Rating: 
Summary: About as much as one can ask for in a 1950?s pulp novel
Review: "Live and Let Die" holds up as a story and moves quickly, but the really amazing thing about it is that it serves as a portal into a 1954 mindset. This is most apparent in Flemming's treatment of blacks. The villain is black, and he controls a black voodoo mob with communist ties and tentacles from Harlem to Jamaica. At one point James Bond notices the villain's black female chauffeur and thinks to himself how unusual the site of a black woman driving a car was anywhere in the world. While Flemming's fantasy-land world of universally linked superstitious black conspirators smacks of a genuinely racist outlook, the most surreal comments are about the reality of the world that existed when the book was written. It is tough to get beyond the book's racial stereotypes, but all of Flemming's gangs are pretty much the same international conspiracies. Flemming probably thought that his treatment of black was somehow elevating. In any case, beyond the racial element of the book, Flemming's way with words remain captivating, the plot remains slightly off (as is characteristic for the Bond books), and Bond remains Bond. Flemming's Bond is not nearly so smart as the movie Bonds. The literary Bond is, in a sense more superhuman in that his body endures inhuman abuses, from terrible beatings to poisonous levels of alcohol, tobacco and high-cholesterol foods. But he is extremely reckless and has as much bad luck as good. Luck, rather than wits, carry Bond through much of the book and in a sense he sort of flows along. Not so for his partner, Felix Leiter, who meets the kind of surprising fate that makes the twists and turns of a Flemming novel actually unpredictable (Flemming reaches a climax in unpredictability with the close of his best work, "From Russia with Love"). The other interesting thing about "Live and Let Die" is how elements of this book later appear in the films. The movie version of the book is a considerable departure, yet scenes from "For Your Eyes Only," and "License to Kill" are stolen almost word-for-word form this book. That three movies are derivative of this one book indicate its action-value. The whole combination of "Live and Let Die" is about as much as one can ask for in a 1950's pulp novel. It is fun, it is dated in an unintentionally interesting way, and it is quick. For these reasons and because it is Bond, "Live and Let Die" will live and not die for at least another 50 years.
Rating:
Summary: About as much as one can ask for in a 1950¿s pulp novel
Review: "Live and Let Die" holds up as a story and moves quickly, but the really amazing thing about it is that it serves as a portal into a 1954 mindset. This is most apparent in Flemming's treatment of blacks. The villain is black, and he controls a black voodoo mob with communist ties and tentacles from Harlem to Jamaica. At one point James Bond notices the villain's black female chauffeur and thinks to himself how unusual the site of a black woman driving a car was anywhere in the world. While Flemming's fantasy-land world of universally linked superstitious black conspirators smacks of a genuinely racist outlook, the most surreal comments are about the reality of the world that existed when the book was written. It is tough to get beyond the book's racial stereotypes, but all of Flemming's gangs are pretty much the same international conspiracies. Flemming probably thought that his treatment of black was somehow elevating. In any case, beyond the racial element of the book, Flemming's way with words remain captivating, the plot remains slightly off (as is characteristic for the Bond books), and Bond remains Bond. Flemming's Bond is not nearly so smart as the movie Bonds. The literary Bond is, in a sense more superhuman in that his body endures inhuman abuses, from terrible beatings to poisonous levels of alcohol, tobacco and high-cholesterol foods. But he is extremely reckless and has as much bad luck as good. Luck, rather than wits, carry Bond through much of the book and in a sense he sort of flows along. Not so for his partner, Felix Leiter, who meets the kind of surprising fate that makes the twists and turns of a Flemming novel actually unpredictable (Flemming reaches a climax in unpredictability with the close of his best work, "From Russia with Love"). The other interesting thing about "Live and Let Die" is how elements of this book later appear in the films. The movie version of the book is a considerable departure, yet scenes from "For Your Eyes Only," and "License to Kill" are stolen almost word-for-word form this book. That three movies are derivative of this one book indicate its action-value. The whole combination of "Live and Let Die" is about as much as one can ask for in a 1950's pulp novel. It is fun, it is dated in an unintentionally interesting way, and it is quick. For these reasons and because it is Bond, "Live and Let Die" will live and not die for at least another 50 years.
Rating: 
Summary: James Bond at his best!
Review: "live and Let Die" is by all means the best James Bond novel. Bond is thrust into action against the crime-lord Mr. Big. This adventure takes Bond to Jamaca, where he meets up with Felix Leiter. For all Bond fans this is a absolute must to read.
Rating:
Summary: A terrific novel that I couldn't put down.
Review: A richly engrossing Bond novel by the master of spy novels, Ian Fleming
Rating:
Summary: A Real Page Turner
Review: Bond is at his best in this terrific sequel to Casino Royal. This book definitly out matches the previous novel in every way! However, it as a whole is by no means the best of the Bond series. With plenty of action and suspense it is kept alive. If you can keep reading up until what they do to felix Leiter...you'll never put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Very solid
Review: Fleming's second James Bond novel, Live and Let Die is a solid thriller although it certainly has room for improvement. And Fleming would improve and polish Bond's adventure very very well as time went on. Here, his prose is more terse, often feeling less descriptive than it would in later novels, but still very smooth. There is some really solid action and Bond is also given a very believable reason to go after Mr. Big, the villain (what else could he be with that name?) Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA chum, is mauled by sharks. (This part of the story was not in the film Live and Let Die but was rather used in the later film Licence to Kill.) Bond also forms a solid romance with the mysterious Solitaire and in the end...well, give it a read. A lot of fun for sure and very smooth.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: Fleming's treatment of race relations won't win any PC awards, and the meat of the book itself may be a little dated today, but its breakneck pace, vivid detail (especially of postwar America) and healthy dollop of suspense make this one of Fleming's best novels. It's certainly better than the movie.
Rating:
Summary: To Live and Let Die!!
Review: Gold coins from Jamaican 17th-century pirate hoard are turning up in pawn shops and banks in Harlem and Florida. M suspects the treasure is being used to finance KGB activity in America, and sends Bond to unmask the operation. Bond discovers a virtual empire of gangsters masterminded by the imposing Mr. Big, who keeps the beautiful Solitaire as his personal captive. Voodoo, sharks and barracuda, time bombs, harpoon guns, torture and terror are the ingredients for a scalding brew that reaches the boiling point in an eruption of violence. Another great Bond book to read! Buy this book when it is back in stock!!!
Rating:
Summary: In the better half
Review: I only tend to review the best of the novels (From Russia With Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Dr. No, Thunderball and Live and Let Die) for some reason. Most people talk about everything in the book, but I am just going to tell you that Live and Let Die is, along with the others listed, one of the best. Better than the movie, although I didn't dislike the movie that much. Worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: In the better half
Review: I only tend to review the best of the novels (From Russia With Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Dr. No, Thunderball and Live and Let Die) for some reason. Most people talk about everything in the book, but I am just going to tell you that Live and Let Die is, along with the others listed, one of the best. Better than the movie, although I didn't dislike the movie that much. Worth a read.
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