Rating: 
Summary: Up there with Hunt for Red October!
Review: I've read the whole Jack Ryan series and CARDINAL is one of the best. It does get a bit technical at times but the character driven plot is unbeatable. This book stands above his other works (except maybe for HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER; but its just as good, if not better). Even though Cold War themes (Soviet Union, Communists & Star Wars Missle Defense) may seem out dated now, this books still super exciting to those of us who remember the Cold War in the 1980's
Rating:
Summary: Totally Awesome - Very Well Written
Review: A great story line, very relevent to American foreign policy. It really makes one think about the possibilities.
Also provides a look forward in terms of technology. It is my belief that the technology portrayed in the book is no longer as farfetched as it might have seemed when the book was written.
Tom Clancy has a great ability to see the direction the world is moving and write one step ahead.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Quite as good
Review: This book was from straight over my head. You've probably read the description all ready, so i'll just start critiquing. I had to write down the names of all of the Russian chacters and their positions to keep them straight. (I don't mean to criticize Russian names it's just that after a while they start sounding the same to me.) But if you can keep everyone straight, and just who supports who, it ends up being an incredible work delving into the psyches (did I spell that wright?) of both a Soviet defector and a Afghani freedom fighter. It all seems hopeless until the very end
Rating:
Summary: Almost as good as Hunt for Red October
Review: It discusses the interpersonal dealings of the double agent world. For a technical book, it was quite dramatic. Even women would like this book
Rating:
Summary: Yes, I would recommend it, even though it's not his best.
Review: In this book, we are introduced for the "first time" to John Clark.Even though I read through this book fast and enjoyed it, it is no-thing like the other books that Clancy has written. But, I would re-commend it to other people who were considering reading it
Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: After reading more action-intensive novels from the "Ryan-verse" such as "Rainbow Six" and "Patriot Games" I found this book to be more on the political side of things. This made for a suspense filled and exciting story in the world of espionage.
Rating:
Summary: Under Clancy's pen, Jack Ryan shows no fear!
Review: I guess for not reading too much Clancy, this has to my favorite work of his. But can you just envision Tom sitting at his desk, pondering in his mind, "Hmm, what if... YES! This is it!" I'm wondering if a lot of people are asking the same question about this work, WHEN'S THE MOVIE DUE OUT?
I loved the masterful way that Clancy crafted this together. When I read the prologue and saw there was bits and pieces of Marko Ramius, I was intrigued, and not disappointed.
Clever penmanship, mixed in with some rough dialogue, and you get this. Yeah, the story is about a guy, Mikhail Filitov, code named "Cardinal". Yeah, you have US and USSR negotations. So what does that have to do with the price of coffee? Hey, read it and find out! Good stuff!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Plot!
Review: This book is definitely his best. The characters are real, the action is quick, and the style is beautiful. For anyone interested in Clancy or an accurate look into the workings of the CIA this is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: After reading more action-intensive novels from the "Ryan-verse" such as "Rainbow Six" and "Patriot Games" I found this book to be more on the political side of things. This made for a suspense filled and exciting story in the world of espionage.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable classic Cold War spy thriller
Review: I had been meaning to read "Cardinal of the Kremlin" now for several years. Published in 1988, it is one of the older Jack Ryan technothrillers, one that I had bypassed when I started reading Clancy's works, first "Red Storm Rising" and then beginning the Jack Ryan saga with "Clear and Present Danger." I had - with the exception of "Without Remorse" and the newly published "Red Rabbit"- read all of the other subsequent books, and those books that I did not read I had seen the movie version (namely "The Hunt For Red October" and "Patriot Games"). I had resisted reading this one, or perhaps I should say I hadn't placed a high priority on this one, as they never filmed it, and it was a book very much steeped in Cold War intrigue, much of the novel taking place in the Soviet Union and involving two staples of the last years of the Cold War; "Star Wars" or the Strategic Defense Initiative (or to be more precise, something equivalent to it in the novel, a high-tech antiballistic missile or ABM system) and the Soviet war in Afghanistan. I was worried it would be antiquated, or that it would depict a Soviet Union that didn't really exist, as the collapse of the USSR in the late 1980s/early 1990s showed that how little the West really understood what the reality of the Soviet Union actually was. I decided to read the book recently, partially to say I had read all of the Jack Ryan novels, partially because I wanted to know more of Ryan's history (events in this novel were referenced several times in Clancy's later works), and partially because I had decided to treat it as a period piece (and I have in the past enjoyed good tales of Cold War intrigue). I figured it would show an interesting, early Ryan, quite a bit different from the powerful and experienced one who eventually becomes President of the United States later on in the "Ryanverse" series. I must say I enjoyed it. It wasn't my favorite of the Ryan series but it certainly held my interest and I found it a fast read. It was actually a rather enlightened novel, as it showed the Russians as real people; some were good, some were bad. The Soviets depicted were for the most part fairly well rounded individuals, who just like Americans simply wanted more or less the same thing out of life; basically success and happiness. Some were not good people but even they weren't depicted as moustache-twirling, cackling Cold War villains, though to be sure there were bad guys in the piece. While it is not surprising that the title character of the book - the Cardinal, Colonel Mikhail Filitov, a highly placed spy in the Soviet military - is shown as a good person, it was somewhat surprising that many of those opposed to his actions were not shown as evil or vile but simply as often good people doing their job. In essence, Clancy showed that while the Soviet regime was bad, its people weren't necessarily so. His view of governments versus people - particularly with regards to the Russians - holds true in his later works as well, showing a good deal of consistency in his writing. Perhaps I didn't give Clancy enough credit in this regard, I don't know. In any event I found myself occasionally rooting for characters in the novel who were actually opposed to Filitov, Ryan, and the other protagonists. The novel itself was as some have said more of a straightforward spy novel than some of the other volumes in the Jack Ryan series, with many classic espionage scenes taking place in Moscow and involving the KGB. Five major plotlines are followed in the novel, with four of these plotlines tightly interwoven; the Soviet Union is pursuing a largely ground-based ABM system (Bright Star), the United States is also pursuing one named Tea Clipper (these plots also involved those in one program trying to spy on the other nation's efforts), Colonel Filitov is spying for the Americans (and related to that plotline, there are Russians trying to uncover him), and Jack Ryan and others in the American government are conducting arms reduction negotiations in Moscow (ultimately the latter storyline becomes subservient to the others) The fifth plotline revolves around an Afghan mudjaheddin named the "Archer" and his actions in Afghanistan against Soviet forces and doesn't tie in hardly at all at first though it does in the end (more or less I think). Action-wise the book was middle of the road (if anything fairly light) until the end when several plotlines end in some violence (particularly the Archer plot). The storyline with Filitov ended with some surprise for me, though it was an ending hinted at in the later Ryan books I had read. I am glad I read the book and have an appetite for more, both from Clancy and from another similar author who I have really grown to respect, James W. Huston (I highly recommend his works). Often overlooked by Clancy fans - it certainly was by me - I think it is a shame more haven't read it.
|
