Colonel Sun

James Bond, Book 15

By: Kingsley Amis

Narrated by: Simon Vance

The life of secret agent James Bond has begun to fall into a pattern that threatens complacency…until the sunny afternoon when M is kidnapped. The action ricochets across the globe to a volcanic Greek island, where Colonel Sun Liang-tan of the People's Liberation Army of China collaborates with an ex-Nazi atrocity expert in a world-menacing conspiracy.

Stripped of all professional aids, Bond faces, unarmed, the monstrous devices of Colonel Sun in a test that brings him to the verge of his physical endurance.

©1968 Ian Flemming Publications (P)2000 Blackstone Audioooks Ltd

An excellent James Bond continuation novel

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this audiobook to anyone who's already read all the Ian Fleming James Bond novels and is looking for more. Amis really manages to capture Fleming's style and pace and attention to detail without copying him, and the result is one of the best post-Fleming continuation novels about the character. He clearly loves Fleming and Bond (one need only read his James Bond Dossier or The Book of Bond to realize that), but also can't quite help indulging in just a bit of parody. But the parody is very subtle (so subtle that in sending up Fleming's xenophobia, Amis actually comes off as even more xenophobic), and in keeping with the sense of humor Fleming had about his own material anyway.

Basically, there is Fleming, and then there are the continuations. None of the continuations are as good as the real thing, but for what they are, there are some excellent ones to be found. Colonel Sun has always been one of my favorites, and revisiting it after many years as an audiobook I find it still holds up as such.

What did you like best about this story?

The pace is great. Amis's Bond story moves very quickly. Bond feels like the same character Fleming wrote about, and the Bond Girl, Villain, and Ally are all great characters true to some of Fleming's best as well.

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

Vance is a totally competent narrator, and I like the sense of continuity of having the same person who reads the Fleming novels take on the continuation novels.

Any additional comments?

The audiobook is unfortunately a bit poorly edited. On several occasions the same exact passage is repeated twice. It's annoying, but definitely not detrimental to the listening experience.

It Need Not Be Fleming to Be Bond

Ok, I admit it. Having run through the Fleming canon more than once, I shrank from trying out the extensions of the series penned by other hands. Call me a purist. Call me an idiot. I was both.

That all changed the day I realized that for years I’ve been enjoying (or not enjoying) the film version of Bond, in tales obviously penned by other hands (or, knowing Hollywood, a platoon of hands). So why not give in and try one of the post-Fleming novels?

Maybe it’s the familiar voice of Simon Vance, my favorite reader of the original Bond books. On the other hand, Kingsley Amis gets the Bond vibe down perfectly. Whatever the reason, this is five stars all around.

Both story and narration were great

Of all of the reviews of all the non-Ian Flemming books, this one was rated the highest.

I concur.

This one closely resembled James bonds creators vision.

Had it's moments but blatantly devoid of Fleming charm.

A few fun set pieces and characters but I'll be sticking to the classics henceforth.

Very good but not Ian Fleming good.

Simon Vance rocks. I won't listen to an audio book by anyone else. The story was not as compelling as other James Bond books. I had problems following the plot at times. But I enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone has had listened to all of the others.