BloodFever - Charlie Higson 2006
James Bond- Bond is now in his sceond year at Eton, and beginning to learn that he has an appetite for danger, evidenced by his involvement with Eton's unofficial "Danger Society".
Amy Goodenough- A fourteen year old girl, and sister to one of Bond's friends, Mark Goodenough, Amy is captured when her father's boat is ransacked by pirates. The plan is to ransom her back to her family.
Zoltan the Magyar- Zoltan is the leader of the pirates, and works for Count Ugo Carnifex.
Count Ugo Carnifex- A former "barbarian" goatherd, Count Ugo became rich by stealing gold during the first world war, and has set himself up an elaborate Roman city on a mountain in Sardenia. He fancies himself an emperor and cannot stand any kind of dirt or filth.
Vicotr Delecroix- Bonds much older cousin, he owns a house in Sardenia and allows Bond to stay with him during the holiday while Bond's Aunt Charmian is on an anthropological expedition.
Vendetta- The sister of Bond's new friend, Mauro. (Mauro is a "barbarian" from the mountains and came to work for Victor to support his family.) When Mauro is killed, Vendetta, who was aptly named because she was expected to get revenge for her family, helps Bond escape and helps him rescue Amy.
Summary:
Amy is swimming when her father's boat is attacked by pirates and robbed. She stabs the leader, Zoltan, but is captured. Zoltan works for Count Ugo Carnifex, who steals art from all over the world either to add to his private collection or to ransom back to their owners.
During a meeting of the Danger Society, a group of students who like sneaking around Eton causing minor mischief, Bond and the others must flee back to their dorms, since the teachers are on their tail. While running across the rooftops, Bond gets lost and ends up stumbling upon a secret building which seems to be a pagan sanctuary. He also notices a bracelet dropped by Mr. Cooper-ffrench, a Latin teacher at Eton, with "MM" on it. Later, when Bond joins his Latin class on a trip to Sardenia, he comes across the letters MM again and discovers that they are a code for the Millenaria, a secret society that want's to bring back the entire Roman empire.
Bond goes to stay with his cousin Victor, and while he is staying there the house is robbed. Thus, Bond has to go get his cousin, who is at the festival being thrown by Count Ugo.
While at the festival, Bond is reluctantly part of a boxing match against the bully of his class, Tony Fitzpaine. Bond wins, despite Fitzpaine having weighted gloves, provided by the Count, since he is betting on Fitzpaine. Bond is later approached by Stefano, a local boy working for the count. He takes Bond to Amy, who was stolen from Zoltan by the count, who wants to make her his wife.
Bond is caught, and is questioned as to who told him where Amy was. Rather than implicate Stefano, Bond says that it was Zoltan, who is dissatisfied with Count Ugo's hesitancy to pay for the artifacts he is bringing. Bond is then tied down in the middle of a swamp and sprayed with a perfume that attracts mosquitos. He is slowly being eaten alive by them, but is rescued by Vendetta, Mauro's sister.
Zoltan meets up with Bond and the "barbarians" in the mountains. He will help the locals defeat the count, since he was never paid, and he wants Amy back. Bond agrees to help, and while Zoltan and the locals attack the Count's palazzo, Vendetta and Bond sneak in and free Amy. Bond realized too late that Zoltan's plan is not just to stop kill the Count, but to blow the dam that provides the palazzo with water and power. Bond is unable to stop Zoltan, and Count Ugo and most of his workers die in the resulting flood/mudlside. Zoltan, weakened to the point of near-death, lets Bond and Amy go, and they return to Victor's house. Jana Carnifex, Count Ugo's sister, is waiting there. She want's revenge, and almost kills Bond and Amy, but they leap into the sea. Jana, trying to chase after them, falls into the sea, but does not clear the bed of sea urchins that blanket the sea close to shore. She is imaples with thousands of poisonous needles and dies.
My Grade: B- While I am glad that this book wasn't about a plot to take over the world with mosquitoes carrying some kind of deadly poison, as the book cover led me to think, this book is based a bit too strongly on coincidence. So many of the major plot elements happen by chance, it made the book harder to believe than most Bond books, even though nothing extraordinary happened. I also think that the Bond/bully relationship is being leaned on a bit too heavily here. Since Bond can't properly be paired with proper villains, he always seems to be running into bully's and, not-surprizingly, defeating them and teaching them an important lesson.
Best Moment:Bond is at the top of some old ruins and, unaware that he has been drugged with a sleeping drought, begins to teeter and feel dizzy near the edge. This leads him to worry that he has vertigo, and he has to fight against a newly acquired fear of hights. I like this moment because it explores Bond during a moment of weakness, showing both the reader and Bond that he is not "fear-less".
Quotable:
"I hardly think this boy, James Bond, will be living a life of high adventure.Cooper-ffrench
