How to read the James Bond books in order

James Bond was a publishing sensation once the first novel reached bookstands in 1953. Each of the first 3 U.K. print runs of Ian Fleming’s first novel Casino Royale sold out inside a month and earned the writer a three-book deal. While it took a couple of editions for the collection to make a mark in the U.S., Fleming had hit on publishing gold together with his Bond stories. His tales of the British intelligence officer drew on the author’s enjoy in British Naval Intelligence all through World War II, and within a few years, the books have been reinforced by means of the Eon movie collection of which the final unencumber used to be 2021’s No Time To Die.

The legitimate movie collection diverged from the novels from the start, and if you’re accustomed to 007’s cinematic exploits, then you'll be shocked by Fleming’s supply novels. Set in the 1950s and early 1960s, his books are very much of their time. While the motion pictures have contended with altered continuity and changing attitudes over the previous half-century, a few of the themes and descriptions Fleming used will have to be approached with warning by fashionable audiences. 

Just as James Bond’s on-screen exploits weren’t in a position to close down in the mid-1960s, the books survived Fleming’s demise in 1964. So some distance, the collection has been continued in various styles and sessions by eight authors. The Ian Fleming Estate even commissioned the spin-off sequence Young James Bond and The Moneypenny Diaries, even though this record will goal the legitimate adult Bond novels.

Here is the very best reading order for James Bond’s many appearances on the web page.

Ian Fleming’s James Bond books

Fleming published a Bond ebook every year from 1953 to his dying. When Dr. No was the first Eon film, it drew on the title and tough plot of the more moderen 1958 novel, setting up a spoil from the novel continuity that may final. The motion pictures would significantly use this to their advantage, choosing plot issues from other books and assembling motion pictures that responded better to cinematic developments. Examples come with the Blaxploitation movie riffs of 1973’s Live and Let Die and the Star Wars-inspired house fights of 1979’s Moonraker. However, the motion pictures would make memorable use of Fleming’s zinging titles up to 2008’s Quantum of Solace.

• Casino Royale (1953)
• Live and Let Die (1954)
• Moonraker (1955)
• Diamonds Are Forever (1956)
• From Russia, with Love (1957)
• Dr. No (1958)
• Goldfinger (1959)
• For Your Eyes Only (1960 ⏤ includes the quick tales For Your Eyes Only, Quantum of Solace, Risico, and The Hildebrand Rarity)
• Thunderball (1961)
• The Spy Who Loved Me (1962)
• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1963)
• You Only Live Twice (1964)
• The Man with the Golden Gun (1965)
• Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966 ⏤ comprises the quick tales Octopussy, The Living Daylights, The Property of a Lady, and 007 in New York)

Reading Ian Fleming’s Bond novels chronologically 

Ian Fleming used to be famously vague on dates in his Bond books, even if students have agreed that their chronology roughly follows their e-newsletter order. Some researchers, like John Griswold in his Annotations and Chronologies for Ian Fleming’s Bond Stories, have established a particular timeline for Fleming’s novels. If you’d like to read Bond’s original adventures in chronological order, including Fleming’s quick tales together with his novels, then this is the record for you. 

John Griswold’s chronology for reading Ian Fleming’s novels

• Casino Royale — May to July 1951 or May to July 1952
• Live and Let Die — January to February 1952
• Moonraker — May 1953
• Diamonds Are Forever — July to August 1953
• From Russia, with Love — June to August 1954
• Dr. No — February to March 1956
• Goldfinger — April to June 1957
• Risico — October 1957
• Quantum of Solace — February 1958
• The Hildebrand Rarity — April 1958
• From a View to a Kill — May 1958
• For Your Eyes Only — September to October 1958
• Thunderball — May to June 1959
• Octopussy — June 1960
• The Living Daylights — September to October 1960
• The Property of a Lady — June 1961
• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (Chapters 1-5) — September 1961
• 007 in New York — September 1961
• The Spy Who Loved Me (Chapters 10-14, the Bond segment) — October 1961
• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (Chapters 6-20) — November 1961 to January 1962
• You Only Live Twice — August 1962 to April 1963
• The Man With the Golden Gun — November 1963 to February 1964

After Ian Fleming

After Fleming died in 1964, his publishers posthumously launched The Man with the Golden Gun and the brief story assortment Octopussy. To retain rights to the Bond personality, they briefly commissioned Kingsley Amis to pen a sequel. Rare for a non-Fleming novel, the Eon film collection due to this fact picked up a few of Amis’ plot issues. 

Also incorporated in this checklist are the three notable bond fictions of the 1970s.

• Colonel Sun — Kingsley Amis, writing as Robert Markham (1968)
• James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007 — John Pearson (1973)
• James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me (novelization) — Christopher Wood (1977)
• James Bond and Moonraker (novelization) — Christopher Wood (1979)

John Gardner’s James Bond Books

John Gardner, an ex-Royal Marine commando, resumed the book sequence in 1980. Gardner retained the ages of Fleming’s characters however brought them ahead to a contemporary 1980s atmosphere. His novels completed industrial success, even if he didn’t have the identical reward for ebook titles as Fleming. The extravagances of the movie collection naturally influenced those tales and some plots have been criticized for being a little far-fetched.

• Licence Renewed (1981)
• For Special Services (1982)
• Icebreaker (1983)
• Role of Honour (1984)
• Nobody Lives for Ever (1986)
• No Deals, Mr. Bond (1987)
• Scorpius (1988)
• Win, Lose or Die (1989)
• Licence to Kill (novelization) (1989)
• Brokenclaw (1990)
• The Man from Barbarossa (1991)
• Death is Forever (1992)
• Never Send Flowers (1993)
• SeaFire (1994)
• GoldenEye (novelization) (1995)
• Cold (1996)

Raymond Benson James Bond Books

Raymond Benson used to be the first American to write for Bond on-page. Like Gardner and Fleming, he didn’t grasp about, every now and then publishing multiple tales in 365 days. He used to be hand-selected via Ian Fleming Publications to take over from Gardner after writing The James Bond Bedside Companion in 1984 and contributing to the 1985 video game James Bond 007: A View to a Kill and 1986’s Goldfinger. 

Although the setting remained fresh, Benson stripped away Gardner’s continuity and returned to Fleming’s dependancy of penning brief and long-form Bond tales.

• Blast From the Past (short story) (1997)
• Zero Minus Ten (1997)
• Tomorrow Never Dies (novelization) (1997)
• The Facts of Death (1998)
• Midsummer Night’s Doom (quick tale) (1999)
• High Time to Kill (1999)
• Live at Five (short story) (1999)
• The World Is Not Enough (novelization) (1999)
• DoubleShot (2000)
• Never Dream of Dying (2001)
• The Man with the Red Tattoo (2002)
• Die Another Day (novelization) (2002)

Recent Bond Books

In 2008, the Ian Fleming Estate moved original Bond novels in a unique path, opening them to well-known literary authors such as Sebastian Faulks. By shelling out with inner continuity, this arguably freed the ebook franchise up to the movie collection. Authors have demonstrated their flexibility in style and surroundings, ranging from the Fifties to the provide day. 

While Carte Blanche brought Bond to a modern setting, Solo is set after Fleming’s continuity in 1969. Anthony Horowitz took over the collection in 2015 and has revealed two novels, set in 1957 and 1950, respectively.

Devil May Care — Sebastian Faulks (2008) 
Carte Blanche — Jeffery Deaver (2011)
Solo — William Boyd (2013) 
Trigger Mortis — Anthony Horowitz (2015)
Forever and a Day — Anthony Horowitz (2018).

James Bond will soon go back, as Anthony Horowitz’s next 007 novel is due out in 2022. 

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