WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:09.340
King Zero, Charlie Higson, spoiler-free. Amazon are taking their sweet time with this next Bond film. We all know it, much to our chagrin.
2
00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:23.180
And I've more or less made peace with the idea that we're in for a very long wait with not much to fill it for the Bond fandom. So I went down the rabbit hole, I picked up the old Fleming books again.
3
00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:37.960
I went and found my love for James Bond books, for MI6, for espionage. And naturally, I ended up at some of the continuation novels, like Carte Blanche or Quantum of Menace, Hurricane Room from Kim Sherwood.
4
00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:50.140
I eventually ended up at On His Majesty's Secret Service, and then I read King Zero. And I closed King Zero feeling something that I genuinely didn't expect to feel: optimism.
5
00:00:50.760 --> 00:01:07.700
Not optimism where it's like, "This was a decent stopgap" optimism. No. Proper we're on our way somewhere good optimism. The wait suddenly bothered me a whole lot less. It's that time to live again. Brendan Craft here.
6
00:01:08.180 --> 00:01:19.960
Each episode, we use the world of James Bond as a lens. The drinks, the objects, and the weird and wonderful stuff that lives just outside it. Some of it's worth your money, some of it isn't.
7
00:01:20.100 --> 00:01:33.160
Either way, you'll get exactly what I think, whether it sells or whether it doesn't. Let's get into it. Higson's done something here that the films have been wrestling with quite poorly for about 15 years.
8
00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:50.540
Since Skyfall, the whole Craig era has been about chewing on this one question. Is Bond still relevant? Is a man with a gun of any use when Q can do more damage from his laptop in his pajamas?
9
00:01:51.160 --> 00:02:03.260
And the films kept picking at that wound over and over again. It started out artfully, but then it became a bit derivative of itself. Bond as a relic of the Cold War, we've heard that one before.
10
00:02:03.300 --> 00:02:18.540
The double O section as an expensive antique. Higson takes the same question on board. He doesn't dodge it, but he also handles the nuance far better. Because Bond doesn't fight his obsolescence in this book.
11
00:02:18.940 --> 00:02:28.860
He understands his limitations perfectly well. He also understands that every so often, somebody does need to get punched in the face out in the field, a trigger needs to be pulled.
12
00:02:29.780 --> 00:02:40.400
That's far more compelling to spend 400 pages with than a man who's having an existential crisis every third chapter. Now, my standout moment, early on, there's a conversation with M.
13
00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:47.620
This is a modern M, in his 60s, in the current day, and he's talking like a man who's just come back from the First World War.
14
00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:52.720
He's complaining about his oven, he's complaining about the windows at MI6, how they don't open properly.
15
00:02:53.460 --> 00:03:02.780
And Bond is taking the Mickey out of M in his own head because he knows full well that M isn't nearly as ancient as he's pretending to be. And this comes up again later with Moneypenny.
16
00:03:03.160 --> 00:03:13.800
M puts the stodgy act on, and underneath it, he's every bit as comfortable and proficient with technology as anyone else in the building. And it plays as a joke, but it isn't.
17
00:03:14.220 --> 00:03:21.840
Higson plants it early and he cashes it in with the character later. And you'll know that point when you hit it. Now, let's talk about the villains.
18
00:03:22.260 --> 00:03:37.000
And I say villains as a plural because Bond contends with a genuinely varied cast in this one. This is not a true case of one man at the top with a queue of disposables beneath him. They all play their part.
19
00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:51.040
And they're all quite deeply complicated people. That's not a structure that we often see in this series, and I think I've heard somewhere there's a comparison to Goldfinger somewhere. Yes, this villain is distinctive.
20
00:03:51.220 --> 00:04:01.980
I'll give them that. As illustrious as others that we've seen, he's probably more accomplished, though. Frankly, he isn't as interesting because I feel like we've come across this character before.
21
00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:13.180
He hasn't got a scar across his face. He isn't fixated on one object, but he certainly has been through the mill in multiple ways. And when you meet the character, you'll know exactly what I mean.
22
00:04:13.660 --> 00:04:20.480
The other thing that I'd like to flag, there are a lot of women in this book, and there's a much greater focus on sex than you might be expecting.
23
00:04:20.700 --> 00:04:30.100
And yes, we are talking about a Bond book, and I'm still calling that out. It's that prevalent. It's closer to the old Fleming novels than anything that we've had recently.
24
00:04:30.180 --> 00:04:37.920
Yes, with books like Carte Blanche, there's some gore, there's some grittiness. But this takes it up and dials it up well to the max here.
25
00:04:38.200 --> 00:04:48.380
There's a layer of polish and intellectualism on top of that old Fleming pulp, and I think that's the real win here. It's that balance. So should you buy it?
26
00:04:48.420 --> 00:05:01.420
Well, I'm 35, and Bond is now 35, and I think this book was tailor-made for men at roughly this point in our lives. If you want a distraction from what you're seeing on the news, it does that.
27
00:05:01.660 --> 00:05:11.820
If you'd rather have what's on the news handed back to you in a different manner with a very different context and interpretation, I think it does an excellent job at that as well.
28
00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:25.640
But if you want a gray man who's at the center of it all, someone that you can escape into, that you can step into their shoes for a little while and see a little bit of yourself in, well, I think that's exactly what Charlie Higson's given us here.
29
00:05:25.780 --> 00:05:31.080
So for me, this is one of my favorite books that I've read in a very long time, and I highly recommend it.
30
00:05:31.200 --> 00:05:45.540
More than anything, this one made me hungry for the next book in the series, which, given where we all were a few months ago, where all we had was 007 First Light and fighting over 007 Road to a Million, I think that's no small thing.
31
00:05:45.840 --> 00:05:57.940
So bravo, Charlie. A great triumph. That's King Zero in my eyes. Tell me what you make of the book and all of this M business in the comment section, because I suspect that one will split people. Cheers.
32
00:05:58.220 --> 00:06:00.400
This has been Brendan, here for Time to Live Again.
1
00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:09.340
King Zero, Charlie Higson, spoiler-free. Amazon are taking their sweet time with this next Bond film. We all know it, much to our chagrin.
2
00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:23.180
And I've more or less made peace with the idea that we're in for a very long wait with not much to fill it for the Bond fandom. So I went down the rabbit hole, I picked up the old Fleming books again.
3
00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:37.960
I went and found my love for James Bond books, for MI6, for espionage. And naturally, I ended up at some of the continuation novels, like Carte Blanche or Quantum of Menace, Hurricane Room from Kim Sherwood.
4
00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:50.140
I eventually ended up at On His Majesty's Secret Service, and then I read King Zero. And I closed King Zero feeling something that I genuinely didn't expect to feel: optimism.
5
00:00:50.760 --> 00:01:07.700
Not optimism where it's like, "This was a decent stopgap" optimism. No. Proper we're on our way somewhere good optimism. The wait suddenly bothered me a whole lot less. It's that time to live again. Brendan Craft here.
6
00:01:08.180 --> 00:01:19.960
Each episode, we use the world of James Bond as a lens. The drinks, the objects, and the weird and wonderful stuff that lives just outside it. Some of it's worth your money, some of it isn't.
7
00:01:20.100 --> 00:01:33.160
Either way, you'll get exactly what I think, whether it sells or whether it doesn't. Let's get into it. Higson's done something here that the films have been wrestling with quite poorly for about 15 years.
8
00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:50.540
Since Skyfall, the whole Craig era has been about chewing on this one question. Is Bond still relevant? Is a man with a gun of any use when Q can do more damage from his laptop in his pajamas?
9
00:01:51.160 --> 00:02:03.260
And the films kept picking at that wound over and over again. It started out artfully, but then it became a bit derivative of itself. Bond as a relic of the Cold War, we've heard that one before.
10
00:02:03.300 --> 00:02:18.540
The double O section as an expensive antique. Higson takes the same question on board. He doesn't dodge it, but he also handles the nuance far better. Because Bond doesn't fight his obsolescence in this book.
11
00:02:18.940 --> 00:02:28.860
He understands his limitations perfectly well. He also understands that every so often, somebody does need to get punched in the face out in the field, a trigger needs to be pulled.
12
00:02:29.780 --> 00:02:40.400
That's far more compelling to spend 400 pages with than a man who's having an existential crisis every third chapter. Now, my standout moment, early on, there's a conversation with M.
13
00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:47.620
This is a modern M, in his 60s, in the current day, and he's talking like a man who's just come back from the First World War.
14
00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:52.720
He's complaining about his oven, he's complaining about the windows at MI6, how they don't open properly.
15
00:02:53.460 --> 00:03:02.780
And Bond is taking the Mickey out of M in his own head because he knows full well that M isn't nearly as ancient as he's pretending to be. And this comes up again later with Moneypenny.
16
00:03:03.160 --> 00:03:13.800
M puts the stodgy act on, and underneath it, he's every bit as comfortable and proficient with technology as anyone else in the building. And it plays as a joke, but it isn't.
17
00:03:14.220 --> 00:03:21.840
Higson plants it early and he cashes it in with the character later. And you'll know that point when you hit it. Now, let's talk about the villains.
18
00:03:22.260 --> 00:03:37.000
And I say villains as a plural because Bond contends with a genuinely varied cast in this one. This is not a true case of one man at the top with a queue of disposables beneath him. They all play their part.
19
00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:51.040
And they're all quite deeply complicated people. That's not a structure that we often see in this series, and I think I've heard somewhere there's a comparison to Goldfinger somewhere. Yes, this villain is distinctive.
20
00:03:51.220 --> 00:04:01.980
I'll give them that. As illustrious as others that we've seen, he's probably more accomplished, though. Frankly, he isn't as interesting because I feel like we've come across this character before.
21
00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:13.180
He hasn't got a scar across his face. He isn't fixated on one object, but he certainly has been through the mill in multiple ways. And when you meet the character, you'll know exactly what I mean.
22
00:04:13.660 --> 00:04:20.480
The other thing that I'd like to flag, there are a lot of women in this book, and there's a much greater focus on sex than you might be expecting.
23
00:04:20.700 --> 00:04:30.100
And yes, we are talking about a Bond book, and I'm still calling that out. It's that prevalent. It's closer to the old Fleming novels than anything that we've had recently.
24
00:04:30.180 --> 00:04:37.920
Yes, with books like Carte Blanche, there's some gore, there's some grittiness. But this takes it up and dials it up well to the max here.
25
00:04:38.200 --> 00:04:48.380
There's a layer of polish and intellectualism on top of that old Fleming pulp, and I think that's the real win here. It's that balance. So should you buy it?
26
00:04:48.420 --> 00:05:01.420
Well, I'm 35, and Bond is now 35, and I think this book was tailor-made for men at roughly this point in our lives. If you want a distraction from what you're seeing on the news, it does that.
27
00:05:01.660 --> 00:05:11.820
If you'd rather have what's on the news handed back to you in a different manner with a very different context and interpretation, I think it does an excellent job at that as well.
28
00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:25.640
But if you want a gray man who's at the center of it all, someone that you can escape into, that you can step into their shoes for a little while and see a little bit of yourself in, well, I think that's exactly what Charlie Higson's given us here.
29
00:05:25.780 --> 00:05:31.080
So for me, this is one of my favorite books that I've read in a very long time, and I highly recommend it.
30
00:05:31.200 --> 00:05:45.540
More than anything, this one made me hungry for the next book in the series, which, given where we all were a few months ago, where all we had was 007 First Light and fighting over 007 Road to a Million, I think that's no small thing.
31
00:05:45.840 --> 00:05:57.940
So bravo, Charlie. A great triumph. That's King Zero in my eyes. Tell me what you make of the book and all of this M business in the comment section, because I suspect that one will split people. Cheers.
32
00:05:58.220 --> 00:06:00.400
This has been Brendan, here for Time to Live Again.
