The 007 Re-Read Project: Role of Honour/Honor by John Gardner

It's been quite a while since my last foray into the post-Fleming Bond continuation novels, but 26 short months later, I'm back at it! Role of Honour is John Gardner's fourth James Bond novel, originally published in 1984. I remembered virtually nothing about this novel nearly three decades after I read it, apart from a couple of character names. As ever, I won't blow the entire plot, but there are

SPOILERS AHEAD!

 

After receiving a sizeable inheritance,  James Bond has some unfavorable attention directed toward him, even within the Secret Service. M sees this as an opportunity to crack a rather tough case, orchestrating a phony falling out between Bond and MI6. This receives some publicity, even leading to a newspaper interview with Bond over the matter! Even with Bond's history with many of them, other organizations are unable to resist trying to recruit him. The one he is interested in is led by computer whiz Dr. Jay Autem Holy, who has faked his death, and is now masquerading as Jason St. John Finnes. He and his compatriots are up to something sinister in a small English village, and it is vital that Bond infiltrate his organization and discover exactly what. Holy's own widow, Percy Proud, herself a CIA agent, meets with Bond in Monaco to teach him everything he needs to know about computer programming to carry out his mission. Bond is successful in being recruited, but it turns out that Holy is working for another organization, one with a long, bloody history with Bond. 

 Remember up above where I said I remembered virtually nothing about this novel prior to re-reading it? That's because it's dreadfully dull. It seems to take forever for anything to actually happen, and when it does, none of it is particularly interesting. There are certainly some interesting concepts here, such as Holy creating elaborate computer programs to train operatives to commit crimes with clockwork precision. The idea of Bond splitting from the service and being sought out by other organizations is also a promising setup, but Gardner fails to make any of it particularly engaging. It is quaintly amusing to read about the miracles of the computer age, things that were absolute cutting edge, or simply not yet possible, at the time. 

Bond himself acts out of character at times. A scene where he sings aloud while driving comes off as particularly odd. Gardner takes great pains to construct a decent backstory and skillset for Holy, but the man remains bland and nonthreatening. Percy Proud is fine as the female lead, but is again a pretty unmemorable character. That Gardner goes so far as having Bond consider marrying her is laughable, given their complete lack of chemistry. There's simply nothing compelling about the character as written, certainly nothing of the spark that Tracy Draco possessed. Perhaps the most egregious sin committed is handing over leadership of one of the great Bond villain organizations to Tamil Rahani, a character introduced about halfway through the novel, who is as dull as they come. He is very much a stock terrorist character with nothing notable about him. I remember him returning as the main antagonist in the next novel, so hopefully he fares better there!

 

Notable quotes:

(On the downfall of Monaco) Even those had not created a safe buffer against some of the more garish encroachments of the 1980s. On his last visit, Bond had been horrified to find one-armed bandits installed in the exclusive Salles Privees of the Casino.  Now he would not be surprised if there were space invader games there as well. 

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 Bond reflected on his own past encounters with the kind of madness that turned men into devils. 

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Conspirators can rarely divorce without one partner seriously damaging the other.

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 Always, in Switzerland, Bond thought, you knew you were in a small, rich country, for all the buildings looked as though they had been assembled in some sterile room from a plastic kit, complete with small details of greenery and flowers.

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 Unlike the previous two Gardner Bonds, which I enjoyed despite their flaws, this one simply has too many issues for me to recommend it. For an author as skilled as Gardner, I'm honestly astonished at how deficient this one is. It's not a good Bond novel, and neither is it good as a generic thriller. It's a misfire in nearly every aspect. Hopefully Gardner returns to form with the next entry. Nobody Lives Forever is up next, and I promise it won't take me more than two years to get to it! See you then. 

Rant Review: The Drippy Trip 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (Magic Puzzle Company, art by Ghostshrimp)

This is my second puzzle from Magic Puzzle Company, following my completion last year of The Mystic Maze. As much as I enjoyed that one, I really don't know why it took me so long to do another. I found TMM to be entirely worthy of its hype, and this puzzle continues that trend. The art is vibrant and charming, with something interesting to look at no matter what section you're working on. Some of my favorite bits are (of course) the sea turtles, the pirate queens of various species, the aliens chilling in the hammocks, the candy and ice cream-loving dinosaurs, the frog with the headphones, and the fast food items that are jammin' to the boom box. My favorite section is the lower left, and it's the one I completed first. I don't like its color scheme the most, but I enjoyed spotting all the sea creatures and vehicles. 

Once the main part of the puzzle was completed, of course, I still wasn't done. I rearranged the free-floating sections, and the secret envelope yielded about another 100 pieces. There is no reference image for this section, so this represents the biggest challenge for chronic box-peekers like me. Still, it's a small enough area that it went together easily enough. The various items scattered around the room include some fun Easter eggs, such as the MOTU-style insect man and the TMNT figure. (These go well with the off-brand Spongebob floating near the bottom of the puzzle.)

The quality remains superb, with thick, sturdy pieces, and a near total absence of puzzle dust. The feel and texture of the pieces make them my favorite to handle, even more so than those of the Trefl Prime I completed last week. My sole gripe is, once again, the loose fit. It just makes no sense to have loose-fitting pieces on a puzzle whose entire gimmick hinges on moving sections around. Two reference posters are included, and all of the envelopes are reusable. I really appreciate MPC's lack of waste! I have eight more of these, so don't be surprised to see another one soon. I don't plan to wait seven months this time!

 

Rant Review: No Pain, No Painting 500 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (Trefl Prime, Art by Anna Rupprecht)

Trefl is a new-to-me brand, so I couldn't resist picking up several of their puzzles during that ridiculously awesome sale a week or so back. I made sure one of my purchases was from Trefl's Prime lineup. Trefl promises "the finest puzzle experience" right on the box, and all the commentary I've heard backs that up, so I was expecting top-tier quality. Did this puzzle live up to my expectations? Read on to find out! (Or just skip to the end now; I'm not your boss!)

I chose this puzzle from the small selection of TP puzzles in the sale because I like the art style and vibrant colors, and it looked like the most enjoyable one to do. It was fun, and quite easy, with clearly defined sections. The few overlapping colors didn't complicate things much. The snake winding around the puzzle links the separate scenes together while providing the puzzle's most challenging bits. (Still quite easy, however; I left most of the snake for last, and by that time, I had so few pieces remaining that it took all of five minutes to finish it.) Quick and easy, and quite fun to do, this puzzle is a total hit from an art standpoint.

The texture of the box impressed me as soon as I unpacked it. It's very sturdy, and has a nice matte texture, appropriate for the higher quality that is part of the TP line's appeal. I was hoping that the actual pieces would feel as nice. Inside the world's noisiest plastic bag (I was a little surprised that a resealable bag wasn't used) were pieces with a texture that completely surpassed my expectations. Thick, matte, and with the soft velvety feel promised on the box, these are quite possibly the best feeling puzzle pieces I've ever held. The only brand I've done with piece feel on par with this is Magic Puzzle Company, though those are slightly marred by a loose fit. These pieces fit together snugly enough that I could lift sections and move them into place with no worries that they would crumble. This was particularly nice after the crumbly Cardinal I did a few days ago! A decent-sized poster is included.

Unfortunately, it wasn't all sunshine and roses. There were several chunks of pieces that had not been fully cut, and I had more than a dozen damaged pieces. Some were pretty damn bad. This is easily the worst, and most prolific, damage I've ever had in a new puzzle. (Worse than nearly all of the second-hand puzzles I've had, too!) It's definitely an odd feeling experiencing both the best and worst quality in the same puzzle! I can only assume that Trefl had some Covid-era production issues, as many manufacturers did. In the end, I paid $8 for this puzzle, and for that price, its good points vastly outweighed the QC issues. This won't stop me from getting more TP puzzles in the future, and I'll definitely get to one of my standard Trefls soon! 

Rant Review: Slice of Life 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (Cardinal, Art by Royce McClure)

I've been interested in Educa's Life puzzle for years now, but the chances of me doing a 24,000 piece puzzle were approximately-- hang on, let me get my calculator and do the math here... hm, yes, approximately ZERO. When I found out that a 1,000 piece puzzle featuring a small chunk of the art existed, it was inevitable that I would get it. From what I found online, it's been released by both Cardinal and Milton Bradley. I ordered the Cardinal version because I found it first, and the price was cheaper than I expected. Maybe I should have taken that as a warning.

But we'll get to that in a minute. First, the art is vibrant and colorful, every bit as much as the larger version. Compressed to this much smaller size, it is absolutely packed with detail. The underwater section was my favorite, not only because I always enjoy underwater scenes, but because it has the most visual interest. I put this together from the bottom up, beginning with the coral reef and finishing with the space-bound doves and planets. I really enjoyed this puzzle, and it has whetted my appetite for the related one that arrived the day I started on it. But, I'm getting ahead of myself again!

I would have enjoyed it even more if the pieces were of better quality. Cardinal was an unfamiliar brand to me, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I actually quite like the feel of the pieces, but they're very thin, and the fit is quite loose. False fits were possible pretty much everywhere, though the amount of detail in the art made them pretty easy to avoid in most areas. The loose fit makes this one of the most crumbly puzzles I've ever done, and moving even two or three pieces without them separating was simply not possible. More than once, my hand lightly brushed against the puzzle, something which normally has no effect. In this case, it resulted in a bunch of pieces breaking apart and having to be reassembled. The included poster is comically small, and pretty much useless. The puzzle is easy enough that it was unnecessary, fortunately. On the positive side, there was virtually no dust. This level of quality is fine for a cheap puzzle, but I may grab the MB version at some point to see how it compares. I've done a couple of MBs before, and while the quality was not top-tier, it was better than this. Plus, it'll give me an excuse to do the puzzle again!

Rant Review: Puzzle Moment: Sydney 99 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (Ravensburger, Art by Katinka Reinke)

This is another of the small Puzzle Moment puzzles I ordered last year. Quick and easy, with nice, colorful art. I really like the idea of these cheap little puzzle cubes; this is the sort of thing I'd like to see in the impulse buy section at checkout counters.

 

Rant Review: Doughnuts & Coffee 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (White Mountain, Art by Lars Stewart)

My niece wanted to choose my next puzzle, and selected a donut-themed one from my garage sale haul from a couple of weeks back. I had to decline doing it since it's a 2,000 piecer, and I currently don't have the space for one so large. I remembered that I had this one from an old Goodwill haul sitting in a cabinet, and she accepted it as a substitute. While not difficult, it was more challenging than I expected. There are many different colors and textures, but several are repeated in multiple areas, and some are very similar to one another. I got the edges done very quickly, then took far too long to do maybe 10% of the puzzle. It required far more sorting than I normally feel like doing, which resulted in me putting off returning to it for a few days. Once I finally sucked it up and did a much more thorough sort, I quickly finished the remaining 90%. I've done deeper sorting with other puzzles when it was necessary, but I just WAS NOT feeling it this past week!

I've found White Mountain to be a reliable brand with above average quality, and this was no exception. There were a couple of slightly bent pegs, but I chalk that up to it being put together previously. The pieces were clean, there no odors or hair, and no pieces were missing. For a cheap used puzzle, I call that a win!