As the twelfth novel in Ian Fleming's Bond series opens, Commander James Bond, Agent 007 on Her Majesty's Secret Service, is on the verge of being dismissed from his post. Nine months after his wife's death at the hands of terrorist super-gangster Ernst Stavro Blofeld, he is still a nervous wreck and has failed in his past two missions.
Persuaded to send Bond on one last mission to prove his worth to the Service, M. assigns 007 to travel to Japan to persuade Tiger Tanaka, the head of Japanese Intelligence, to hand over the information about the Soviet Union gleaned from his state-of-the-art spy network. Heading to Tokyo, Bond quickly befriends Tanaka, but seems unable to persuade him to do the British such a large favor. Finally, after two months of friendly boozing and not-so-friendly haggling, Tanaka agrees to give Bond what he wants, but only if Bond agrees to do kill Dr. Guntram Shatterhand, a botanist who has built the Garden of Death, a secluded castle on a volcanic island stocked with boiling geysers, carnivorous fish, and poisonous plants and reptiles for the suicidal to use in ending their lives. Traveling to a small fishing village a mile from Shatterhand's castle, Bond befriends Kissy Suzuki, a beautiful shell-diver (and former movie star!) who agrees to help him with his mission. When Bond discovers that Shatterhand is none other than Ernst Stavro Blofeld, however, he swears to travel to the castle alone and kill the man within, no matter what the cost... | ||
Plot & Themes Tone of story - depressing/sad Time/era of story: Spying/Terrorism Thriller Yes Cloak & Dagger Plotlets: Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book descript. of violence and chases - 20 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20 % Who's the terrorist enemy here? Amnesia story? Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 40's-50's Profession/status: Eccentric: Yes Motive of antagonist - money/treasure The antagonists are: - foreign organized crime How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters Setting Asia/Pacific Yes Asian country: - Japan Water? Yes Water: - swimming on - scuba under Island? Yes Island: - Mean guy who wants to hunt/mutate - Pacific Island Small town? Yes Small town people: - nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee Misc setting - fancy mansion Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies Explicit sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing - descript. of breasts Unusual forms of death - asphyxiation - boiling - eaten - perforation--swords/knives - exploded into bits Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog |