You Only Live Twice (Annotated)

Bond, a shattered man after the death of his wife at the hands of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, has gone to pieces as an agent, endangering himself and his fellow operatives. M, unwilling to accept the loss of one of his best men, sends 007 to Japan for one last, near-impossible mission. But Japan proves to be Bond's downfall, leading him to a mysterious residence known as the “Castle of Death” where he encounters an old enemy revitalized. All the omens suggest that this is the end for the British agent and, for once, even Bond himself seems unable to disagree...

Quotes from the book:

“You only live twice: Once when you're born and once when you look death in the face.”

“I've found that one must try and teach people that there's no top limit to disaster-that, so long as breath remains in your body, you've got accept the miseries of life. They will often seem infinite, insupportable. They are part of the human condition.”

“Give him one more chance.”

Readers' reviews:

“This Bond novel is arguably the best in the Fleming series. Not only is it an excellent spy and revenge story, it's also a chilling account of the human conditions in post-war Japan. The fact that Blofeld sets up base in a country that (at the time) had the highest suicide rate in the world is no simple super-villain plot device.” (Jeff, goodreads.com)

“To the author, wherever he might be, goes this old fan's heartiest ‘domo origato’!” (Sandy, goodreads.com)

“Without a doubt, my favorite Bond book of all. Not only because I am a far-gone Japanophile, but because so much of this book blooms a sweet sensitivity that the others I've read do not possess.” (Justin, goodreads.com)