Live and Let Die

A James Bond Novel

By: Ian Fleming

Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Read by Adjoa Andoh

LEGENDARY AGENT JAMES BOND CONFRONTS AN ENEMY UNLIKE ANY HE’S FACED BEFORE

James Bond is not an easily intimidated man, but it’s hard not to feel unnerved in the presence of Mr. Big. A ruthless Harlem gangster who uses superstition and fear to control his vast criminal empire, he’s also one of SMERSH’s top American operatives.

Mr. Big has been smuggling British pirate treasure to New York from a remote Jamaican island and funneling the proceeds to Moscow. With help from Solitaire, Mr. Big’s beautiful and enigmatic Creole fortune teller, and his old friend Felix Leiter of the CIA, 007 must locate the crime lord’s hideout, sabotage his operation, and reclaim the pirate hoard for England.

©1954 Ian Fleming Publications Ltd (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

A Rough Bond Audiobook

I spent much of the book thinking about what I would leave as a review. The story itself was great. The second in the series and learning more about who Bond is. If you're a fan of the movies you'll note parts of the story that are the same and others that they used in other films.

Performance wise, many of the other reviews are correct with their assessment. This is more like a radio drama at times then an audio book. The character voices at times are thick and hard to understand and do not quite land. She was very skilled performer, but don't feel like it worked for this project.

What is very odd to me is that not long ago there were several different versions of the Bond books available by Audible which have all been taken down. I've been reading rave reviews about the Simon Vance narrated audiobooks from several years beck. Blackstone is still releasing these new, edited versions and quite honestly, I don't know if I'll try the next in the series, Moonraker.

If you want my recommendation, save your credit for a different novel or series and find a 2000s copy of these audio books.

It's Bond.....But

The second recording of the Bond Collection was good, but not great. This particular novel was not one of my favorites and unfortunately the narration did not change my opinion. As much as I admire Adjoa Andoh's immense talent, this was not the right story for her. She did a good job but listening to Bond with a woman's voice made it difficult to stay interested. I tried to keep an open mind about a female narrator, but kept thinking this should be narrated by a male. Maybe if she had done the female parts and a male did the rest of the narration, I would have been more involved with the story. Overall it was good, but....

One thing this narration did was bring back memories of when I was in New Orleans when the movie was being filmed and Roger Moore debuted as James Bond. I was lucky to see part of the filming and it will be something I will not forget.

Never use a female narrator for male a primary character!

Not sure how they could do this, but they broke the cardinal rule of audio books. Using the wrong gender for the narrator. No matter how good they are, they can’t carry the book. So for that reason I haven’t yet finished the book when the first was epic,

On of the more underrated villains in the bond series.

I disliked the narrator’s attempt at doing American and Jamaican accents. They were distractingly bad.

Why Dramatize?

The reader’s different voices for the various characters made the book almost impossible to follow.

it's Bond

if you have to read this you're in the wrong place. It's Bond, James Bond. need I say more?

Horrible voice work

The reading of the main villain is so slow and the accent is bad (I won’t even get into the reading of Felix’s lines) that it makes the an unbearable drag. It’s Ian Fleming, not Cormac McCarthy, and when it’s read that slow it’s apparent.

This is meant to be a fun, stupid book that distracts and entertains, but I could not finish it due to the narration. It’s just bad. Don’t get this version.

The movie was far better

I now understand why it took so long to have this movie made, itneeded major overhaul on the script : The lack of action… also Race swapping solitaire, and Felix’s African-American slang dialogue … had some really good bones, but needed work also needed the culture to shift after the civil rights movement. Fleming was ahead of his time on this one.

Almost unbearable to listen to

I love Ian Fleming and the first narrator for casino royale was immaculate, but wow this narrator is unbearable. The voices are just terrible! Felix’s voice was so cringy, and M’s voice is just as bad!

Such a bummer😓

They got the wrong narrator.

I could not stand the narrators choice of voice for Felix, it took away from the story for me. It would have been better if they got different voice performers for Bond and Felix.