Blood Fever
The Young Bond Series
Charlie Higson

Miramax (Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-4231-0029-8 (1423100298)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4231-0029-4 (9781423100294)
Publication Date: March 2007
List Price: $7.99

Review: A modern day pirate robbing expensive yachts -- thirteen year old young James Bond stumbles into this heist while on a school trip. Blood Fever is about James Bond’s marvelous adventures as he attempts to solve this mystery. This story will keep you at the edge of your seat and has a shocking ending. Blood Fever is the second in a series of five stories with young James Bonds solving the crimes.

Blood Fever takes place in England as well as in Sardinia. Sardinia is a city in Italy, on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. In the very beginning of the book before James Bond comes into the picture, a pirate that goes by the name of Zoltan the Magyar, was given orders to rob a boat called The Siren owned by Sir Cahill Goodenough. Zoltan wanted to take a bronze statue of a Siren from the boat to give to his employer Count Ugo Cornifex. Amy Goodenough who was swimming in the Mediterranean Sea at the time, came onto the boat and stabbed Zoltan in the right shoulder making his right arm useless. Because of this Zoltan killed everyone on the boat except Amy who was taken hostage, and he sunk The Siren. Young James Bond heard about the disaster from Mark Goodenough James Bond’s friend and Cahill Goodenough’s son. James sees one of his teachers acting strange and investigates. Will James be able to solve the crime in time? Will Amy be rescued? Will Zoltan live long enough to deliver the Siren statue that he stole from The Siren?

As the second book in the series, I thought that the book took right off from where the first book Silverfin left off. I was able to figure out who most of the criminals were very early in the book. However, there were two I was wrong about. One person I originally thought was the bad guy, but it was really the other person. James was very well liked by everyone, even Zoltan who befriended him. James met Zoltan while he was investigating why the teachers were acting bizarre. I would rate this book four and a half out of five stars because in the book the line “the name’s Bond, James Bond” was used a little too often, and it got kind of annoying. Other than that I thought the book was perfectly written and the book made me feel like I was actually James Bond.

This book has unfortunately not received any awards.

Review written by Andrew, Grade 8. Date of review: July 2009.

Review: Blood Fever, the second book in its series, is a fast paced novel with an adventurous flair. This book, written by Charlie Higson, is a novel written in classic James Bond style. We first meet the young James Bond in his primary school of Eton, where we left him in the precursor to this novel, Silverfin. James, a member of the secret Danger Society, is always on the lookout for an adventure. James jumps around on rooftops and avoids teachers in the middle of the night until a chance for a journey comes up. This chance for adventure arises when he gets the chance to visit Sardinia, an island off of Italy filled with pirates and cut-throats, on a school summer-trip. Some of James’ associates unknowingly find themselves entangled in a secret Italian society with a plot to topple the world. In true Bond style, James saves the day, gets the girl, and blows some stuff up. At some times in this book I do find some of the historical facts are incorrect though. Charlie Higson does a great job developing the characters, and finds an excellent place to set his novel. Some parts are to brief for me and I would have like if Mr. Higson had elaborated on some scenes, sometimes you are left wondering what happened to so-and-so. This book keeps the pages turning though, and the ending of this novel keeps me lusting for a sequel. I’m not sure if one is planned or not. Although this book hasn’t won any awards I expect it won’t be long before it does. 4 (of 5) stars.

Review written by Brendan, Grade 7. Date of review: April 2009.

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