On His Majesty's Secret Service

A James Bond Adventure

By: Charlie Higson

Narrated by: Charlie Higson

Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

It is the 4th of May, two days before the Coronation of King Charles III and the world’s favourite spy has his work cut out for him. Bond is sent at the last minute to thwart an attempt to disrupt the Coronation by the wealthy, eccentric and self-styled Athelstan of Wessex, who is on a deadly mission of his own to teach the United Kingdom a lesson. Can Bond dismantle his shady plans and defeat his privately hired team of mercenaries?

Charlie Higson returns with a brand new Bond adventure. On His Majesty’s Secret Service celebrates the Coronation of King III Charles and will be published on Thursday 4 May ahead of the Coronation on Saturday 6 May–60 years after the publication of Ian Fleming’s tenth novel, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, in 1963. Ian Fleming Publications and the author, Charlie Higson, are donating all royalties from print, audio and ebooks to the National Literacy Trust.

©2023 Charlie Higson (P)2023 Ian Fleming Publications

Nope.

The author made his own political views obvious throughout. Poor writing, poor voice acting.

Not 007s Best

As a die hard 007 fan I was rather disappointed. The plot is rather good but the story itself felt very rushed. Plus all this the villain seemed rather forgettable. More like a social media mogul or someone you’d take a grain of salt from that was on the news. All in all not at all the best 007 adventure.

007 takes on the far right. 🍸🇬🇧🍸

While not the best Bond adventure, this was a fun and escapist story set in the most modern of times.
It was cool to see 007 go after this ultra right nutcases.

James Bond Fights The Crazy's

I find it interesting that many are upset with Bond taking on those who would destroy England. Finding his battle with the very extreme right wrong somehow. I found it very realistic and as believable as some of the past villains he has been pitted against. At least these groups of baddies were real. I also found the authors reading of his own reading of his work far better than most. All in all it was well done all around.

Too political and a little too neat

It seems clear that Bond stories can no longer be seen in a world of their own. Well it’s been a while since I’ve read all the short stories and novels of Bond, I don’t recall too many long-winded commentaries on current real life political issues or figures. Much of the story feels like a large projection of views that I believe will only serve to thrill half of the intended audience and either annoy or irritate the other. Some of the views appear rather myopic at that. The story overall, however, was decent for a short story. It’s a neat concept to think of a current world event in this way. It just seems to wind up a little too neatly. It feels like it’s missing a third act. One thing I will say is that it did reinvigorate a sense of wonder about what Bond is doing in today’s world. The movies have seemed to be so divested from real world issues and dependent on drama that this was a welcome change of pace. I just wish that it wasn’t so political. There’s enough of that garbage on the television.

James Bond and Twitter now exist in the same universe, that much has been made very clear.

The story is a little simple (although suitably so for a fairly short book), and Higson tries a little harder than necessary to prove that Bond can exist in the TikTok era (the line about Bond’s “situationship” with his on-and-off girlfriend is going to age like milk, and the villain’s chapter-length grandstanding speech about “wokeness” being the inevitable consequence of the Norman conquest of England may skew towards hilarity in ways the author didn’t fully intend), but it’s a lithe and undeniably fun spy story (with actual spying, no less!) and frankly just nice to see something other than the now overfamiliar “back-to-the-Cold-War” strategy of other recent Bond novels.

The author reads his own work with confidence and gusto, as one would hope (I’m not qualified to say whether his South African accent is accurate, but it’s a delight to hear, and I can tell he enjoys doing it).

The villain isn’t one for the hall of fame, but he’s got a strong enough presence to sustain interest for the duration of this brief story. As far as political tone (there’s more talk of politics than in any other Bond novel I can think of), Higson conveniently splits the difference between offering an essentially approving depiction of Royalism and a straightforward willingness to single out the far right as the natural enemies of… basically everybody.

Jeffery Deaver’s Carte Blanche remains, for me, the definitive millennial update of the literary 007, but this really ain’t half bad, either. Higson knows how to make a knife fight exciting and what it feels like to be captivated by a weird, beautiful, possibly dangerous lady, and that’s what counts. He doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but he has a grand old time playing with the wheel we’ve got.

The final pages aren’t all that remarkable on their own (I wish Bond’s introspection about the indignities of the spying life were a couple paragraphs shorter, to be honest) but is pretty damn cheeky when you read it—as was surely intended—as an indictment of the narrative trajectory of the recent Bond films. I don’t totally share his disapproval, but this bit of candor is a welcome touch all the same.

Double Oh Dud

I know Mr Higson, who has written good Bond books in the past, was rushed to get this written and to the printer, but I don’t think that excuses the lackluster writing, characterization and politics. It’s not an homage to Ian Flemings Bond, or even John Gardners. He can’t touch Raymond Benson either (my favorite of the continuation writers). I will still get whatever comes next, even if Higson writes it, but I hope it won’t be rushed to meet an historic deadline.

Disappointing

I’m a big Bond fan. I’ve read Higson’s Young Bond, all of Fleming’s work, Amis, Gardner, Faulkner, Deaver, and Boyd. This was decidedly below average.

It’s really a short story, rather than a real novel.

I like a little action in my action novel

I was very excited to see a new James Bond adventure. But, there is barely a story. It goes on and on almost like trying to make a trip to the supermarket sound exciting.

The performance was a little dull. The narrator (the author) has a great voice and would be fantastic reading a different type of novel, but he never creates a feeling of action.

I have read all the Bond books and this hardly seems part of the Bond heritage like the last continuation writers have. Go back and listen to a Fleming, Gardner, Faulks, or Deaver Bond book for a much better time.

Good story

I was pleased with the story. It was an easy listen. It wasn’t too deep of a story compared to the Fleming novels, but it was worth listening to.