Devil May Care

[WhiteKnight]

It's seven days until the hardcover comes out, and I've decided I simply cannot accept the American cover art. It blows. I must have the British cover art. Who will help me?

[Daltons Chin Dimple]

Could you order it from Amazon.co.uk for overseas shipping ?

[neglet]

Pretty sure that's possible. You might also check out Canadian stores; they often use British cover art, or sometimes have their own.

[WhiteKnight]

I went the Amazon.co.uk route. I guess I assumed, incorrectly, they wouldn't ship to an American address. I'm bothered I did that since I should know by now that when you assume you make an ass out of u and me.

Thanks for the assist. Hopefully my hardback and my audio CD should be here in about a week. Incidently, are any of you picking this up for yourselves?

[Daltons Chin Dimple]

I will do it the old fashioned way and wander down towards Tower Bridge and Waterstones to grab my copy at lunchtime. I have a business trip to Athens coming up so can read it on the plane and when I get some time to myself over in Greece.

[WhiteKnight]

It's taking something of a panning by critics. The principal complaint is that Faulks isn't Fleming even though he's writing as him.

I think they'd better just chill the fuck out. Fleming has been dead for 44 years, and to expect anyone, even a great like this Faulks character, to be able to emulate Fleming 100 percent is just dumb.

[Kara Milovy]

I ordered my copy and will review it eventually.

[WhiteKnight]

Mine came in the mail yesterday. I got about six chapters in before I abandoned it for game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals (shoulda kept reading :goodbye:). It's not superb so far, but is at least as good as Benson's efforts and far superior to anything John Gardner produced.

Reading the chapter on the Tennis match made me wish I understood the game a bit more. It also made me wish even more that I had a Wii and Wii Sports so I could pretend I was beating the bad guy at Tennis. :D

[Kara Milovy]

Mine came yesterday as well. But I had already started another book. So I'll have both to take on vacation next week.

[WhiteKnight]

:mad: I'm getting pretty sick of losing my entire post when I am asked to log in for the the zillionth time and being redirected to a completely different page. :mad: Luckily, however, I've gotten smart and am copying the post before I click submit.

Now, as to the book. I made it through my copy yesterday afternoon. My opinion remained pretty much constant throughout the novel. It was a more than capable effort easily surpassing some of its predecessors, but in the end there is only one Ian Fleming.

I particularly enjoyed the character of Scarlet and thought Faulks did a wonderful job at making her more three dimensional than Fleming's delicious creations. I guess that was sort of expected considering who was behind the keyboard. I also thought Faulks did a more than capable job at mimicking Fleming's attention to the details of the culture and history of the locations in the story.

Things I didn't like were the appearances of Leiter and Mathis. They felt tacked on and unnecessary. The villian just didn't seem threatening enough that Bond shouldn't be able to foil the plot all on his own, so having the other two along cheapened it for me a little.

Another complaint is that the ending felt hugely forced and contrived. It also has the distinction of being the first ending that manages to paint Bond a complete dumb ass. Don't get me wrong, I've read enough of Fleming to realize Bond is not the Superman cartoon character portrayed in some of the films, but having not realized who Scarlet really was until the very end of the book makes him look really stupid.

I Don't know if I'll give Faulks the nod over Benson, who I personally liked, as best of the continuation novelists. (Note I've not been able to come across Colonel Sun yet) Should Faulks to keep going with the series I'd certainly be inclined to pick up any Bond novel he sees fit to write, but I just don't see anybody living up to Fleming. I probably only liked Benson because he came along at a time in my life that I hadn't read the Fleming novels yet.

Now, onto something that's really been getting under my skin. Almost every reviewer of this novel has written it's a sure fire candidate for a movie translation. I say to them, you've no idea what you're talking about. If Babs and Michael were going to start picking off the continuation novels, they'd have started by now. Two, that not withstanding, it'd be a hell of a lot easier to mine some of Benson's titles. They're set in a modern setting and read more like a screen play than a novel. Devil May Care is set in 1967, the plot is period specific and has actually mined a Bond film (LALD) for some of its plot points. I guess the reviewers didn't realize there were almost three decades worth of continuation novels to mine stuff from before Devil May Care was even thought of.

I'm also getting pissed at the constant statements that this book may reenergize the novel franchise the same way Casino Royale reenergized the film franchise. Last novel only sold 5,000 copies, so the novel franchise was certainly in the tank, but the same thing can't be said of the films. DAD may have been a huge pile of monkey crap, but considering it made over $200 million worldwide and exceeded the gross of its predecessor (which in turn had beat out its predecessor) by a fair amount I'd say the franchise never really needed reenergizing. I'm sure it was bringing in enough loot that its place in modern cinema was secure for a long time to come. All Casino Royale did was come along and reset the bar a fifth time.

Okay, tangent over. Discuss if you'd like.

[Daltons Chin Dimple]

It's just the lazy research and bad journalism that pretty much propegates a lot of the main stream media when it comes to movies. We know the facts because we hang out on sites like this and talk geek to each other for years in advance of a movie, devouring every detail.

Journos only see it on their radar when the hype and phenemenon of a release is already underway, so they make assumptions and react without research.

E.g. the amount of supposed movie reviewers and showbiz journos who state that The Incredible Hulk is a sequel to Ang Lee's film etc. etc.

[WhiteKnight]

Qué mala onda

http://www.mi6.co.uk/news/index.php?itemid=6377

[mckracken]

E.g. the amount of supposed movie reviewers and showbiz journos who state that The Incredible Hulk is a sequel to Ang Lee's film etc. etc.

wait... it's not?:headscratch:

[Kara Milovy]

I find it annoying how many reviewers have complained that Bond's ennui at the beginning of the book is "not Bond." Bond is always a little weary as the Fleming books open.

[BeauButabi]

Has anyone started a FaulksNotFleming.com yet?

[Daltons Chin Dimple]

Shhhhhh, don't give them ideas !

Most importantly..... ONLY DAYS TO GO UNTIL THE QoS TEASER !!!!!!

[WhiteKnight]

I find it annoying how many reviewers have complained that Bond's ennui at the beginning of the book is "not Bond." Bond is always a little weary as the Fleming books open.

Oddly enough, however, they're spot on with the comments about his seeming additction to eggs in this novel.

[Kara Milovy]

He always eats a lot of eggs in Fleming, but here he keeps cancelling opportunities to eat out in lieu of yet more eggs. It's a little wacky.