By Royal Command (Young Bond)

click here for more details, find new or used items	Charlie Higson Our price £6.49 (£12.99) New from £5.45 Used from £5.04 Pages: 368 (Hardcover) ISBN: 0141384514 Pub: Puffin Books Pub date: 2008-09-03 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 34

Reader Reviews:

Blown Away (2/2 people found this helpful)

I must admit that while I have been an avid reader of the Young Bond series but while I have found each volume to be wildly entertaining, I have never considered them quite on a par with the Alex Rider series. However, By Royal Command, unfortunately the last in this cycle of the series, blows the others out of the water! By Royal Command has it all: not just a rip-roaring story, but an emotional roller coaster that fits into the Bond cannon beautifully (I enjoyed it far more than Sebastian Faulks' much-vaunted continuation) and does so with a kind of sophistication and moral ambiguity that one seldom find in a book of this sort. It seems a shame that anyone might be put off because this is marketed as a children's novel. Absolutely brilliant and I hope that we get to see more of Higson's Bond in the future.

Very good, but beware! (0/0 people found this helpful)

Ok...here it is. Im gonna make this review short and sweet, just like the book. If you have read the previous titles in the Young Bond series, you know what to expect. A great plot, thrilling action scenes and diabolical villains. If you havent, you are in for a pleasant surprise...however I would read the other books in the series before reading this one, as the plot may confuse you. Now, onto the actual book...
This is a fantastic read. It has a complicated plot, unlike Hurricane Gold, and involves SOME thinking. Great fighting sequences, and scenes described so well it is as if you are in the room with the characters themselves. However, the characters themselves are getting a little (see the word LITTLE) repetive. For instance, the flesh crawling villain, the tomboy bond girl, and the sideline allies and enemies. All very well, you may think, all the bond books, young bond books, and countless films all have these as well. BUT this makes the plot slightly predictable. Another reviewer put "Higson bridges the gap to Casino Royale...". "Higson bridges the gap to Alex Rider", more like. MANY simalarites are clear in this series, and the series of Anthony Horowitz. Though not enough to spoil the book, thank God. Worth a buy, especially at Amazons exeptional price! ( I bought this in WH Smith for 12.99!!) Buy it now!

Fast Shipping, Great Bond Book (0/0 people found this helpful)

Item was here in 2 days.
Great addition to the young Bond series. Hogson is doing a super job on these books. They are clean, fun and exciting. A little predicable, they need some spice of storyline not just locations.

Absolutely fantastic (3/3 people found this helpful)

What a shame this series has ended already! As with all the other books, I could not put By Royal Command down. There is nothing more refreshing than a writer for young adults who doesn't talk down to them. Never once did Charlie Higson shy away from the gory details and the plot went along at a fantastic pace. And I loved the little historical details dotted here and there. Fantastic writing and a vast improvement on Hurricane Gold, the weakest (but by no means bad) book in the series.

I suppose you can't help but compare Bond to Rider but I have to say that as a fan of both, Bond is just that little bit edgier. The historical setting is also a very nice touch, giving all of these stories an extra depth. The state of Europe in Young Bond's era hangs over these tales, the horrors of war never too far away. I'm glad the series wasn't updated to fit into the modern day - we'll leave the 21st Century to Alex Rider.

I absolutely cannot wait to see what Higson writes next. For now though, I shall just reread this series and await the graphic novel!

Young Bond loses his innocence (7/7 people found this helpful)

With By Royal Command Charlie Higson brings the Young Bond series in for a picture perfect landing, touching down cleanly and evenly on every aspect of James Bond's past and future life. Within its own universe, By Royal Command is the equivalent of 2006's Casino Royale or this year's The Dark Knight -- a surprisingly profound, introspective, and ultimately tragic chapter that takes a leap in quality and maturity from all that has come before. At the same time, By Royal Command is a kinder and gentler Young Bond novel that doesn't have nearly the level of gruesome violence that has become a hallmark of the series, and even contains a love story! It's a surprising book in many ways. Of course, all the Young Bond books have been individualistic and, in their own ways, surprises, so By Royal Command fits perfectly into a series that has never repeated itself.

Structurally, By Royal Command is somewhat similar to Devil May Care (the celebrated Centenary adult Bond novel by Sebastian Faulks), particularly in its post-caper third act flight. But By Royal Command has an emotional depth that the adult Bond adventure didn't. There is a real sadness that permeates By Royal Command, a steady drip drip drip of Bond's innocence, of which Bond is all too aware. After the bloody events of the past four books, especially the relentless Hurricane Gold, this James Bond wants nothing more than to live a normal schoolboy's life. He's a 14-year-old with post traumatic stress. But Bond discovers he is fated to be a magnet for danger and death, and his reserves of stamina and strength in such situations have not gone unnoticed by leaders who soon need young men with such reserves. Not only does Bond lose what remained of his innocence in By Royal Command, it's made clear to him that the world will soon lose what remains of its innocence as well. The specter of World War II and the Cold War looms large over this novel and, in the end, Bond is resigned that his will never be a normal life. In time, he will become a number.

So where does By Royal Command stand among the other Young Bonds? For me, it's clearly the best -- which qualifies it as one of the very best James Bond continuation novels, period. For fans who still refuse to read the series based on the concept alone, it'll be hard to justify why they won't at least read By Royal Command, as it depicts a key event established by Fleming (the infamous "maid incident") and IS a spy novel. While it's preferable to have a knowledge of what came before (the book touches on all the past Young Bond novels with several returning characters), By Royal Command can still be read as a stand alone.

While there has been talk of more Young Bond adventures at some point in the future, Charlie makes it clear in his acknowledgments that By Royal Command is the end of a five book cycle started in 2005 with SilverFin.

What a spectacular end it was.

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