Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Young Bond loses his innocence, 5 Sep 2008
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.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely fantastic, 6 Sep 2008
What a shame this series has ended already! As with all the other books, I could not put By Royal Command down. There is nothing more refreshing than a writer for young adults who doesn't talk down to them. Never once did Charlie Higson shy away from the gory details and the plot went along at a fantastic pace. And I loved the little historical details dotted here and there. Fantastic writing and a vast improvement on Hurricane Gold, the weakest (but by no means bad) book in the series.
I suppose you can't help but compare Bond to Rider but I have to say that as a fan of both, Bond is just that little bit edgier. The historical setting is also a very nice touch, giving all of these stories an extra depth. The state of Europe in Young Bond's era hangs over these tales, the horrors of war never too far away. I'm glad the series wasn't updated to fit into the modern day - we'll leave the 21st Century to Alex Rider.
I absolutely cannot wait to see what Higson writes next. For now though, I shall just reread this series and await the graphic novel!
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Satisfying end to a surprisingly good series, 9 Oct 2008
So we come to a close to the 'young bond' series, which i have to admit was far better than i expected it to be. Praise to Charlie Higson for handling the task emmensly well and for creating a very entertaining series. 'By Royal Command' is the final book in the series and this is the fifth time James Bond, a fourteen year old kid, has managed to get in to some mad far fetched adventure invovlving spies and this time round the prince of whales. So you have to completly abondon any plausability factor and by that i mean it's difficult to beleive that one boy can get mixed up in so many adventures, but still these books are entertaining and if you have read the others the chances are you won't be dissapointed with this. All the right ingrediants are there - the action, the locations, the girls, the allies and of course a larger than life villian, in fact in this story it's difficult to tell who's a friend or an enermy of our hero. There are some nice plot twists, even though the plot does waver in places. Compared to Hurricane Gold there is a lot less action, but there is still ample to keep younger readers fixed. Roan - the love interest is the strongest female friend to appear in the series so far, as her character is given more depth than anyone previously. This makes her the ownly believable thing in the book, but makes for a good love interest for Bond. Considering this is for children i'd have to say Higson over steps the mark on violence throughout the climax. It even made me feel sick let alone a thirteen year old. I wouldn't say that it is the best of the bunch, but it is still a entertaining read and is a satisfying close to a good series. well done Mr Higson.
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