Rating: 
Summary: A true disappointment
Review: This book is not up to standards clancy used us to. It is less gross than sum of all fears, but still, at points it is even boring. Strong language to fill a content vacuum and repetitions are common. Rayan is not the pleasant character he used to be - he has become arrogant and pretentious. A true disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: its totally not vanilla
Review: what a complete let down. after reading rainbow six, my first clancey novel, i was tempred by this one. bad move.
in rainbow six at least there was enough action to laugh at the endless repition of cliches and sermonising.
its a long uphill struggle to get to the end, when the action actually starts about 1000 pages in, it makes for the biggest possible let down.
About halfway through you get to the point where you dread any piece of the story involving jack ryan or numerous other characters as you just know its going to be more ultra right wing sermonising which youve read already enough times before the end of the first chapter. the book would have been improved considerably by complete omission of jack ryan. what tom clancey needs is a good editor, and some respect for the intelligence of his readers.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible book, was Clancy drunk?
Review: I've never seen a more unfortunate pack of misinformation, stereotypical trash put into one book in my life. Clancy shows some flashes of what I have enjoyed in his books in the last 15 years, but very brief ones.First of all, what's with this obsession of his with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany? I know there may have been 1 or 2 pages in the 1000 page book that didn't mention Nazi Germany, but don't ask me to find them. And his cheap shots at the Chinese people are ridiculous. In this day and age to call Chinese the racist names he continually spewed is unfortunate and pathetic. The most ridiculous thing about the book is his blatant lack of respect for the intelligence of the Chinese Politboro. The mere idea that they would send their whole army across the border of Russia with out first gaining air superiority or having any clue what kind of force they will run into is laughable at best. The ridiculous sex crazed secretary who planted software on all the top secret Chinese government computers so she could carry on her love affair with the US Spy. Nice respect for the credibility of female employees Tom. This book reminds me of watching a old, worn out athlete try and continually make comebacks. I don't know what was worse for Clancy's career, the failed bid to buy the Vikings, or this book. At least the Vikings fiasco was a little bit creative. It was so bad that I couldn't quit reading it, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Rating: 
Summary: Stop whining
Review: OK, so this isn't a masterpiece, though some of the reviews written go too far. In writing as he did about the Chinese, Clancy can be viewed as racist, or afraid of foreigners, or a bigot, or a whatever. I belive what Clancy did, however, was to create an 'Us vs. Them' scenario...just as in every Clany novel. Other than the obvious terrorist action and the middle east conflict, the world seems to be without a serious, global threat. Because he'd just written about terrorism (somewhat) and Iran/Iraq (though it looks as though he wants to stay away from the Israel situation), Clancy had to create a "Bad Guy." And, obviously, Clancy chose China to wear the dark hat. One problem with his most recent novels has been finding something to write about. He has, in fact, had to manufacture evil recently. When looking at the story as a manufactured "Us vs. Them" scenario (just as in Rainbow Six), it really isn't all that bad...of course, it does have its repetitions.
Rating:
Summary: 1000+ pages of whining, carping, and preaching
Review: At some point a few years ago, Clancy decided the world cared about his personal political and moral stances. The Bear and the Dragon continues and amplifies the trend of his previous two books in which Clancy was unable to refrain from infusing his protagonists with his own bitter and cynical opinions. Read a few pages on the mental musings of Ryan and it might as well be a transcript of a radio interview with Clancy. That's bad enough, but the same points are hammered at the readers AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. After reading any 50 page section of the book you'll be able to figure out how Clancy voted on on every ballot issue of his life. The plot? Yes, there is one, and it might have been a reasonable 200 to 300 page novel for a second-rate or beginning thriller genre author. The other 75% of this book is repetitious, and simultaneously irritating and boring. This is the type of book for which CliffsNotes were developed. First time Clancy readers, please don't let this book sour you on Clancy completely. His early books are still very good reads.
Rating:
Summary: His worst book
Review: I'll keep this short. Something Clancy should have done with this book. After such a great story as Rainbow Six I had high hopes for this tale, but alas it had the one fault I find with all books I don't like, it was above all else very boring. With his next book, Red Rabbit due out in August, 2002, the reviews look promising at least. Back into history before Ryan became the President(right!?!?). Hope Jack Clark(Without Remourse) resurfaces again too. Clancy must find his old style that kept you wanting to see what happened next, not skimming and then finally just giving up! Check out the other reviews if you think I'm misleading you. This book is way to long, way to opionated and way to boring. I just gave up and you will too.
Rating: 
Summary: my review
Review: In this book, the author deals with the threat and the actuality of war between the "new" Republic of Russia and the People's Republic of China. The subject is interesting and seems very real after we have experienced the 911 attacks on our Country. The book is very well written and specially very well researched. The author tries to present all the peoples, countries and events that will interact once the conflict starts. However, it is my opinion, that he overcharges the book with technical detail. I understand that today's war are mostly technical, but reading about the different types of bombs that used to exist and the new ones, as well as tanks that were and are, does tend to make the book slow and stops the flow of the story. All in all, it is a very interesting read.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Pros - large-scale war description
Cons - alas, this time to numerous to mention. Wheelings and dealings in Chinese Politburo are almost carbon-copied from Soviet Politburo in Red Storm Rising. Sermonizing on abortion and free trade was present already in two previous novels - why put it here again? Plotting became too predictable - the very moment Clancy starts to tell a story of old hunter Gogol (Jesus, is it too difficult to come up with other Russian names than belonging to Russian writers and artists?) and his war experiences, one immediately suspects that his skills as well as newly sent rifle will be used to hunt some important Chinese. Final pages - bingo! The tedious politeness of Russian who use Russian patronimics when talking to Americans is almost laughable (the same with Golovko referring to Mary Pat as "Foleyeva" :) Where Clancy gets these funny ideas? Does it mean that his research goes more into fighting characteristics of T-80OU than into real Russian life? Portrayal of Red China overly simplistic.
All in all, the worst Clancy novel to date. If you want better war story - take Red Storm Rising. If you want more sinister conspiracy - choose The Sum of All Fears, if you need more realistic approach towards people and their lifes - pick up Patriot Games.
One can only hope that the next novel would be better.
Rating:
Summary: You Know What You Are Going To Get
Review: This book is another competent effort by Clancy. I was excited that he was going back into the large scale war story line that he did so well with in Red Storm Rising. For me the whole Jack Ryan as President role just does not work. This book probably could have done with some of the uncut pages left out, it does go on and drags a few places. It must be the power he has gotten over this editors that each of his books that is driving them to be increasingly longer. With that said I am a big fan of Clancy and I thought the book moves along and is never dull. Let me add that you always get a lot of detail and fact with a Clancy book, this is one of he reasons I really like the books and the reason some of my friends are getting turned off. The extra pages on the detail and weapons bring extra value to me. If you like Clancy you will love this book and probably do not need these reviews to prompt you to buy one. If you are just curious then give it a try or grab one of his earlier books.
Rating:
Summary: loooooong, boring and repetitive.
Review: this book took so long to write, that clancy forgot things he wrote and repeated it in the following chapters over and over.
He takes you on a journey of all, and i mean ALL that goes on in the characters heads, and there are whole chapters that you could skip and not lose the thread of the story.
And then there is POTUS, he can do no bad, he is a saint, he knows what to do and the right time to do it, hes got to be the most flawless character of any book i've ever read, and by that i mean hes just never wrong and he could teach a thing or two to the pope about morality, iv'e enjoyed all of clancy's books, but this one just [stinks].
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