The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and the Affair of the Gunrunners' Gold

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Juvenile Novels

by Brandon Keith, Larry Pelini (Illustrator)

Vintage children's book

Genres: Childrens

212 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely written for kids. It's okay, but the dialogue is weird, even for children. There's some action and low stakes danger.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another one of those Whitman books that was written for adults but marketed to kids. I still don't understand why they did that, but so it goes.
The dialogue is not very good for anyone but Napoleon Solo. Illya and Mr. Waverly come across as pretty much cardboard caricatures, and the bad guys are...um...oddly awkward. Even for THRUSH, their plot was complicated and unlikely to work, and the "let's pack up a circus and fly across the Atlantic a day early, without anyone noticing or thinking it was suspicious" part of the story was just stupid. The author really seemed to think that you could pack up an operating circus an hour before showtime and not have people asking why, in addition to the idea that you could pack up such a circus in less than an hour...sigh. Also, he kept losing track of time in various other small ways, so the editing was apparently missing.
I can't recommend this to anyone but big enough U.N.C.L.E. fans who just want one more book. It's good, but very much not great.

[Kris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just ok. Was all right for a TV-based sixties children's adventure book until near the end when someone addresses a high-level adult brown employee as "boy" in what's presented as a friendly exchange. Of the times apologism doesn't fly because EVEN IN 1967 there were people who were better than that and it was their times, too. That it was only once doesn't make it better.

[Macjest · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a juvenile edition of The Man From UNCLE and as such it assumes prior knowledge of the tv show. The story itself is rather interesting, but the characterizations are completely lacking. Solo and Kuryakin referred to Waverly as Old Man. There was no indication that Ilya is Russian. In fact the acronyms UNCLE and THRUSH are never explained. Like I said, it's obviously assumed that someone reading this book is already familiar with the setup. Still the situation was interesting and the adventure thrilling. The ending was a little weak though. I'd give this a 2.75. Very close to being a three but not quite.