James Bond has had so many incarnations it is difficult to tell what defined the 'real' Bond from the hyperreal cinematic spy. Each actor has brought various aspects of Ian Fleming's iconic character alive from Sean Connery's seminal tough, handsome and uncompromising portrayal through to Daniel Craig's near brutal, strikingly masculine and physical realisation in the most recent films.However, you need to go back to the original source material to get the feel, the grit, the intellectual thrill of the real James Bond. Ian Fleming wrote 12 Bond novels and 2 collections of short stories. Quantam of Solace collects these short stories in the one book. The brilliance of this volume is that the length of each story necessitates a concise plotline and distils for the reader the essence of Bond that is raw man, considerate and occaisionally compassionate human, as well as the cold instrument of the British government.
It is a great introduction to the written Bond and although they are half a century old, the stories still excite and make for compelling reading.
Matt
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