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A review by jmgustaf
Cold Fall by John Gardner
3.0
John Gardner’s sixteenth and final James Bond novel. I have to say that I am so glad to be finished with the John Gardner run. I enjoyed them in the beginning, they sagged in the middle, picked up a little bit for me, and then became redundant and bland. This, of course, is only my opinion.
I feel like “Cold” or “Cold Fall” (different titles for different nations) was another retread of former plots. Gardner even goes so far as bringing back characters that we thought we were done with and killing off a character we thought may stick around. It is broken into two parts, taking place several years apart. It doesn’t break any new ground and I got bored with it. I feel like Gardner was running out of steam towards the end of his run and just redoing the same old ideas with moderate changes (I know that the whole series does this, but some authors are able to pull it off with interesting changes, creative ideas, and solid writing). I don’t understand why the story was broken into two parts, it felt like a strange plot point. Basically the first part ends because M suddenly wants the U.S. to deal with it, and doesn’t think it’s their problem. Which never stopped them before. Only to have the U.S. drags him back into it under false pretenses. The enemy organization, COLD, seems to be menacing in name only and the “last days” element are barely explored. They didn’t seem as fanatical as I would’ve liked them to be.
It almost feels like this was written to bridge the gap between Miles Masservy and the new M since the change had already occurred in Goldeneye he had to go back in time to show us the transition. I do appreciate that element, but it could’ve been done in a short story without the mundanity of an entire novel retreading already dried up plot elements, twists, and characters.
What are your thoughts on “Cold” or “Cold Fall?”
I am VERY excited to finally be up to Raymond Benson’s novels. I read them as they were published and remember liking them all. I have already finished “Zero Minus Ten” and liked it even more than I remembered, and I started “The Facts of Death.” Happy Reading all!!
I feel like “Cold” or “Cold Fall” (different titles for different nations) was another retread of former plots. Gardner even goes so far as bringing back characters that we thought we were done with and killing off a character we thought may stick around. It is broken into two parts, taking place several years apart. It doesn’t break any new ground and I got bored with it. I feel like Gardner was running out of steam towards the end of his run and just redoing the same old ideas with moderate changes (I know that the whole series does this, but some authors are able to pull it off with interesting changes, creative ideas, and solid writing). I don’t understand why the story was broken into two parts, it felt like a strange plot point. Basically the first part ends because M suddenly wants the U.S. to deal with it, and doesn’t think it’s their problem. Which never stopped them before. Only to have the U.S. drags him back into it under false pretenses. The enemy organization, COLD, seems to be menacing in name only and the “last days” element are barely explored. They didn’t seem as fanatical as I would’ve liked them to be.
It almost feels like this was written to bridge the gap between Miles Masservy and the new M since the change had already occurred in Goldeneye he had to go back in time to show us the transition. I do appreciate that element, but it could’ve been done in a short story without the mundanity of an entire novel retreading already dried up plot elements, twists, and characters.
What are your thoughts on “Cold” or “Cold Fall?”
I am VERY excited to finally be up to Raymond Benson’s novels. I read them as they were published and remember liking them all. I have already finished “Zero Minus Ten” and liked it even more than I remembered, and I started “The Facts of Death.” Happy Reading all!!