Experience A Legacy Of Spies (George Smiley, #9) Executed By John Le Carré Exhibited In Leaflet

reunion book, and quite a pleasurable one, Le Carré gets Smileys gang together one last time, knowing the reader will thrill at seeing them mashed against the modern world.
It is particularly lovely to spend so much time in the head of the firstperson lead Peter Guillam, who is as charming and caddish as ever, and whose misdoings are treated with great affection there is even a clever wink at his gay retconning in the Oldman TINKER TAILOR film.


The best moments here come with the now aged Peters indignation at contemporary spycraft a highlight coming when he pretends to need hearing aids during an early interrogation scene, but alas the plot of the book does not live up to the fine characterwork.
It requires deep knowledge of THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, which is not as good as the Karla novels, and spends way too much time filling in a minor back story from it.
In fact, this review itself probably only makes sense if you know the characters already, The antagonist is somewhat disastrous at one point he just develops an eidetic memory and the late turns, save for the exceptional last one, are rushed.
There is some interest in the interpolated Circus texts, which come in a lean present tense, but they cant conceal the absence of action in the outerframe.


Fans will thrill to this, as I did, Le Carré is always a pleasure, particularly with these characters, His is that rarest mix of craft ability and addiction, I wish it were just a bit better, but I am very grateful for it, for him, and complaining seems petty.

A Legacy of Spies is virtuoso spywriter John le Carré revisiting George Smiley and his Circus agency cohorts in a sequel to The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
The main character this time, however, is Peter Guillam, the chief lieutenant to Ms Sensei Wu, George Smiley, Long retired, the elderly Guillam is called to London due to several lawsuits threatening to expose the Cold War subterfuge from the earlys the events that comprise The Spy Who Came In From The Cold.
To be honest, the spy agency is not exactly sure what has occurred during these topsecret operations and unable to find George Smiley, their lawyers have procured Guillam to answer their questions.
Unsure of the angles the other players are working, Guillam is about as forthcoming as a college freshman telling his folks what happened at the kegger last Friday night.
But slowly the memories from his past begin to connect like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle,

Told mainly from recollections and pilfered topsecret documents and relying heavily on the incidents from the previous novels, A Legacy of Spies can be a little hard to get into by the uninitiated.
But like walking on a frozen pond, once you break through, you will find yourself on an incredible breakneck adventure that is sure to challenge the way you perceive the world at large.
Le Carré demonstrates the writing skill of a heavyweight champ, No word is wasted and no phrase superfluous leaving only a tale as forceful and driving as a bullet,

One of the things I always enjoy about Le Carré is how mundane his spies can be, They could just as well be the same schmos working retail, Or they could be the schlemiels in outside sales peddling vacuum cleaners as to being clandestine agents mastering the dark art of espionage.
You can picture their wrinkled shirts, stooped postures, and heavy gutsthese are not James Bond operatives, And this makes their moral collapse, the sacrifice of their honor for useless results even more tragic, Because these arent superheroesjust ordinary Joe Sixpacks trying to do the right thing and failing horribly at it,
The old master may have lost a half step, but a sequel to THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD still has no right to be this good.
This book was wonderful. It sucked me in right away,

A word of caution after reading this, Dont read the Smiley books out of order, They all tie into one another and this sews up the whole series, It especially references back to “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold” and “Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy”, So if this is your first reading of a Smiley book, there is going to be some confusion,

Saying anymore about this book will spoil the outcome,

I especially hope this will not be the last LeCarre novel, You can find my review on my blog by clicking sitelinkhere,

One of the godfathers of spy thrillers returns to the battlefield with A Legacy of Spies, Its hard to ignore the legacy of John Le Carré himself when brought to reflect upon the whole universe of espionage that he was able to bring to life, from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy to The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.
His latest novel serves as a fantastic throwback to his greatest work and brings back one of his signature characters, George Smiley, in a story overflowing with tough moral decisions.
As much as I wouldve loved to recommend this as a standalone novel which features one of the most charismatic, authentic and fascinating characters, Peter Guillam, also known as George Smiley top disciple, A Legacy of Spies will mostly please fans who have read his previous novels, notably the two mentioned above.
Nonetheless, John Le Carrés latest book continues to highlight his talent as a storyteller and immerses you in the world of spies like no other story.


Unlike certain novels that are easily read without any prior knowledge of previous books of the author, A Legacy of Spies would surely be much more appreciated if youre memory is still fresh regarding events taking place in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.
A Legacy of Spies is not being marketed as a sequel, but its references to past events makes it a bit hard to comprehend its core essence if you havent checked out those two other books.
In fact, the story unfolds with Peter Guillam, our protagonist, being scrutinized about Operation Windfall and his Cold War past in order to help himor maybe just the British Secret Servicebypass some legal issues that have risen from the dark.
The novel greatly relies on interweaving the past and the present in order to unwrap the lies and deceits that have been much more essential than one who has never lived through Cold War would understand.
While youd love to pursue this story thinking that this Operation and all its mysteries are new and neverheard of, youll quickly find yourself in front of elements that can only be savored if you had prior knowledge of John Le Carré books at least those two classics.


The story also greatly relies on transcripts and past communications written with code names and technical spy language, While at first it was fun to follow the dialect and watch the evolution behind all these communications, you should be wary of how things can sometimes be quite confusing and easily lose you if you dont remember a spies countless different names.
Its not a major issue since there are moments where youre reminded, in parentheses, whos who, But when the plot suddenly complicates itself with the addition of a couple subplots, youll wish that you had read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, and that you had taken note on all these names.
However, heres the thing. With spy novels, misdirection, deception and coded language are all part of the game, John Le Carré does an exemplary and astounding job at creating a seamless story that brings this spy world to life.
Its the whole thinkingtwicebeforesayingsomething and the sillynamesforseriousthingsorpeople that make this so much more fun after all,

If theres one thing that stands out the most about this novel, its its cast, The characters in this story are brilliantly developed and have their own identity throughout the story, While theres the return of certain classic characters created by John Le Carré, the newer additions were also just as intriguing.
I loved how they all embraced their roles and represented their generation with pure perfection, Its also quite satisfying to have a a retired spy operative with such a remarkable personality take the lead in this latest novel.
In fact, Peter Guillams wit and attitude made this story so much more enjoyable, Unfortunately, the downside to A Legacy of Spies is how all the throwback elements referring to both of John Le Carrés bestsellers carry a lot of weight in the readers overall impression of this novel.
Instead of being crafty hints for fans to discover and enjoy, they end up less exciting as youd want them to be for readers who are new to the authors books.
Nonetheless, John Le Carré delivers an excellent spy thriller that navigates through the world of spies by incorporating both the past and the present.


Thank you to sitelinkPenguin Random House for sending me a copy for review!

Yours truly,

Lashaan Blogger and Book er
Official blog: sitelink com/ A fine effort by le Carre in his most recent offering, Here we are looking at a situation where the current spy agency is both questioning and trying to undermine Operation Windfall that involved George Smiley and all his fellow Cold War agents.
Much of this book is seen as a series of flashback as set forth in Agency memos and notes, I really enjoyed the book and it made me a bit peeved at the new political correctness that pervades agencies who do not have a historical perspective to understand and appreciate what their predecessors had to go through during that time period.
The book really makes it appear that the British Covert agencies are on trial for "collateral damage" deaths that occurred in the Cold War, while at the same time being blind to the actions and counteractions that were undertaken by the East Germans and Russians.

Not sure if this will be le Carre's last book, but if so it wraps up a lot and allows us to take a look at todays spy agencies in not the most glowing light.
How often do you sit down and review a meeting with old friends
You may evaluate a business meeting, but this is something entirely different.


John le Carré is revisiting some of the most freezing cold days of the Cold War, tying up a few loose ends and providing a little insider knowledge which is now safer to disclose to the general public.

It is like finding old friends on Facebook and getting to know what they have been up to for the last decades, just in this case, the exchange of news

is sadly mostly about other departed friends.

During this there is the underlying theme of duty versus conscience, a theme John le Carré has spent most of his writers career exploring.


Not surprisingly he is hitting at the tendency to look at every historical event through modern eyes, our tendency to put blame on people and not any secret service in particular without taking the circumstances under which they lived and acted into consideration.


John le Carré masters the art of setting up a moral compass, to demonstrate that circumstances may direct you away or astray from what you feel is right and just, and in most cases you realize there are stuff you have to live with, like it or not.
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