If anyone is wondering--MY FAVORITE SERIES OF ALL TIME. I've read each book at least 4 times and I still love it. Every time I finish one, I feel inspired to be a better person.

That being said, objectively it's not great.

Fluff reading isn't expected to be literature, but it should be more than a comic book without pictures. Was disappointed to find that this series I'd not heard of was in fact not worth talking about

So I only read this as my version has a schlocky cover... but it's really good! I would definitely read these over the Bond books. Although I possibly could stand less descriptions of Modesty's clothing in every single scene.

I wondered how I managed to miss these when I was a teenager and absolutely starved for active female protagonists whose entire reason for being wasn't marriage. When I hit the scene where Modesty has guilt-free sex with an artist friend, I thought, bingo, now I know why our local librarian didn't buy it.

It was published in 1965, and the inspiration was probably a female James Bond. (It shows in the details about weapons, and what she's wearing in any given scene.) There is far less wince-making stereotyping and casual racism than many novels of the time, and there is some interesting stuff about how people with severe PTSD deal with finding a meaning for life when survival mode is no longer necessary.

The pacing is fast, the villains extremely unpleasant, and there is a lot of violence. On the plus side, vivid settings and the attention to detail is extended to minor characters as well as major.

I find Modesty a little too perfect to be interesting in herself, but Willie Garvin, her partner, is compellingly complex, and I love the way their platonic relationship is handled.

The Modesty Blaise books have been on my to-read list for a while and I’m happy that I’ve started in on them. A great thriller with wonderful characters. I’m already in love.

Beat James Bond all to heck. Comics are good, and this book was good, but for the love of all that is right and good in the world I beg of you do not go see the movie. Calm and cool Modesty is turned into a shrieking, giggling Italian "it" girl.

What I liked about this book: Modesty lived her life on her own terms, rose above her circumstances, and didn't let all the horrible things that happened to her define her. She accepts the admiration and care of others as right, but doesn't let them tie her down.

I liked the characters. The heroes were heroic, the villains were dirty rotten bad guys--but they had individualism. Good writing from the author of the comic strip. It's a shame the movies ditched his screenplay to make a Bond parody--the phrase is an oxymoron those darn movies parody themselves.

Witty and energetic, with elegant twists that keep things challenging without seeming overwrought. Despite a few earmarks of its era, the sexual politics feel remarkably forward-thinking.