This is an overview of the John gardner 007 books. I never had a problem with these books. They brought bond back with a bang for me. Updated to the 80's/90's they were fun. Decent stories with decent characters. Are they as good as the original books? That's not really important. I enjoyed the chance to read new bond books. My brother read them years after they came out and he loved them, finding them more accessible than the original fleming books. Personally I love the original books but I do like these modern tales as well. The character of bond still works in them. Generally I found the stories good but one thing happened in the real world that did affect not just these bond books but spy/thriller novels in general in 1989/90. The great enemy, Russia collapsed. And suddenly this series found getting a villain for bond to face harder! Brokenclaw was the first book to suffer but the later books managed to find workable enemies more easily. There are 14 novels in the series and two movie adaptations. Licence to kill and goldeneye are good adaptations of the films. This series isn't perfect but the books are fun, action packed bond adventures. The star rating for the individual books reflects my opinion of each book.