Higson said something on social media about how the writing was going well, so it sounds like he hasn’t finished it yet.
3 Likes
Well…this is some awesome news 
Between this and Hurricane Room, litBond fans are gonna eat excellently this year 
I haven’t read any of the Young Bond books. Would you’ll recommend I check those out, just to familiarize myself with Higson’s writing, even though they’re meant for kids/younger readers and are set in a different continuity? Or should I go into King Zero blind? (I’ll definitely try to get hold of a copy of On His Majesty’s Secret Service of course…)
In the loosest possible sense…maybe?
I mean, that was a Millennial Bond born in the 1980’s who became 007 in the late 00’s/early ‘10’s. Assuming King Zero has a veteran Bond who’s fought all the iconic villains already, it makes sense for him to be in line with the above timeline. Ditto with Sherwood’s Bond as well.
Though I seriously doubt if Higson is going to follow on from the world-building/structure of MI6 that Deaver or Sherwood established. Like, I don’t think Bond is going to be part of an “Overseas Development Group”, or report to Moneypenny, who’s the chief of the 00 Section!
I haven’t read the Benson novels yet, sadly, but my understanding is that they’re a “soft reboot” for the books, kinda like how the Brosnan films were a “soft reboot” for the films. Bond is still a Cold War veteran and all the previous books/films still happened (albeit in the 80’s, rather than the 50’s-70’s). But he’s now in a bold new era with a bold new M.
Agreed.
Bond, as a franchise, is structurally not about recurring villains as it is. It’s not Batman and Blofeld isn’t the Joker. Yes, Blofeld is an exception in that he’s been the main villain more than once, but he’s the exception that proves the rule, really, and even he has (or ought to have) a definitive end to his story.
7 Likes
Young Bond is definitely worth it. Despite being targeted at younger readers, Higson doesn’t talk down to his audience. Romantic entanglements are largely avoided given the ages of all involved, allowing for these to be straight up adventure novels that largely focus on Bond’s unfortunate magnetism to danger. They’re a lot of fun and very well written. Again, they’re broadly geared toward a younger audience but they touch on some mature themes and feature surprisingly graphic violence that’s conveyed with a refreshingly pulpy frankness. As I’ve mentioned, I’m nearly done rereading them myself (I was forty pages into book four when the news about King Zero dropped!) having picked them up assuming Hurricane Room was going to be it for this year. Do as you will, but you may want to wait until we’re in a bit of a lull before cracking them open. Never a bad idea to have something fun waiting in the wings for when things get too quiet!
4 Likes
What I like, especially with Blood Fever and the Danger Society, is the thrill of sneaking around in a school environment and avoiding detection. It’s age appropriate for Higson’s books but also manages to capture the espionage/risk taking of Bond’s character.
4 Likes
Oh I’ve got plenty of Bond stuff I haven’t read, fortunately or unfortunately 
Half of Gardner’s run, all of Benson’s, and Colonel Sun!
Haven’t even read the new Q mystery novel yet…
4 Likes
Let it be known there’s actually a lot of worthy Bond content to be enjoyed that isn’t Fleming. Colonel Sun is often called the best continuation novel and I think that historical reputation still has merit. I really like it, and personally have no problem adding it to the end of the Fleming run. So I definitely recommend that one.
I also rank The Authorised Biography of 007 highly. I don’t consider it canon but I don’t think that matters. It’s a solid read and an interesting concept unlike any of the other books. Horowitz didn’t put a foot wrong with his three - my only complaint is wanting With A Mind To Kill to be longer.
6 Likes
Apparently the reason IFP took so long to announce the Higson book themselves was that the influencers who were at the invitation only event were promised a 12 hour exclusive if they put out content on it.
That’s the way it goes in ‘26.
7 Likes
Interesting. Sign of things to come to be sure.
4 Likes
Not sure that doing that so close to April 1st was the best of ideas.
Or, maybe that was the point.
8 Likes
Which classic characters do we think will appear? M, of course. Moneypenny, Q, Felix Leiter? A reappearance by a supporting ally?
2 Likes
I suppose this is one of the influencers mentioned. Hadn’t seen the video but Charlie reveals the structure of the book, as well as its main locations. Sounding cool!
5 Likes
Let it be known there’s actually a lot of worthy Bond content to be enjoyed that isn’t Fleming. Colonel Sun is often called the best continuation novel and I think that historical reputation still has merit. I really like it, and personally have no problem adding it to the end of the Fleming run. So I definitely recommend that one.
I also rank The Authorised Biography of 007 highly. I don’t consider it canon but I don’t think that matters. It’s a solid read and an interesting concept unlike any of the other books. Horowitz didn’t put a foot wrong with his three - my only complaint is wanting With A Mind To Kill to be longer.
Oh for sure!
I’ve read pretty much every Bond continuation novel/spinoff since Devil May Care (except the Q book, so far). I’ve also read a lot of the Gardner books.
The Benson books, Colonel Sun, and the Authorized Biography are on my bucket list, be rest assured
6 Likes
M and Moneypenny for sure of course. They’re an integral part of the Bond formula, on page and screen.
Q is trickier. I think there’s a pretty good chance Major Boothroyd shows up, as does Q Branch, but will Boothroyd be playing the character called “Q”? Because Q is owned by EON (and now Amazon I suppose) and there have been issues with using him in the continuation novels (then again, there’s the “Q Mysteries” series now, so I suppose that’s sorted?)
Felix is possible certainly, but not necessary. Depends on if he/the CIA have a role to play in the plot.
What I’m curious about is which M are we getting? Sir Miles Messervy? Or someone else? If this is set in the same continuity as Sherwood’s trilogy, then, depending on how things pan out in Hurricane Room, we could get either Sir Emery Ware or Moneypenny herself as M! (But I think that’s unlikely).
Likewise for Q I suppose, if he’s not Boothroyd.
5 Likes
Some interesting details about the book from the interview with Charlie:
- He’s trying to “bring together the cinematic Bond and the world of Fleming”. He decided to do a contemporary Bond novel because he felt that, while the recent period pieces have been great, most people know Bond from the films and thus expect a modern Bond.
- King Zero is the name of the villain. He wanted to go back to using villain names as the title rather than naming the book something like “Tomorrow Never Dies Again Yesterday”
- The book is split into three sections, each set in a different location. The first section is set in Saudi, the second in the Maldives (where the sharks depicted on the cover will appear!) and the third in the forests of the Congo.
- Perhaps the most important detail from the whole continuity/timeline perspective - Bond is a “35 year old trying to navigate the modern world.” So it’s definitely not set in the same universe as the Sherwood Double O books.
9 Likes
Could technically be Higson’s version of Bond from On His Majesty’s Secret Service. Bond’s age and status aren’t mentioned explicitly - I think - but that would likely tally with the general mindset of the piece, Bond in the here and now, in good form and dealing with current events.
9 Likes
Its made me start reading his two short stories. Occured to me i hadnt read his young Bond short despite having read, and enjoyed, the rest of his Bond work
3 Likes
Earlier in this thread, Tiin007 mentioned that Carte Blanche was “the biggest missed opportunity of the (literary) franchise”. As I said later, that I didn’t know that it was per se, but one big opportunity that the literary franchise missed that really bugged me then and still does today goes back to 2012.
That was the year of the London Summer Olympics and I think under such a scenario that it would have been great to have a James Bond mission involving the Olympic Games where he ultimately discovers that he must stop the bad guy from detonating a nuclear bomb or assassinating UK leaders at the world’s biggest event during the opening ceremonies perhaps timed to coincide with the lighting of the Olympic flame.
I think it would have been a nice, timely story sort of like the Hong Kong handover to China was in 1997 and, with the Olympic backdrop, would have been exciting and different. I suppose such a story could still happen, but it will be a long time before it returns to London.
6 Likes
Thing is, these particular landmark occasions are on the one side comparatively rare and date a story, book or film not always in a good way. I suspect few readers even remember that Zero Minus Ten was supposed to revolve around the Hong Kong handover or Clancy’s Rainbow Six around the 2000 Olympic Games in Sidney. The idea is intriguing in the buildup to such events - but it quickly fades into obscurity once it’s over.
That’s not even a fault of the respective books but simply how we look at events that have turned into ‘history’ - regardless of their import and consequence they had in the moment, or continue to have on our daily lives. For example, people born in 2001 are turning 25 this year, a whole generation of lives around the globe who never experienced a world ‘before’ 9/11. They naturally have difficulty understanding what life used to be in that distant past, just as 25 years from today a large number of folks will fail to grasp current events and concerns.
I suppose whenever a writer uses such a landmark event set in the future they risk their tale becoming yesterday’s newspaper the moment the event arrives. It might still be interesting afterwards, but not nearly as much as it was when it - whatever ‘it’ happens to be - had yet to happen.
4 Likes
True, and I wouldn’t want to make a regular habit out of such things, but there are some events that are so unique and so special that they–maybe not deserve but–justify the working of a story around them. And I think that the Summer Olympic Games held in London in 2012 was one such event–and in the 50th year of the cinematic 007 at that. (59 for the literary Bond.)
3 Likes
It all sounds jolly good.
9 Likes