Forget Waltz-Blofeld, if there’s anyone deserving of the title of ‘Author of all your Pain’, it’s John Gardner.

Gardner used to live across the road from me. At a party he got into conversation with someone who worked at a nearby air base. He immediately started asking about flight simulators and you could see he was storing every detail for a potential plot. Nice bloke.

So glad you're back with the literary reviews. As someone who has read/slogged their way through two thirds of the Gardner novels I share your bewilderment! Keep at it, really appreciated!

Congratulations on reaching 50k subscribers. Definitely well deserved!

I have a soft spot for these Gardern novels. I read half of them when I was in the military a decade ago and rest while working in aviation before the pandemic. They are mostly schlocky action adventures with Bond paint but that's fun. They are closer to Clive Cussler than Fleming.

You know it's Sunday when a Calvin Dyson video goes live. 👏

I really look forward to when you eventually get to Anthony Horowitz’s novels as I think they are fantastic, especially Forever and a Day. I can’t wait for With a Mind to Kill!

Tamil Rahani does come back in the next book. It turns out he landed badly from his parachute jump and injured his spine, meaning he spends the entire novel paralysed on his deathbed (this is all revealed fairly early on so it’s not a plot spoiler). So, yeah, sorry to dash your hopes that he’d get any character development. SPECTRE go through chiefs in the Gardner novels like Spinal Tap go through drummers. OK, to be fair SPECTRE aren’t seen again after the next book, so it’s not that bad, but it does make the decision to bring them back all the more curiouser: why bring them back but then do nothing interesting with them? I think Nina could’ve been an interesting character if she’d been allowed to live beyond one book. Meanwhile Rahani seems to survive here purely just to set the events of the next book in motion. My only guess as to why Gardner bothered bringing SPECTRE back was that it was a mandate from the higher-ups at Glidrose/IFP to piss Kevin McClory off. This was around the time NSNA was made after all. And then once the NSNA furore died down they let Gardner go back to doing his own things.

So happy to see these reviews again! Gardner seemed to think that adding in as many characters with bizarre (and multiple) names as possible was a good substitute for telling an intelligent story. I'm sure if he had thought to make Jay Autem Holy be King of the Ewoks, he would have done it. Oh well, at least most of them are fun reads.

Congratulations on 50k subscribers! WOW That's enough people to fill up a stadium! You deserve it! :)

in this book, Bond goes up against his most fearsome adversary - a Gamer™

Also, what you say about Fleming's "sense of place" is great. The Fleming novels absolutely have the locations-as-characters.

I'm old enough to have read the Gardner Bonds when they were originally released, and it was around about Role Of Honour that I realized I was just reading them out of a sense of duty as a Bond fan and that if they had featured any other hero, I'd have given up on the series.

Role of Honour was the first Bond book that I ever read, so despite it being a tad flat, it still has a special place in my Bond fan's heart

Love that the book reviews have returned, I really cannot wait for your review on Solo by William Boyd and the two (soon to be three) Horowitz novels.

The most interesting about this one is probably the behind the scenes detail about how Bond was supposed to play an elaborate computer game against the baddy... And then Never Say Never Again came out after he'd submitted it, and the publisher insisted the whole section get pulled and replaced by the TTRPG.

“A Bond story as written by John Waters.” Do this. My body is ready.

Congratulations on having 50K subscribers, thoroughly deserved. 🎉👏🥂🍾

Wonderful to see the Gardner's back!...Well, not so wonderful for you. 😅 I'm always eager for these videos, since it is such an unexplored area of Bond. It's like going on an expedition with you deep in the heart of the Amazon (the Amazoco region, perhaps? xD). Good news Calvin, wanting your books to be all lined up perfectly is not a Bond obsession...It's just regular book obsession xD

Oh, yes! It has been two and a half years since we had 007 novel reviews. So, it's certainly a welcome return here.🎊🎉 YAAYY! And James Bond with video games? Curious if he were to be as good as a 🖲gamer👾 once in Never Say Never Again.

So happy the book reviews are back. I've just checked my own copy of Role of Honour which I bought as soon as it came out back in the 80's. Bought it in W H Smith and it does have the English spelling of Honour. It also has a much nice cover with the Bentley framed in the cross-hairs of a sniper scope and a silhouette of Bond looking suspiciously like a silhouette of Roger Moore situated across the 007 logo. The Gardner books are very hit and miss. I have to admit, I barely recall the plot to Role of Honour. I seem to remember a shoot out with the Bentley and I do remember the climax with the blimp and I remember the introduction of Tamil Rahani and thinking well, he's not really a very impressive replacement for Blofeld, aaaand...That's about it really. It's not one of the Gardner books that really stuck in my memory. I do however recall liking Nobody Lives Forever a lot more but as you would expect, it does have its flaws. To be fair to Gardner though, I've read a lot of the Bond continuation novels and honestly, none of them are truly 100% successful at recapturing the Fleming style whether in descriptive passages, characters or plots. The only writer whoever came truly close is Kingsley Amis with Colonel Sun. The current writer Anthony Horowitz is probably one of the better ones but he allegedly did have original Fleming outlines to work from. They still don't feel entirely like Fleming though. I did however really enjoy Trigger Mortis. That one felt the most Flemingesque. Possibly with the return of Pussy Galore as she is very well written and her relationship with Bond is well developed and fleshed out. To be honest, I can't see you liking most of the Gardner novels but I would be interested in your take on the Raymond Benson series as I never really cared for them myself. They always felt as if Benson was trying to Americanise the character. Also far too much reliance on outrageous gadgets, which isn't really in keeping with the literary version of Bond. I actually gave up on the Benson series. If you want an American version of Bond, I would suggest Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm series which are really good and absolutely nothing like the films with Dean Martin.

I think Gardner definitely has a problem with the locations- I can't actually remember where several of these books are set. His adventures are also almost entirely confined to Europe and North America- he visits Asia maybe twice and you can forget the Southern Hemisphere, compared to the locations Raymond Benson used in half as many books it's a pretty poor showing (don't skip to those by the way, they do take place after the Gardner books and occasionally reference them)

Wow these names, I’ve got to give you some serious props Calvin for remembering all these, I’ve taken algebra test that were easy to recall for than to remember some of these names lol

What…. 2 years? It feels like a while but two years just sounds nuts. I guess all the NTTD news and hype and all took all the time away

This is a pleasant surprise. Bond facing the return of Spectre after Blofeld's death is a novel concept. Kinda amazed Gardner was able to use Spectre yet the organisation was excluded from the films for about four decades...

Omg I'd forgotten the chicken vindaloo bit. I honestly seem to remember Gardner having him shop at M&S in later books.

Ha to the chicken vindaloo observation! This is definitely one of the weaker and less memorable early Gardners. It gets a bit better from here, if memory serves, before completely falling off a cliff.

Yes. Keep it going. Love these videos.

What a far cry from Licence Renewed. When you mentioned the inheritance, Bentley, SPECTRE audition of sorts, and press speculation, as well as the blurb etc.. I was sure I could hear a distant whirring sound coming from the direction of Wiltshire, as if it originated six feet underground

Nobody Lives Forever is his best. An interesting plot which moves at a brisk pace. I think I've even read it twice..!

Great review Calvin! I’ve read them all. Things will get even more crazy from this point on. To me Gardners books are the AliExpress versions of the Flemmings. Still, all double/tripple-agent affaires aside, the man occasionally has some strangely amusing offbeat ideas. I’m looking forward to your next reviews!

His Uncle Bruce? Bond being a celebrity? Overall weird tone? Is this like a twisted adaptation of James Bond Junior?

Congrats on 50k calvin

There's a comic literally called Agent of Spectre with the exact set up of Bond infiltrating Spectre and it's really bloody good

Glad that you are back into the Gardner Game

With those names, I have a feeling that Garnder was taking the…ahem

I've still got nine Gardner books left to read. Pray for me.

Great to see you back reviewing Gardner! For me ROH suffers when it comes to Gardner some really interesting set ups but with rushed and convoluted execution, however it does have some interesting plot forshadowing to future Bond films like AVTAK, TLD, and GoldenEye to which I'm convinced it's no coincidence I'm really interested to see you review Nobody Lives Forever which is my favourite of the Gardner's and similar to From Russia with Love. Also I'm planning on writing a encyclopedia on the Bond literally universe, would you like that?

I really like this series of vids. Suggestion for future videos: maybe for each book, you could think about what band you could see making a theme song for that book. Who from 1984 (or maybe even current bands) could write and perform the song “Role of Honor”?

Every time you review one of these, I’m confronted with the fact that I’ve no memory of any of them, even though my Kindle tells me I’ve read them all. I have a terrible memory for books in general but this is just next level. 😬

Thanks Calvin! The next two books are a lot of fun. Cheers from the U S

I just started reading From Russia With Love. I am loving it!

When you get done wit the continuation books i think a video on which would work as a film would be super interesting if you ask me :)

Great work Calvin. I'm a new subscriber and this is my first time seeing one of your book reviews. I've always found the Gardner novels simultaneously confusing and boring myself!

Yeah, this one was pretty all over the place with the plot and a lot characters that really did not serve much of a purpose. Not one of the better books from John Gardner's run. One good thing about this one is the introduction of the ASP 9mm pistol as Bond's new handgun. Out of the different guns Gardner armed Bond with this one had a lot really good technical features that firearms experts still praise today. Plus it was built from the ground up for covert operations people and very accurate in reality. It is also a collectors item now since only 450 pistols were ever made and production of it ended in 1987. In addition to Garnder's novels from this point on, the ASP also makes an appearance in the 1989 Dark Horse comic book series Permission To Die which I highly recommend reading.

Great to see your back reviewing John Gardener's bond books loved them back in the day , although I can see your reason's for finding them a tad average....

I read this book when it first came out when I was a Freshman in high school. 40 years later I can still remember the feeling of my stomach dropping when the Russia twist was revealed at the end.

Nobody Live Forever is probably my favorite of the Gardner Bonds so far. The sixth book No Deals Mr. Bond started off promising but became a slog about halfway through when it had more twists than a box of licorice. I'm halfway through the seventh book, Scorpius (and actually haven't read any in about a month since I got distracted by Star Wars: Heir to the Empire, which is actually pretty good). I look forward to your future reviews. And if it's any consolation, when it comes to Gardner, you do not suffer alone.

I do like the book reviews. I don't see anyone else on KZfaq talking about the Gardner books. Yes they are not all great, a real mixed bag, but they are the among the fist Bond books I have read, a weird mixture of Fleming and Garder books back in school, and had a good time with some of the John Gardner adventures. Currently on a re-read of "No deals Mr. Bond", but can't say I am enjoying it this time around. I haven't read the follow-up "Scorpius". Maybe I will, but going to stop after that one. No need for a re-read of his "Licence to Kill " novalization. Even though it was decades ago I still remember my bewilderment at Felix Leiter being thrown at the sharks (again), and having the sharks having a go at Felix stumbs. It's fine having references to the Fleming books, following his time-line so faithfully however gets you into trouble. Certainly doing a novelization of a film that adopts things from a Fleming book.

Good luck with the rest of them, although the next one is splendid. Thereafter - there are undulations ahead.

Calvin I enjoy all of your content but your reviews of non-Fleming books are all the more enjoyable since nobody else reviews them. Thanks for your efforts here. I read Gardener's books years ago & never enjoyed them much. I'm not sure Gardener enjoyed writing them. Much more enjoyable are Gardener's Boysie Oakes spy thrillers. The first of these was made into the 60's spy film The Liquidator starring Rod Taylor and Jill St John. Take care Calvin & keep up the great work on your channel.

My Coronet 1985 edition has a different plot summary on the back cover! I sound like a book snob. LOL! Here is what it says "After his stunning success in Licence Renewed, For Special Services and Icebreaker, James Bond is Back! Abandoning his 007 status, he resigns from the service and heads down to Monte Carlo in his new Bentley Mulsanne Turbo in search of a new Role of Honour. But what unthinkable consequences will follow so dramatic a departure? And how can Questions in the House over a top level security leak be quelled? In a fiendish new plot, Bond finds himself embroiled with a computer wizard absconding from the Pentagon, a sinister mercenary army trained for an audacious terrortist operation and a hare-brained Flight over Geneva while Summit Peace Talks are in progress, before Honour is fully restoried...The Great New Bestseller! " No mention of SPECTRE! No plot twists revealed! By the way the spelling on my copy is Honour! You might have enjoyed it more! LOL!

Glad you're back with this can't wait to hear more of what you have to say about these books. I'm currently on scorpius and I read it more like had audible narration read it while on my daily commute to work and home and when I was at work I was able to follow the plot just fine it didn't seem to jump around in my opinion it was a straight forward bond find out what this guy is doing uh oh bond someone is following hope it isn't the main baddie nope it's SPECTRE wanting your help since you quit the service to help them with the scheme of main baddie which was an interesting plot twist for him to be dragged into on a main mission then finding out who is behind it all and seeing the twist and ultimate battle on the blimp. And also I think roger moore took the name of the baddie from this book in his last movie.

I read "License Renewed" and it didn't impress me. I first experienced the movies when shown on television, then read a few Fleming novels. I have some biographical references on Ian Fleming and his World War Two service. Ian Fleming died before the Cold War did, but even Dr. No was an attempt to purge the Cold War from James Bond. Expect craziness. Gardner was writing at the end of the Cold War and after the movie franchise had moved on.

This was the first Bond novel I ever read, aged about 15. For reasons I'll never understand, my Dad had this rather than anything by Fleming. I remember it being very easy to read (despite an initial impression.that it was for adults) and the stuff with "Percy" being rather exciting (like I say; 15). I went on to read Gardner's novelisations of Licence to Kill and GoldenEye, and while a bit flat compared to the film versions, their depiction of Bond was far preferable to the weird one that Gardner was trying to craft in his continuity.

Can confirm my copy has ‘Honour’ spelt the British way. You probably have an American copy - which would explain why it’s bigger than the others because the standard US book size is different from the standard UK book size. I know the pain - I was sent an American copy of SeaFire (Gardner’s 2nd-to-last Bond book), and I had to double dip because otherwise it wouldn’t have fit on the shelf with the others. Thankfully second hand books are hardly bank breaking and there are plenty of websites out there to supply them.

I read these years ago and was thinking about starting to read them again, but after reviewing your reviews I'm thinking maybe not. As to the Saab, I agree, I was like, seriously... In your previous review you mentioned reviewing some of the more recent books. The last several have been quite enjoyable and I, personally, would be very interested in your take on them.

I think Amazon sent you the US reprint. When they finally did these Gardner reprints the US and UK versions were slightly different in size. The novel was Honour in the UK and Honor in the US. Like Fleming editions the Gardner’s occasionally had spelling changes made for the US market. Coldfall is the one that specifically had the different UK shorter edition. (Though some have said others had some different edits I haven’t been able to verify them with UK originals yet.) The plot does indeed set up Bond with a Spy Who Came in From the Cold type operational cover which gets him some public notoriety. It’s interesting to see Bond doing early coding if dated. You can draw parallels that the novel inspired elements of AVTAK and Whitaker’s military history bent in TLD. The more fantastical Gardner’s do have more energy to them so once you get to his pure spy novels and politically charged thrillers after Nobody Lives Forever you’re probably going to struggle through them. His run breaks into three sections: first five, spy political thrillers, and all over the place. That’s why I tell most Bond fans who haven’t tried them that the first five books he did are solid and then after that your mileage may vary. I grew up reading them and have more fondness for them than most. Each book usually has some great passages and takes a few rereads for it to gel. The last few books unfortunately take a nosedive. I’ll say it here as I always do: Coldfall is the most bizarre Bond work of fiction period. You’ll enjoy Nobody Lives Forever as a For Special Services fan. It returns to a pulpier tone, the story seems to heave heavily inspired Licence to Kill in areas, Tamil Rahani returns and…a head hunt and a vampire bat. That’s all I’ll say.

This was the book that got me started on James Bond.

I'm currently reading "Cold". ("Cold Fall" in my country.) It's my first Bond book. I found it recently at a Goodwill. (Alongside Bond book "Carte Blanche" by Jeffrey Deaver. Haven't gotten to that one yet.) I was so hoping you'd have a review for it. Maybe some day. Seems like you're working your way through the Gardner books.

50k subs - check you out dear!!! Really pleased for you Calvin - thoroughly deserved. I'll keep an eye out for you when I'm on the tube.... LOL!! 👍👍🙂❤

I read all the John Gardner Bond novels between 1997 and 1999. I now can't remember which book is which.

1:00 - And that is why buying online is not always best (especially from Amazon). I wasn't even aware that those editions of the Gardner books were printed in the US. Luckily, the UK versions have the proper spelling "Licence Renewed", "Role Of Honour" etc... The Gardner books are a mixed bag; some good, some bad. SCORPIUS is probably my favourite.

You’re not selling me on this one Calvin 😆

The next book up is a fascinating one. Parts of it I feel you'll struggle with but parts you'll really enjoy. Rahani does make a return of sorts. Gardner is certainly a mixed bag, Fleming's work could fluctuate as well but not as wildly as JG. Are you going to read the Licence to Kill and Goldeneye novelisations during this or just stick with the novels?

You've till got 10 more to get through !! Hang in there Calvin ! I won't spoil anything, but you can probably guess !

So what happened to Nick the blimp pilot? Did he partake in the Chicken Vindaloo?

Licence Renewed was brilliant. Love the drive up to Scotland in the Saab and the pacey chase through Perpignan. Quite well written thriller. The other Gardner novels I can take or leave them...

Was Uncle Bruce a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Woolloomooloo?

You know, Gardner was gonna keep SPECTRE around you’d think he’d have kept Blofeld’s daughter around as it’s leader. Also, these names are definitely an Englishman trying way to hard to make American sounding names and it’s hilarious to me.

Gardiner had been a bit of a B list writer in the British adventure thriller genre, led by Jack Higgins, Frederick Forsyth Desmond Bagley and Alistair MacLean. I did read a 1970s set supernatural tinged thriller, with a realistic conclusion, about the wreck of an old second world war B17, which was entertaining.

Are the Bond books written after Fleming worth it? I've read all the originals but I don't know if I care enough to read the newer ones haha.

I remember “Nobody Lives Forever” being maybe my favourite.

Yes, Rahani makes a return in Nobody Lives Forever. NLF was a breath of fresh air after ROH. I enjoyed it immensely. Plus I've always had a fear of having my head removed from the rest of my body. (This will make sense when you read it) That brief window of consciousness before you die in which you are able to realize what just happened creeps me out. The one aspect I've found fascinating is the part where Bond takes two females hostage to save his own ass. I can see this being something Flemings Bond would do but nothing I could ever see film Bond doing. May and Moneypenny are also some of the main Bond girls so it grounds it more in the Bond universe.

After Icebreaker (which I consider Gardner´s best) I found this one a lackluster. Gardner will become repetetive and dull with his latter novels. You can look forward to "Nobody lives forever" though and I liked Brokenclaw. Aside from Kingsely amis, none of the coninuation-authors matches the syle. Since you are obvious a big fan of the cinematic Bond, especially the Bronsan-era, I am looking forwad o your opinions on the Benson-novels which I remember being just like he 90´s movies.

This book is quirky in which I do not remember anybody dying. It featured three Bond girls, a blonde (Persephone Proud), brunette (Cindy Chalmers) and redhead (Freddie Fortune) trio whose first and last names begin with the same letter . Proud was supposedly the female lead but Bond spent the bulk of the novel with Chalmers.

I only read a handful of the continuation novels. I think as far as Gardner goes I read Win, Lose, or Die and The Man From Barbarossa way back when I was a teenager and they underwhelmed me for sure. I did read Zero Minus Ten by Raymond Benson and I remember enjoying it a lot more than either of the Gardner’s but it’s been so long I couldn’t go into any details. Edit: I also read Gardner’s novelization of Goldeneye, which I think I recall was not bad, but it stuck pretty close to the film.

Calvin for May 1 please make a video reviewing “The Wicker Man” 1973!!! There are many James Bond connections to that movie especially “The Man with The Golden Gun!”

OMG same shit happened to me with Role of Honor. I had to order another copy that was the UK paperback and now it’s the right size but it doesn’t have the same matte finish like the rest of the books. So weird!

And now a new Bond book has come out recently.

Can't wait for you to cover the Young Bond books, 1st book is insane and has evil captain americas running around

Fun fact: the next Gardner novel shares a similar title with a 60s spy game on PS2 called _No One Lives Forever._

I did also have a completely different looking (American, I assume?) copy of this book and have since gotten a version matching the rest, complete with a ‘U’ in ‘Honour’ 😂

4:36 caught me so off guard

Obviously Australian uncle would be named Bruce, Monty Python already told me that every Australian is called Bruce!

How long is the commute out of interest haha? Sounds like a while if you can read multiple chapters!

I can't wait for more on Project 007... IO Interactive impressed me a lot with the Hitman trilogy on ps4 and ps5. Absolutely fantastic games.

Please review all of the Gardners

Yeah, Gardner was always a bit of a disappointment but there wasn't much else out there in the 80's to read. BTW - have you seen 'Operation Mincemeat' currently out in cinemas? Ian Fleming features in it along with his contributions. Johnny Flynn plays him and he does a good job. Would be interested to see a review from you.

I read this one also, and I totally agree this was definitely the most boring of the 007 Gardner books so far. I haven't read another one since. The Spectre training facility chapter was interesting, but that was about it. A couple of times I found myself wishing Nena Blofeld hadn't been killed off.

Uploaded 10minute ago. I don't usually get these so early.

I always thought Role Of Honour would make a perfect title for a bond film, preferably the first appearance for a new bond actor as the title then has a double meaning

You should read the Bond origin novel “Forever and a Day”. Would be really cool and i would love to see a video about that

I’m glad you’re doing this again but I might suggest skipping ahead. There are too many John Gardner books and later authors do much better work.

I am doing a re-read of Gardner after 20 years or so and have just finished Role of Honour. I agree there were too many characters that did not get a pay-off, but in pure enjoyment terms I enjoyed this the most of his first four books. But Gardner does not give us the insight into Bond's mind or the grittiness of Fleming - although Chapter 12 ("Return To Sender") contains graphic descriptions of kills that almost seem like they were written by somebody else. That struck me as weirdly out-of-place. But I really liked this dumb but enjoyable book. Looking forward to the next one.

Try reading Gardner's Boysie Oakes novels or *The Werewolf Trace*. He's not that bad [outside James Bond].

Can't get enough of #007 or #JamesBond, spies or espionage ... there’s almost too much on the menu for those of us hooked on absorbing and addictive espionage novels to find time for reading in a safe house far away from the tsunami of grim news we face in real life now. For starters there are fictional thrillers like Charles Cumming’s Box 88, John Le Carré’s Silverview or Len Deighton’s noir espionage masterpiece Funeral in Berlin. As for the main course, there are down to earth, raw and noir, often curious fact based Cold War thrillers you’ll never put down such as Bill Browder’s Red Notice, Bill Fairclough's Beyond Enkription in The Burlington Files series or Ben Macintyre’s The Spy and the Traitor. As for dessert, maybe something laced with the distinctly sardonic and singular humour of Slow Horses from the Slough House 'stables' by Mick Herron. We are spoilt for choice especially if you’re not bonded solely to Ian Fleming.

Bond would clearly order a Florentine pizza, because it has an egg on it.

Be sure to wear a hat with a strong chin strap when you get to Licence To Kill, you don’t want a bruised jaw from all the times it’s going to hit the floor!

You probably got an American copy or something like that. I have all the Fleming books on paperback, and I've read the continuation novels from online copies. I didn't really like a lot of them as much as the Fleming novels, but I really like Forever and a Day, it's a good prequel novel.