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In case you didn't know, James Bond is a sexist prick. You probably knew that already, though. But what you might not have known is that in Casino Royale, his first adventure (if you can call what he does adventuring), he is a useless prat.

Bond fails at pretty much everything he does in this novel. He makes mistake after mistake. He only defeats the baddie (in the mission proper) because the baddie defeats himself, which, come to think of it, is pretty much how every Bond villain loses (maybe Bond always sucks at his job and he's just the luckiest agent in MI-6). His shit judgment leads to his near death. He lets emotion get in the way of the job, and it costs lives. Meanwhile, Ian Fleming keeps popping us into Bond's thoughts, and Bond's opinion of everyone he comes in contact with has something to do with their incompetence, all while Bond is thoroughly incompetent himself.

Still, there is a seriously cool torture sequence, the very real SMERSH makes their first fictional appearance in the Bond books, and despite being a tosser, an asshole, and a giant slut, Bond still manages to pull off a level of coolness, although that is probably just forty years of filmgoing indoctrination I can't shake.

All in all a disappointing book, even with Simon Vance's decent performance as Bond.

One final thought: the British propaganda made me cringe this time around.