20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
Young Bond loses his innocence
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...
A Satisfying end to a surprisingly good series
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...
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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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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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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Not what I thought it would be. very slow, going on and on about facts not required, It seems the author is trying very hard to get a film made of the series, giving details of music ect as someone is killed and lots of non-requored details. The ending was good, but Charlie Higson sems to lack the skill of Ian Flemming or Anthony Horowitz.
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Charlie Higson has won me back. The last book Hurricane Gold was a copy of Alex Rider's Skeleton Key, but this is as good as Silverfin the fisrt James Bond book. Its worth a full 5 stars. Great stuff, I wont spoil the story, but if you like the Alex Rider, Jason Steed, Young James Bond books you will love this.
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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.
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A huge let down. This was Ok, thats all. Boring in a few places, typical in the next. James falls in love this time and acts way out of character compared to the other James Bond books. I am sorry to say the worst of Young James Bond.
Alex Rider author Anthony Horowitz and Jimmy Coates author Joe Craig, Twilight Author Stephene Meyers and Jason Steed author Mark Cooper know how to write about teenagers, love and spys.
Charlie Higson has the ground work done by Ian Flemming yet he does not use it. Please dont let him write another. This sereis should be a number one seller. Its not and never will be, I can see now why they wont make a young Bond movie.
However I give it three stars. Its just after reading Twilight, Jason Steed, The Boys in Stripped Pyjamas, Jimmy Coates and Alex Rider this book is a let down. Its just 'outclassed'
I would still read it if you have read the other boks. Silverfin was good.
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Item was here in 2 days.
Great addition to the young Bond series. Hogson is doing a super job on these books. They are clean, fun and exciting. A little predicable, they need some spice of storyline not just locations.
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Please dont let him write another. Great Britain has the worlds greatest authors.
Anthony Horowitz; Alex Rider, Jason Steed, Ravens Gate, Necropolis.
Joe Craig: Jimmy Coates.
Robert Muchamore: Cherub.
All three authors have proved themselves as being the best teen spy writers not only in the country but the world.
Joe Craig who brought us Jimmy Coates is also the couson of James Bond Actor Daniel Crag.
Yet we have comedian Charlie Higson and part time author writing the young adventures of the great fictional character in the world.
By Royal Command is slows. and has James out of character, fleeing the country. The chapters are slow and boring in places.
When the wolrd is reading books by Anthony Horowitz and Stephenie Meyers this is a let down. Take the James Bond name away and you have nothing. I can see why they have not made a film on the series yet made a film about Alex Rider and are going to make a film on the Cherub series.
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Just finished a great book and fast. A little predicatable I sometimes wonder if the authors of Alex Rider and Young James Bond are in bed together.
Alex Rider Skeleton Key, we see poor Alex (His paents died years before brought up by his Uncle) On a tropical Island as a spy, the worlds worst criminal wants to adopt him and give him everything.
James Bond Hurricane Gold, we see poor James (His parents died years before brought up by his aunt) On a tropical Island as a spy, the worlds worst criminal wants to adopt him and give him everything.
Both Young James Bond and Alex Rider seem to follow the same story, Even Jason Steed's Mother died at birth, Ah well poor Jason Steed has still got his father, but he ended up in Jakarta.. Hmm a trpical Island, although he escaped and no one wanted to adopt him yet.
Back to By Royal Command, a great book and well worth the 5 stars.
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