I really enjoyed listening to this book, which had a wonderful narrator to make the book sound perfect. I found the book really interesting, as I am a big Bond fan, and I have watched all of the Bond movies over the years. We are given a comprehensive look into the cinematic history of the James Bond collection, from when we had Sean Connery, right up until our present day Bond. We are also given some bonus chapters, which I loved. Highly recommended!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* I don't know much about james bond so this entire book was very interesting and told me tons of stuff i didn't know! I am certainly going to look into finding the books to read now!

I can't even express how much I enjoyed this book. The authors of this book are certainly very well researched and awesome Bond experts, but I also brought my on Bond-nostalgia to the reading experience, having grown up watching Bond with my dad. It was a treat to learn more about how the movies were made, find out some of the behind-the-scenes drama, and relive my own experiences being entertained by Bond, James Bond.

I also appreciated the chapters about the rest of the Bond universe (comics, video games, and the cartoon); these were things I had no clue about, and found myself googling videos about Goldeneye 64's "Slaps Only". Brilliant.

I am a Bond fan. Not the books but the movies. To be frank, I thought the books were a bit too clunky (given that they were written in the 50s and 60s) but I grew up on a healthy diet of James Bond movies. We had a VCR and I have fond memories of watching many of the older movies on the tapes. My first JB movie was Goldfinger followed by Octopussy and then the others. My father was a fan too and he passed on the torch to me. While we watched the Pierce Brosnan movies on tape too, we went to see Daniel Craig on the glorious big screen.

I have watched almost every Bond movie except Spectre and I thought I was a fangirl myself. I was so wrong. The authors surpassed everything I have ever known.

When I requested this book, I had no idea of the things behind the screen. The authors are so thorough in their research, I learned a lot about Ian Fleming, Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, and so many others associated with the movies. I learned about the thought processes that went behind every movie. I also learned about the difficulties that the producers faced and how they overcame them all.

It was, in some ways, an inspiring story. Keeping a character alive for half a decade is not a mean feat. The world has changed so much and James Bond has changed with it. Gone is the sexist and misogynistic spy and now we can see the tough yet vulnerable secret agent.

But the greatest revelation for me in the book was that there are actual video games and comics based on James Bond. WHY DIDN'T I KNOW THIS BEFORE??

The tiny thing that put me off in this book was that there is no flow to the story. The authors talk about the authors and then suddenly switch to the comics. Maybe they wanted to write it all in chronological order but it sounds disjointed when it comes together.

But I loved this book so much that this is a non-issue.

4.5 stars.

I received this audio ARC from Netgalley and the opinions are totally mine.

If you’re a James Bond fan this audiobook is a great way to learn more about Ian Flemming and the movie franchise, as well as behind the scenes info! As many of the films were produced and premiered before I was born I feel like there was a great deal I didn’t know surrounding the earlier films, unlike the newer ones where I got to witness them get announced and then premier in real time. I learned a lot about the earlier films and an overall look into how James Bond adapts to the times and how he is continuously evolving. I think it was a great listen and observe the two writers talk about the James Bond character and how they grew up with it, as well as their love for it.

In one section, they went in-depth about all the video games that were born from the 007 image and that part didn’t interest me much since I do not play video games. However, it did shed light on how these games got some of the next generation to be interested in the movies!

Overall I loved listening to this and it made me love 007 even more.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this audiobook.

Bond, James Bond may be one of the most famous lines uttered in cinematic history. James Bond, aka 007, has spanned sixty years and twenty seven movies. Bond, James Bond attempts to break that history down as well as all the other aspects of the brand like the original novels, comic books, and video games based on England’s famous secret agent.

These guys know James Bond. The depth of their knowledge is impressive and they did the research to help round out the book. This book can serve as an encyclopedia of knowledge for James Bond fans. While there is a ton of knowledge, each chapter is very listenable and very well thought out.

My only complaint, well outside of one of the authors ranking Sean Connery as the worst Bond (we’ll touch on that in a minute ), that sometimes the side chapters break up the flow of the retelling of the history of the movies. I understand why these chapters are placed in between breakdown of each actor’s movies. I just felt like you were getting into a grove with the movie history when they slide off into a side bar about a James Bond, Jr (his nephew, not son… makes no sense to me either) kids TV show.

The thing I liked best about this book was it got you to think about the movies and raised some good talking points for fans to argue over like who is the best Bond or worst Bond. The authors themselves couldn’t come to a consensus as each’s best Bond was the others worst. Seriously Sean Connery as the worst still boggles my mind, but the opinions made me re-examine why the author thought that way which was fun. (After re-examination it is still a ridiculous take, lol) This is a must read for all Bond fans whether you love the gritty Daniel Craig movies or the lighter Roger Moore entries. The authors passion for the subject shines through and makes the book an enjoyable listen. Thank you to @Netgalley @Tantoraudio for a free Arc for an honest review.

This was such an enjoyable read! I have to start by admitting that I am not a Bond fan — I have enjoyed the few movies I’ve seen, but it’s not something I seek out and it’s certainly not a franchise I know a lot about.

One of my favorite things, though, is diving into why people love what they love. I’ve followed both Brad and Mike for years now (shout out to the Movie Trivia Schmoedown), and I like them both a lot. As soon as I found out they were co-writing a book about Bond, my curiosity was piqued. I knew this was my chance to explore this franchise that gets so much love and inspires life-long fans.

I’m glad I trusted my instincts on that! Bond, James Bond is a solid read, even for a non-fan like me.

The book starts with some information on Ian Fleming, what inspired the novel, and what led to the rise in popularity for the character. From there, the book generally follows the chronology of the books and then the movies, with some side discussions about other media based on the character of James Bond.

At times, I was a bit thrown by the organization of the book. The sections that explore things like the comics, tv series, and video games based on James Bond are sprinkled throughout the book rather than included all at once in the beginning or end. I imagine that one reason for having these sections throughout is so that the book can end with No Time to Die. From a storytelling perspective, this is super impactful, and having a couple of chapters at the end dedicated to the offshoots of the Bond universe just wouldn’t be as compelling. It also doesn't really make sense to discuss those things before getting into the movies. Still, I was sometimes pulled out of the flow of going through the chronology of the films when suddenly we were moving backward and forward in time to discuss those offshoots. But this is a small criticism because it’s not as if the way the book is organized limited my understanding — it just pulled me out.

That aside, I got everything I was looking for here: background information on Ian Fleming and the origin of James Bond (would have loved more of this, actually), general info on each era and what made them different or special (aside from simply being different actors), and insight into what it is that people love so much about Bond. All presented in a way that's relatable and easy to understand. And even though Brad and Mike don't narrate the audiobook, I was still able to distinguish their voices so clearly, which is quite impressive. It's great!

My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to review this audio

Excellent history of Ian Fleming, the birth of Bond, analysis of each film and actor of each Era, the gadgets,videos, books, tv and all things Bond. Really enjoyed it,great narrator. A must for any Bond fan.

An audio ARC of this book was provided courtesy of NetGalley and Tantor Audio for review purposes. Thank you so much for an opportunity to review this book.
While I need more books like a bullet in my head, I jumped on listening to this audiobook because 007 movies are my guilty pleasure, and I have watched all 007 movies released.
This book was written by two Bond fanatic, Mike Kalinowski and Brad Gilmore. I believe they might have a podcast for James Bond, because this book reads (sounds) like one. There are plenty of James Bond history, from each Bond actor's backgrounds, legal battle over the film rights, James Bond Junior animation. This book is recommended for other James Bond film fans. If one doesn't care about James Bond, the book might be still interesting as there are a lot of turmoil in 60 year of filmmaking.

The parts that I didn't care about was the chapters dedicated on James Bond video games and graphic novels. These chapters are longer than the one dedicated to Ian Fleming, which seems odd to me. If you don't care about these chapters like myself, these chapters can be skipped and one can still get enjoyment of learning about Bond history. Other part that bothered me a bit was the fact that the book reads like a transcript of a podcast. There are some repetitions at the beginning of some chapters to summarize the previous chapter, which seems unnecessary if one is reading a book. Also, the the author's opinions are often interjected, which makes the book fun but also a bit amateurish.

The part I liked were all the chapters describing the men who portrayed James Bond—Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, and Sean Connery, and how each one came to play the role. I felt these backgrounds very interesting.
Overall I enjoyed the book. Thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to listen to this book!