?
What a cpmplete mes, we have the young Royal and future Queen meeting James Bond, although... Read more
What a cpmplete mes, we have the young Royal and future Queen meeting James Bond, although... Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2009 by Carlson Book
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