Maurice Richardson, in "The Observer", thought "You Only Live Twice" "though far from the best Bond, is really almost as easy to read as any of them". He was critical of a number of aspects, saying that the "narrative is a bit weak, action long delayed and disappointing when it comes but the surround of local colour ... has been worked over with that unique combination of pubescent imagination and industry which is Mr. Fleming's speciality." In "The Guardian", Francis Iles wrote that "I think he must be getting tired of the ineffable James Bond and perhaps even of writing thrillers at all". Iles reasoned that "of the 260 pages of "You Only Live Twice" ... only 60 are concerned with the actual business of a thriller", and his enjoyment was further diminished by what he considered "the grossness of Bond's manners and his schoolboy obscenities".