Do any continuation novels improve on Fleming?

Charmed & Dangerous

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I was thinking that I prefer certain scenes in some of the continuation novels than passages of Fleming. I'm thinking in particular of Colonel Sun versus, say, TMWTGG. Is this sacrilege or does anyone else agree?

Asp9mm

No. None of them can match Flemings weakest novels.

Sir Miles

I prefer Colonel Sun to TMWTGG and a few of the short stories but nothing else comes even close.

Silhouette Man

Yes, I think Colonel Sun would be the only contender here as it was written in the 1960s shortly after the Fleming novels and stories ended with his untimely death in August 1964. I still wouldn't say it's better than Fleming but it is as equally good and as near to canon as is possible. It still remains the first and best of all the Bond continuation novels though, and I can't see that ever changing in all honesty.

Le Samourai

I would rank 'Colonel Sun' above TMWTGG, and probably above DAF. For me, it's easily on par with most of Fleming's novels. 'Colonel Sun' actually reminds me a bit of the first three Bond novels, which happen to be my favorites.

Golrush007

No, none of the continuation novels improve on Fleming.

However, there are a few continuation novels that I enjoyed more than the weakest Fleming novels (TMWTGG, TSWLM) and these are:

Icebreaker
No Deals, Mr Bond
Colonel Sun
Nobody Lives For Ever

and maybe

Trigger Mortis

CoolHandBond

Although some do not count James Bond And The Spy Who Loved Me and James Bond And Moonraker as continuation novels, I do, and I consider Christopher Wood's writing to be the closest of any of the other authors, in fact some paragraphs are so damn good they are indistinguishable from Fleming.

Golrush007

Yes, good call there CoolHandBond. I particularly enjoyed James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me. I forgot about that when I was considering my earlier post and I would add JB, TSWLM to my list.

Thunderpussy

I agree that Col Sun is the best continuing novel, and that Christopher Wood did a brilliant job with his
Two novels -{

Bondfan68

CoolHandBond wrote:

Although some do not count James Bond And The Spy Who Loved Me and James Bond And Moonraker as continuation novels, I do, and I consider Christopher Wood's writing to be the closest of any of the other authors, in fact some paragraphs are so damn good they are indistinguishable from Fleming.

I must agree that they should be counted as they are both excellent novels and high up there in the best of the continuation novels.

Bondfan68

I am a huge fan of most of the John Gardner novels and DEVIL MAY CARE though I know many don't like it. SOLO has some strong scenes as does TRIGGER MORTIS. I'm not a fan of CARTE BLANCHE and never really cared for COLEL SUN. Must read that again soon...
Are they better than Fleming? Not a chance. Do they add something? Sure, each in it's own way.