Rating: 
Summary: Racist and total waste of time
Review: I've read every Clancy novel featuring Jack Ryan, and I like all of them until this one. Yes, I know this is only fiction, but since Clancy cares so much about little details, shouldn't he at least create a world that looks like the one we live today? His idea about China and Chinese people seems to stay in the 1980's, and they're so stereotyped that it could only be called racism. Did he spend time to even study China and it's people? I think not. Also, his idea about economics are just plain stupid. He thinks that $100bln is such a large amount of money that it would somehow save Russia's economy. Do you know that $100bln is about what Russia gets from selling crude oil this year? A compleate waste of time and money!
Rating: 
Summary: Simple plot, but still Clancy
Review: Let's be clear. This is not Debt of Honor or Executive Orders (probably the best one-two punch I've ever read). That being said, it's an easy, decent read. On the Clancy scale, if you like the Op-Center stuff, you'll like this. If you find Op-Center too much like a mind-numbing, cookie cutter read, don't get this. I fall in the latter category. :-)
Rating: 
Summary: Long wait for a payoff you've read before
Review: I've been with Tom Clancy and Jack Ryan since the beginning, but even I have to wonder if maybe it isn't time to turn out the lights and sweep up.After Clancy throws us a bone of an "action" sequence (lasting a few milliseconds, literally) in the opening pages, it grinds to an unbelievable halt for, I dunno, 750 pages before the "Tom Clancy book" begins -- except what we get is pretty much the climax of Executive Orders, with Chinese names pasted over the Islamic ones. Remember when Clancy used to surprise us? Everything here is telegraphed ages in advance. Remember when it was cute that all the good guys (military, law enforcement, political, whatever) were cut from the exact same wise-capable-honest-but-exasperated pattern? By now he's choked his world with an army of functionally identical good guys, especially in Ryan's cabinet. But don't worry, each of them has three different names you'll have to keep straight (his actual name, his job title, his Secret Service codename). Huge tracts of text could have been left profitably behind. Just because some military unit is going to appear on page X, we don't have to see them 40 times beginning on page X minus 500 chatting about their training regimen over coffee. Especially not if we met all the same people in previous books. The sharp increase in profanity and gutter thinking that other readers have pointed out doesn't offend me, but it does seem to show a writer who's too tired of his own creation to approach it with elegance anymore. He also leaves the air littered with story arcs that never make it back to earth. He'd probably say that he's being realistic--that in life, subplots and tangents don't always wrap themselves up neatly at the end. But I can get reality on the news, and I can get it for free. If this series continues, can we get Jack Ryan out of the Oval Office already? One of the fun things about the earlier books was his meteoric, merit-driven rise through the ranks of government service. I know that there's no higher he can go, but he's been in this job longer than any other we've seen him occupy. Cool things could happen to Jack Ryan as a goodwill ambassador to some exotic locale that goes to hell while he's there, or in a similar situation. Get some dirt under the man's fingernails again. I didn't realize just how strenuously I was going to trash Clancy until I started writing this. I've read some arrogant and unlikable things the author has said in real life, and that may be coloring my thinking. And to be honest, dutiful addict that I am, I'll probably lap up the next Jack Ryan story, if there is one. But I'll get it from the public library.
Rating:
Summary: From this author, a disappointment
Review: Having snapped up all Tom Clancy's previous books, I eagerly awaited this one and bought it at the first opportunity to enjoy on holiday. After a few hundred pages, I found myself plodding through it dutifully, reluctant to consign it to the bin where I felt it belonged. About page 700 the military plot began to roll, and for a few hours I was enthralled by the kind of writing for which Tom Clancy became famous.
What is wrong with this book? For my taste, the author has overreached by tackling characterisation, extensive dialogue and political philosophy. While his personal opinions are as valid as anyone else's, the resulting book bored, annoyed and upset me. I was bored because of the lack of a tight, suspensful plot. I was annoyed by the dialogue that seemed modelled on Nixon's White House tapes and the clumsy depiction of a US President who seems completely unqualified for the post. Although I am by no means a prude or a bigot, I was upset by the bad language and what I perceived as racial stereotyping.
In conclusion, I have always enjoyed Tom Clancy's books because I felt that he was a superb storyteller, with an unequalled grasp of military detail and the ability to tell a story from many concurrent viewpoints. An important part of his art seemed to be that even the "black hats" always had believable ideals and convictions. In "The Bear and the Dragon", I feel that Jack Ryan has succumbed to the Peter Principle - he has been promoted far beyond his level of competence. This book could have been about half the length, and if the right parts were cut, I think I would have enjoyed it much more.
I don't know if I will be buying any more books by Tom Clancy. I certainly won't buy any more in hard cover - my criterion of a favourite author.
Rating: 
Summary: Three and a half at the least.
Review: In my original review of this I said, and I quote, "This was his best book since Red October/Without Remorse. Mr.Clancy's books usually have to be viewed from the stand point that it COULD happen. This one does not have that element in it; it has the element that this could REALLY happen; it would not be all that difficult for it to happen. Simply put, the chain of events that lead to the plot are much more likely than those that were the plot of Hunt for Red October. The reader does not have to suspend disbelief to the same degree as most of his other works. The hardest thing in this book to do in fact, is to distinguish actual history from Jack Ryan's history. Mr. Clancy blends them that well. The ending of it is climactic, the most climactic ending in his books since Sum of All Fears or Red Storm Rising. The final paragraph seemed a little trite, but the book had me hooked, pinned, rivetted, and welded to it. He will be hard-pressed to top or equal it."
I was that impressed by the story, but after reading it and re-reading it over the last few years, I noticed a few quality errors and came to realize that this book was more manufactured than truly written. For example, whenever anyone refered to the one SDI expert they said he retired a "half colonel", including that character himself. Now, that phrase should be understandable to the reader, but, to my knowledge, Mr. Clancy invented the term as a slang term for a lieutenant-colonel. The terms I have heard for it are "light colonel" and "Louie Bird" or "light bird" (as opposed to "full bird"). Even if Mr. Clancy did not invent it, I doubt that every single person would have used "half colonel". Some would have used one of the others or even lieutenant colonel. Perhaps he invented the term so the reader would recognize the slang? Another example is the number and type of supposedly fairly diverse people who said "been there, done that". There were a few other examples that, upon reflection, seem to be stock phrases used by the author. This, also upon reflection, tends to make the protagonists all different versions of the same thing, to one degree or another. Basically, it helps make them flat, stock characters and not dynamic main ones.
The story was and is still enjoyable,(to me) and while the antagonists may be stereotyped, as other, more Asiatically versed reviewers have stated, the blinding ambition of one man, coupled with the desire of his fellows to maintain their primacy, completed by the cultural barriers of the opposing groups, and crowned by the moral issue the author used as a catalyst make this story a worthy novel. It may not be worthy of five stars, but it was still "rivetting," if I may slightly misquote my original review. Worth reading, if not as well crafted as the story deserved.
Rating:
Summary: Please Donate to the "Give Clancy a holiday in China fund"
Review: I've read a lot of Tom Clancy in my life but this is an absolute low.
You would think with all the millions he's made he could at least afford an $1000 plane ticket to China. Even if he had just gone for one weekend he would have seen that his portrayal of China is complete rubbish. Not only is it inaccurate it's downright terrible. The only Mao suits you will find in China these days are on Mao's corpse and in fancy dress stores.
Laughable was the seduction of the Chinese secretary, Having western food for the first time after all that "Chinese garbage". It makes me wonder how Clancy feels about this 5th column of slant-eyes (with U.S. nationality!) living in his own country peddling their 'garbage' to god-fearing honest wasps.
I'm from Holland and I cant wait to see how Tom Clancy would portray my country in his next novel. Probably we would be called cheeseheads or something suitably insulting every two sentences. We would obviously all live in windmills and walk around in clogs. In fact we wouldn't even be able to walk because we would be continuosly sticking our fingers in holes in dikes to stop our country flooding. We would invade some country that has been our ally for more than half a century (eg. UK) for some ridiculous reason (Dutch businessmen want to monopolize world cheese production). Finally our totally incompetent airforce/navy (whatever) would be destroyed by a single US plane: Final result: Cheeseheads, 100000 casualties. USA, 0 casualties. US (incompetent)allies, 200 casualties (to keep it realistic). Of course this would happen in a book of not less than 3000 pages and include JR telling us that he really really really dosn't like being POTUS every 2 or 3 pages.
Keep it up Clancy!! You're sliding, but rock bottom is still two or three books away.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This novel did not match up to the high standards I had come to expect from Clancy over the years with almost every other one of his novels to this point (all of which I read). Too wordy for the plot line...and then the end was too rushed in my opinion.
In addition, Clancy has apparently bought into the dogma that high tech trumps numbers and strategy in all cases. The old saying "Quantity has a quality all its own" can still come into play when contemplating land warfare in Asia against Red China. I am afraid a fight like that contemplated here would not be so easily won.
Aside from that...too many repetitive phrases, too many stereotypes and too much verbosity in the storyline.
Rating:
Summary: Racist trash
Review: Clancy is a fine Irish name. With ancestors who suffered so deeply from bigotry and racism, Clancy should know better. This book is jingoistic racist trash and the last of his efforts I will ever read, no matter the provocation.
Rating:
Summary: good but not great
Review: I like long books, really. A complicated plot with a host of side characters is a great experience and something only a book can give. This book doesn't give that experience. Despite Tom Clancy's tendency to rehash plots over and over I had high hopes for this book with a premise more realistic than any he previously published. The Chinese and Russians have a long history of border skirmishes and plotting full-blown combat from that history would be simple, right? Clancy instead creates crisis and conflict with simple character flaws, like greed and arrogance and, of course, the tired "no one understand how anyone else thinks" story arc.
The book is like a Kevin Costner movie in more than just length. Every few pages the story stops cold to preach a sermon, in two cases literally: The Chinese are child molesters! Abortion and Atheists are EVIL! These sermons pop-up again and again so often they are the main thing I remember from the book and do nothing to embellish or advance the plot.
Some sub-plots and minor characters seem to be thrown in for no reason but to lengthen the book. There's an entire assassination sub-plot with a dozen characters, over a hundred pages or so and comes to nothing. The would-be assassin is quietly arrested nowhere near the target, the end. Other characters from previous books, such as Bart Mancuso from "Red October" seem to be thrown in just to show they're still alive. Even John Clark seems tacked on although he is pulled out for a pivotal role at the very end. The worst character treatment is Jack Ryan. Gone is the smart and occasional brooding Ryan, it now brooding Ryan 24/7, who spends almost all the book sneaking cigarettes from his secretary, whining how he hates being president or why can't the Chinese have Western sensibilities.
There is some of old Clancy here though. When the real action finally gets started in the last third of the book, Clancy's gift for describing military action and maneuvers in detail comes out. I'm not interested in giving away too much here but the last third makes up (barely) for all the preaching, whining and useless sub-plots of the first two-thirds.
I think part of the problem is move away from Jack Ryan as the central story-moving character. Having Ryan stuck in the Oval Office prevents that and Clancy could have introduced another character to fill the void but didn't. The resulting story is disjointed with a large cast each moving story along a little bit. My personal uninformed opinion is Tom Clancy needs a strong editor who can trim stories like this down to a healthy size and pace.
Rating:
Summary: Good Potential, But Poor Deliverance
Review: "The Bear and The Dragon" had the potential to tell an exciting story. Unfortunately, it exhibited one too many flaws that made it very, very difficult for a casual reader like myself to enjoy this book.
This book was by no means a ¡§page-turner¡¨ as is advertised. Throughout the novel, I found myself thumbing ahead pages of trade talks, economic policies, weaponry discussions and, in general, dull conversations on uninteresting topics. Much to my dismay, the author devotes the bulk of the first 900 pages on such matters. When I finally caught glimpses of the more interesting subjects, such as formal exchanges between world leaders and military action, they were short, unsatisfying and unrealistic. At the end, having invested so many hours into this title, I felt that ¡§The Bear and The Dragon¡¨ left an unusually bad taste in my mouth. As a reader, I partly fault myself for not knowing what to expect, as online customer reviews are always only a few mouse clicks away. Having said that, the blame largely rests with the author ¡V who is known for his masterful storytelling ¡V for delivering a title that fails miserably in maintaining the reader¡¦s interest.
It was also frightening to witness the rampant usage of racial slurs against a foreign country and its people. It was tiresome and humorous that such off-the-wall remarks were made by none other than the POTUS' closest aides. If Mr. Clancy cannot develop a formidable enemy without resorting to relatively cheap tactics such as blatant bashing or racial discrimination, then the author himself and his protagonists do not deserve much respect or sympathy, since they all come across as xenophobes.
Mr. Clancy has utterly embarrassed himself with his knowledge of the Chinese culture - or the pure lack of it. "The Bear and The Dragon" never ceased to amuse me (as a person of Chinese origin) from the get-go in showing how horribly misinformed or ignorant the author was. In today¡¦s age, Chinese do not greet each other as "comrades" anymore. The profane "Pok Gai" exclamation is only used in the Cantonese dialect and not in the official Mandarin language. And for that matter, the official language of the PRC is Mandarin and not Pu Tong Hua. Nitpicking on such errors or inconsistencies is not what a casual reader like myself like to do, but it is difficult to overlook them all. Furthermore, it is safe to say that such errors could have been remedied with some basic research and common sense. I can only hope that Mr. Clancy was not as misinformed or ignorant when he wrote his earlier titles.
In conclusion, it is extremely difficult to recommend ¡§The Bear and The Dragon¡¨. Plagued by filler chapters, inaccuracies and prejudice against a foreign culture and people, this book would prove boring to many and offensive to some. I suggest passing this title unless for the sake of book collecting.
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