According to his review of TMWTGG in The New Statesman Kingsley Amis was disappointed that the level of violence had been scaled down, Amis said that some 'may feel that a secret-agent story without violence would be like, say a naval story without battles', With regard to the infamous 'sex' and 'snobbery', not to mention the memorable meals and gambling for high stakes in the previous books, Amis argued that these, however 'unedifying', were vital elements of the 'unique Fleming world', and that the denaturing of that world in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN' as well as sections of it's immediate forerunners was a loss. He also wrote about the lack of customary detail and weakness of the characterisation 'Scaramanga is just a dandy with a special (and ineffective) gun, a stock of outdated American slang, and a third nipple on his left breast. We hear a lot about him early on in the ten page dossier M consults, including mentions of homosexuality and pistol-fetishism but these aren't followed up anywhere.'
Though the article was as much a personnel attack on Fleming critic Paul Johnson as it was a review, I think it's clear that Amis felt this novel had very much the feel of a first draft and would of wished that it contained more of the traditional Fleming elements and sweep.
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