Silverfin : A James Bond Adventure - Charlie Higson

Summary: The dark waters around a Scottish castle hold a sinister secret...SilverFin. SilverFin is deadly. SilverFin is the future. One man with a thirst for power will use it, whatever the cost. One boy stands in the way. His name is Bond, JAMES BOND. (Image from powells.com and summary from back of the book.)

My Review: First off, this book came highly recommended by a bright 8th grade student of mine. He was dying for me to read it and give him my opinion. It's been sitting on my stack since October and I'm just now getting to it. I'll admit, I didn't go into the book with high hopes. I just hoped it was palatable. After speaking with my father (an avid James Bond movie buff) I learned that if it has the name James Bond on the cover it should/must be authorized by the family. This book is sanctioned by the family and knowing that I could then deduce that it shouldn't be a total flop.

In a way, this book takes the mysterious out of James Bond. Whether you like that or not is subjective. It starts with James going to a prep-boarding school for boys. It gives the back log of what happened to his parents and what family he has left. It also gives a peek into just how James Bond ends up with his impeccable physique. That much I felt was educational for boys reading about any secret agent and pining to become one. Knowing ahead of time the amount of work it takes to get your body physically fit might sway one from dreams maybe not logical for some temperaments.

Predictable the way a James Bond movie runs but on a young adult scale, this was a fun book to read. The details given are all important and build up to the final events with a massive climax and fairly well tied-up falling action and conclusion. The climax and falling action seemed unbelievable in parts, but what scrape that James Bond gets himself out of isn't? It felt a bit long, in that there were, within the last 100 pages, a handful of times you are sure the story will be over or his misery finally ended. It doesn't. He just keeps trucking along through grueling experience after experience. Still, it was a pretty quick read and fun. I'd definitely recommend this action/adventure book to my middle school boys and even the girls. It might just get some of my reticent male readers to pick up reading. Maybe.

My Rating: 4 Stars

Sum it up: A fun action adventure book geared to pulling in male readers.