Casino Royale
My #7 Book of 2025
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
Hmm.
Hmmmmm.
In the 73 years since first publication, James Bond has wormed his way into the zeitgeist as a sex symbol, womanizer, undeniable Secret Agent with a license to kill.
Yet, in his debut, all of those traits are subverted in a succinct 212 pages. Incredibly sexist, slightly racist, and dangerously thrill addicted, the James Bond of Casino Royale bears a closer resemblance to Maxwell Smart than the dashing Sean Connery.
It’s a book that offers both a look into the time period, yet is still very accessible to a modern audience. The pacing is excellent—this is another one that I finished in a weekend.
Surprisingly, what I found most ingenious was the use of Bond’s Misogyny to punctuate the Femme Fatale Vesper. In the end, it’s his disbelief that she cannot be competent enough to betray him that is his undoing. It’s a prime example of how you can round a character to a negative trait to create a logical and satisfying ending for both the plot and character arc.
I ended up taking off points for its rather straightforward prose and for being reliant on flat side characters to advance the plot. Still, they’re fine.
All in all, I had low expectations for this and was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality and the quiet subversive themes. I’m interested to see how long into the series such quality lasts for.
I’ll leave this with a final note, more for myself than anyone else: it is okay to have a main character with unresolved negative traits. Not every main character must be a paragon. Not every character must unburden themselves of their “isms”. Skillful writers know how to use that to their advantage and let the themes ride the subtext.
Final Grade (all out of ten):
Plot: 8
Characters: 7
Conflict: 8
Theme: 8
Setting: 9
Prose: 7
Tone: 8
Quality: 8
Impact: 8
Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 80/100
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A/N:
Over the next ten days I’ll be releasing full reviews of my top ten books of 2025. From there, I plan on publishing a weekly book review. I’m hoping this is a way to keep me reading regularly and academically.
A quick note on my grading philosophy which I formed listening to a few movie critics. I believe that a 7 in any of the categories above constitutes “Good”. Anything above that is something that is above and beyond in any one particular category. I believe this creates a more nuanced evaluation of any Story. Very, very rarely do I give scores above 90 (8 since I started grading books back in 2022). Consider anything a 70 or above the equivalent of 5 stars. You may note that some entries are tied. The tiebreakers are the higher individual score in Enjoyment, then Impact, then Quality, then back up to Plot and descending from there.
I also want to expand my Substack presence. Toss me a follow below!
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About the Creator
Matthew J. Fromm
Full-time nerd, history enthusiast, and proprietor of arcane knowledge.
Here there be dragons, knights, castles, and quests (plus the occasional dose of absurdity).
I can be reached at [email protected]
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Comments (5)
You are a harsh but fair critic, Matthew. I’d give it 9-10 on each parameter but this comes from my teaching practice, I always inflate the grades a little, for encouragement.
Never read the book, but bad ass Movie! Your critique definitely intrigues. Nice to see you sharing thoughts and creating a series. I wonder, have you ever started a book but knew you wouldn't finish it because it was that terrible or off-putting?
I read this on my youth , not knowing or overly familiar) with the James Bo d franchise other than hearing about the movies. I fell into it all the way and it felt like I read it in one shot. You not expecting much seemed to have found an appreciation for this novel
Oh well, I absolutely love all the James Bond's adventures. I also believe that one should not read these books with today's mentality since they belong to a different era. The characters are built according to such era, society, and perception. And keeping all that in mind is what I think it's the best to do. Imagine reading a Jane Austin's novel forgetting how relationships used to be in Austen's time? So, I absolutely loved Casino Royale to the point that it even inspired some of my travels to the casino in Montecarlo. :D Writing reviews is an excellent idea to keep you reading. In fact, I should start doing the same to give myself some motivation. I just subscribed to your Substack. So, see you there!
Show off. Being all productive in the new year. Meanwhile, I’m hanging out with a deranged serial killer with super freaky kinks.