Rating: 
Summary: Bear is a Bear
Review: Clancy needs to stop believing his own press. His apparant arrogance at his success has translated into his need for books that rival War and Peace in length but fall completely short on interest. Bottom line: he needs an editor who will not be afraid to cut his holy words.
Rating: 
Summary: Time to retire Jack Ryan
Review: As I was reading this book, I began to think about all the things that had happened to the U.S. in the 1 plus years of Jack Ryan's presidency: Congress was destroyed, there were two bio-terrorism attacks, a war with Iran/Irag, another with China, and a nuclear launch on D.C. That's when I realized that yes, this is a technothriller and all this stuff is over the top, but enough already!! Could you imagine any president leading his country though all of these crises and still being popular? Clearly, Clancy needs to find another storyline. It shouldn't be a problem, he reminds us continually that Ryan hates to be President.I've read every book in the Jack Ryan series and this was clearly the most tedious and tiresome. The first thing that annoyed me was the incessant focus on cursing and sex. There seemed to be an F-word on every page, and enough innuendo to envision Clancy as some mid-level pervert. Also, the ethnic references to the Chinese were a bit much; especially on every other page. The ironic part of this book was that Clancy kept calling the Chinese Politburo a bunch of barbarians for recklessly starting a war, but he has Ryan enter the U.S. into a war with China after allowing Russia into NATO, all the while without ever once consulting with Congress!! Clancy also chooses to portray Robby Jackson as a stereotype of African Americans rather than as a thoughtful, intelligent former Admiral who has ascended to the Vice Presidency. The Jack Ryan series is clearly at an end. Actually, it should've ended after Sum of All Fears, but hey, money talks. Let's hope that Clancy turns back towards his once considerable talents and finds a new avenue with which to entertain us.
Rating: 
Summary: Quite possibly the best Tom Clancy ever!
Review: The Bear and The Dragon just might be Tom Calncy's best book. However, if you are planning on reading it as your first Tom Clancy book, I would advise against that action, as there are many references to events that happened in earlier books in the Jack Ryan Series and there is also not a whole lot of "old" (Jack Ryan, Cathy Ryan, Golovko, Robby Jackson, etc) character development going on- and rightfully so. THere are quite a few typographical errors, but this is more the editor's and final typist's fault than anyone else's. Yet again, Clancy takes you on a page turning roller coaster ride and his technical knowledge and vocabulary is everything I have come to expect from Clancy. The multiple plot lines are wonderful (as always) and the way they all intersect is wonderful as well (as it always is). Lian Ming, the secretary whom Nomuri turns into a spy, is slightly unbelievable and the fact that USS Gettysburg shoots down the missile headed for Washington at the lasst possible second is a little fanciful. Clancy "gets on his stump" more in this book than in his others, but I guess that's the author's right. All in all, The Bear and The Dragon is a thouroughly enjoyable page turner that I couldn't put down.
Rating:
Summary: Clancy needs an editor!
Review: This book is really long and rather tedious. Tom Clancy needs an editor! His attention to detail is really slipping. Here are two small examples: he describes the language of China as "Guoyu" which is what Chinese is called on Taiwan. In China, everyone calls it "putonghua;" he also mentions a U.S. Navy port call to Taipei. Taipei is not a port but is ten miles from the sea. Taiwan's main ports are Keelung and Kaohsiung. In general, Clancy appears to have never visited China and so describes a mainland culture that is sadly out of date.
Rating:
Summary: Least favorite Clancy book
Review: I have enjoyed Tom Clancy as an author since I read Red Storm Rising as a teenager, and have enjoyed all of his subsequent books. Yet this book does not seem to be on par with what I would expect from Mr. Clancy. It has Clancy's attention to detail and techinical knowlegde that I have come to enjoy from him, but the similarities end there. First theres the glorification of American democracy over Chineese communism. Now I'm and American and I love the way we do things here, but I'm not so biased to say that we have the most perfect system of government and that everything about the communist plan is evil and corrupt. Communism was an attemt to form a goverment with the best interest of the country as a whole, and is just as subject to corruption, error, and ego that any other plan of goverment would be. There is even some passages in the book that go beyond governments and protrayes Chineese people in general under a bad light becase they don't think American. Second, there was a complete lack of respect for the Chineese military and intelligence orginizations. Clancy made China seem to both have the military might and thought process of Sadaam during the Gulf War. I would have to guess that China might just be a little more advanced. After all, it's not just the Americans who have spies and neat military toys. Third, there was an unbelievealbe amount of good luck or lack of realism on the protagonist's side. Spy gets a great source, spy never gets caught, no friendly fire, lax guarding of nuclear weapons, new toys in our military, complete lack of intellegence and new weapondry in China, lack of Chinas citizens supporing their own country, genious deciding to work on a missle tracking system, only one missle getting off, and shooting down the missles on the last shots,.... I could go on. In short I suggest that readers enjoy Mr. Clancy's others book and set this one aside to be forgotten. The entire story is so one sided both in terms of political objectives and personalities that it becomes very tedious to read. If not for my history of reading Clancy books I would of stopped reading well before halfway due to the constant Chineese bashing.
Rating:
Summary: Not done, but so far so good
Review: This is actually a response to Easy To Put Down. If this is to be your first Clancy book, DO NOT buy this. This is the newest book of the John Ryan series. Hunt For Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, Sum Of All Fears, Debt Of Honor, Executive Orders all come before this book. If you pick up Bear and the Dragon, you will be lost, and bored like that guy. So do yourself a favor and read those books first, and you will then understand what is going on, and who the characters are.
Rating:
Summary: From Taut Thrillers to Dull Diatribes
Review: Clancy used to pen a good yarn, though his characters were always undeniably shallow. Loved his tech focus, the thoroughness of his research, and his ability to weave them together.
However, Bear & Dragon continues his trend toward political pontification. I'm more interested in how the US acquires and acts upon intelligence gained in Asia than I am in Clancy's views on abortion and the environment. (I can always tune into Fox TV news for a dose of conservative dogma). Clancy has also fallen down on his research: his descriptions of life in China range from outdated to innaccurate to painfully uninformed. As a former resident of Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, I can say there was plenty of room for better research. And he could definitely spare his readers the racial slurs. It's obvious that Clancy, and all his characters, hate Asians. If he can't overcome that bigotry, he could keep it to himself. It would make for a far better read.
Rating: 
Summary: Literary focus of a new potential enemy
Review: Since the introduction of Clancy's work, there has remained a single fundamental philosophy behind the focus of the novels, that was the demise of the Soviet Union. I've personally read through the series of novels that depict the expoits of a dewitched Dr. Ryan, who incorpates the psychic abilities of a Gypsy and an experienced, but downplayed, politican. Despite the low marks given by these fellow readers, The Bear and the Dragon, is a psychological study of the last remaining psuedo-Marxist regime. As seen by recent events, the Chinese have become the next super power, filling the void left by the Soviet Union. Though the text is extensive, the message given by the novel is apparently to touche for these liberated minds to comprehend. To believe, again, that there exists another superpower threatening the Western world appears to compromise the sense of security these so-called critics have placed upon this insightful, detailed look into the Maoist nation. Despite the style of Clancy, the normal thoroughly explained positions and reasoning behind the actions of the antagonists has been glossed over in some accords, though the remainder of the text holds true to the Clancy style of fiction. The familiarity formerly associated with the evils of the Soviet Union, are now embodied in the Chinese government that Americans are fairly unable to grasp from lack of exposure. However, the studious Clancy has once again done his homework on the Chinese government and strains upon the population.
Rating:
Summary: easy to put down
Review: This was my first Clancy book and was very easy to put down. Perhaps in a few...weeks, months,Pick up another "heart-stopping action " as quoted from the Washington Post, book of his and read what I've been missing.
Rating:
Summary: Editors serve a function
Review: Something happens to writers when their name becomes bigger than the title of the book (Stephen King is another.) Editors are afraid to edit them. This is a shame, because a good editor probably could have saved this disappointing book.
I can forgive Tom Clancy a lot - "Patriot Game," "Red October," "Cardinal of the Kremlin," those were terrific books. But as he became more famous and his name moved above the title on the cover, he began taking longer and longer to set the table and his personal politics became more and more the focus of the story. Once he finally gets going, he always delivers the goods, but it has taken longer and longer to get there with each succeeding novel.
"The Bear and the Dragon" is just too much. He repeats himself endlessly. How many times do we have to be told the CIA director's office is unusually long and narrow? How many times does Jack Ryan have to grouse about hating his job, or wryly comment that he wouldn't look at other women because his wife is a surgeon and knows how to use sharp instruments? Is it realistic to think that EVERYONE who hears of an event would immediately proclaim that it's a "casus belli?" Sloppy writing? Bad editing? Both? It's hard to say when looking over this train wreck of a novel.
That being said, I have to add that the worst Tom Clancy is still far better than the best Clive Cussler. There's some good action in here, and maybe even some valid points. But it's all so buried in political whining, repetition and outright mean-spiritedness that it's just not worth digging for.
By the way, Clancy proves once again that he cannot write sex scenes. Just can't do it. It's embarrassing.
All in all, a very disappointing book. And it needn't have been. All he needed was a good editor. But I repeat myself.
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