![]() First edition cover | |
Author | Ian Fleming |
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Cover artist | Richard Chopping |
Language | English |
Series | James Bond |
Genre | Spy fiction |
Published | 26 March 1964 |
Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 260 |
Preceded by | On Her Majesty's Secret Service |
Followed by | The Man with the Golden Gun |
You Only Live Twice is the eleventh novel and twelfth book in Ian Fleming's James Bond series of stories.[a] It was first published by Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom on 26 March 1964 and quickly sold out. It was the last novel published Fleming in his lifetime. He based his book in Japan after a stay in 1959 as part of a trip around the world; his experience was published as Thrilling Cities. He returned in 1962 and spent twelve days exploring the country and its culture.
You Only Live Twice is the concluding chapter of the "Blofeld Trilogy", after Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The story begins eight months after the murder of Tracy Bond, which occurred at the end of the previous novel, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Bond is drinking, gambling heavily and making mistakes on his assignments when, as a last resort, he is sent to Japan on a semi-diplomatic mission. While there he is challenged by the head of the Japanese Secret Service to kill Dr. Guntram Shatterhand. Bond realises that Shatterhand is Ernst Stavro Blofeld—the man responsible for Tracy's death—and sets out on a revenge mission to kill him and his wife, Irma Bunt.
The novel deals with the change in Bond from an emotionally shattered man in mourning, to a man of action bent on revenge, to an amnesiac living as a Japanese fisherman. Through the mouths of his characters, Fleming also examines the decline of post-Second World War British power and influence, particularly in relation to the United States. The book was popular with the public, with pre-orders in the UK totalling 62,000; critics were more muted in their reactions, generally delivering mixed reviews of the novel, with many critical of the extended sections of what they considered a travelogue.
The story was serialised in the Daily Express newspaper—where it was also adapted for comic strip format—and in Playboy magazine. In 1967 it was released as the fifth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond film series, starring Sean Connery as Bond; elements of the story were also used in No Time to Die (2021), the twenty-sixth film in the Eon Productions series. The novel has also been adapted as a radio play and broadcast on the BBC.
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