A sequel to "Licence Renewed" the first in a series of updated James Bond book's, this novel which has been filmed, features Bond on a path of revenge heedless of the orders of the Secret Service. It is written by the same author as "The Garden of Weapons" and "The Nostradamus".
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
By T. Edgeworth
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As you probably already know, this book is a novelisation of the 1989 Bond film of the same name, as opposed to an original novel by John Gardner. I've always been slightly wary of novelisations, as they often stick so closely to the film they are based on that you end up asking yourself "Why did I waste days reading that when I could have just watched the movie in two hours?". A good novelisation, however, takes advantage of the fact that it is not tied down by a two-hour running time, and essaentially becomes a more detailed and satisfying version of the film.
Gardner's Licence To Kill falls ino the latter category, as it adds a lot more depth and background to to the film's plot and goes to great lengths to fill in some of the movie's plot holes. The one, glaring flaw is Gardner's strange decision to place this book in the same line of continuity as his, and Ian Fleming's, previous Bond novels. Because some of the events and characters in the film were taken from Fleming's books in the first place, the choice to position this book as a follow-on from Fleming's seems ill-advised, and forces the reader to suspend a significant amount of disbelief as Bond apparently relives events that have already happened to him.
For example, Felix Leiter is attacked by a shark for a second time since Fleming's "Live and Let Die", in a chapter called "Lightning Sometimes Does Strike Twice". The shark does nothing except bite off his false limbs, which makes Bond's motivation for revenge seem a little thin when compared to the film, in which Felix had not suffered a previous shark attack and lost his real leg. Also, the character of Milton Krest, who appeared and was killed off in Fleming's "The Hildebrand Rarity", is resurrected here with no explanation or reference to his previous appearance.
Despite this, Licence to Kill is a decent Bond adventure that, in spite of it's flaws, I recommend if a) you enjoyed the film and b)you are good at suspending your disbelief. A good read overall.
Gardner's Licence To Kill falls ino the latter category, as it adds a lot more depth and background to to the film's plot and goes to great lengths to fill in some of the movie's plot holes. The one, glaring flaw is Gardner's strange decision to place this book in the same line of continuity as his, and Ian Fleming's, previous Bond novels. Because some of the events and characters in the film were taken from Fleming's books in the first place, the choice to position this book as a follow-on from Fleming's seems ill-advised, and forces the reader to suspend a significant amount of disbelief as Bond apparently relives events that have already happened to him.
For example, Felix Leiter is attacked by a shark for a second time since Fleming's "Live and Let Die", in a chapter called "Lightning Sometimes Does Strike Twice". The shark does nothing except bite off his false limbs, which makes Bond's motivation for revenge seem a little thin when compared to the film, in which Felix had not suffered a previous shark attack and lost his real leg. Also, the character of Milton Krest, who appeared and was killed off in Fleming's "The Hildebrand Rarity", is resurrected here with no explanation or reference to his previous appearance.
Despite this, Licence to Kill is a decent Bond adventure that, in spite of it's flaws, I recommend if a) you enjoyed the film and b)you are good at suspending your disbelief. A good read overall.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars
4 reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
awesome
16 Nov 2012
By Paul S. Ritz
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was finally able to get this JAMES BOND book in hardcover. It is difficult to find so I was very pleased with it.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pay Off
6 Mar 2002
By gobirds2
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
John Gardner's screenplay approach to writing novels pays off. This is his first novel based on the screenplay of a Bond film and he seems to have found his niche even though some of these events are a retelling from Ian Fleming's novel "Live and Let Die" with the same character being mangled again! However, this novel is based on Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson's story for Timothy Dalton's James Bond in LICENCE TO KILL. It remarkably makes for an interesting read from an otherwise unsatisfactory film adding detail to scenes and venturing inside the head of the main character exploring his feelings and motivations. For John Gardner this is pretty inspiring stuff.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stirred, Shaken, and blown up; this one delivers
27 Jan 1999
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I know everyone hates the movie(I don't) that this book is based on. Well, if that's the case, read the book, as it is actually better than the movie(although the tanker chase just doesn't read as exciting as watching it). Most people dislike Gardner's book's when compared with Fleming's, but this one is top notch. The only problem is, Gardner goes to slightly...schizofrenic means to tie License to Kill in with the on-going Fleming series. Seeing as that Milton Krest appeared in an earlier(but almost completly unknown) Fleming Bond short story, and Felix Leiter got his leg and an arm bitten off in Fleming's Live and Let Die, Gardner has to resort to ignoring Milton Krest's death in "The Hildebrand Rarity" and the shark bites of Leiter's false limbs.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
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