Patience is the surprise of “From Russia, with Love”, a Cold War spy novel that sets its scene before it lets James Bond in. Bond does not appear for roughly the first third, which Fleming gives to building the setting, and the plain, vigorous prose keeps the tension up. Some readers find the descriptions overdone in places, and others, who come from the film, are surprised by how different the book is.

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About the book

From Russia, with Love is the fifth novel by the English author Ian Fleming to feature his fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond. Fleming wrote the story in early 1956 at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica; at the time he thought it might be his final Bond book. The novel was first published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 8 April 1957.

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Where the score comes from

The sources average 7.5 across 140 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 49% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Spy & espionage average of 7.6. That is how 7.5 comes out.