Rating: 
Summary: Elaborate plot with good execution
Review: Seems like every Clancy novel is getting more elaborate and therefore longer. While I found that the characterizations aren't that deep in The Bear & The Dragon, Clancy spends a lot of time on the main plot, which is concerning China's desire to rule the world and how they might go about accomplishing it. Also, Clancy spends a lot of time on subplots and overall the story is well executed. I didn't like the excessive use of foul language which is absolutely unnecessary and it spoiled the book to some degree. Anyway, reading this Clancy is an experience. Another new thriller that features a possible China world domination scenario, but is faster paced than Clancy, and it is a very informative book, although it's plenty of entertaining, is the loaded action thriller THE CONSULTANT by Alec Donzi.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Book If You Have a Lot of Time to Waste!
Review: Tom Clancy is a victim of his own success. Instead of trying to write a compelling story, he is coasting on his reputation. The Bear and The Dragon is a bore! It is nothing more than a pulpit for Clancy's personal political views. The reader has to wait about 400 pages for the first halfway decent action. Most of the remaining 600+ pages are equally limp. Jack Ryan would be ashamed by this sell out!
Rating:
Summary: Clancy vs Tom Blood's China Card
Review: I have been a very long time fan of Clancys, but I have to say that I am having a really hard time finishing the book. Stuck at 300 pages despite spending my usual two week winter vacation in a cabin in Northern NH for the sole purpose of reading and relaxing. In the past, Clancy has been a staple on the reading list on my annual literary trek to the woods. Even with nothing else to do besides keeping the wood stove going and hauling water from the lake, I just keep picking up books by other authors, in and out of the genre.The most satisfying of these has been China Card by Tom Blood. I think this is his first novel and it is a breakthrough work that puts Clancy to shame in terms of intricate plot and the weaving together of several elements including -- political intrigue, espionage, sex and realistic guy to guy relationships in tough situations. Try that book. It may spoil your future Clancy reading, but, for my part it has not diminished my other favorite authors including Larry McMurtry (I am finishing Boones Lick -- an really good, quick read). That also, highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Awful, Awful, Awful!
Review: I have loved Tom Clancy and all his books since very early in his career but this book is terrible. As if we didn't know it from the last book, Jack Ryan hates being President. In case you didn't get it the last time, Ryan tells you about 200 times again in this book. We all know that Tom likes describing military equipment and proceeds to do so with mind-numbing detail. In the first 500 pages only two events happen, the rest is pretty much as I have already stated. This might have been a decent book by taking out about 600 - 700 pages of filler, i.e., Ryan hates his job, military equipment descriptions, Clancy's discourse of countries he either likes or hates, etc. Tom we know you are an ultra-conservative right-wing just slightly to the left of fascism but do we have to drone on forever just to fill in a book? Are you being paid by the word?
Rating: 
Summary: an okay read
Review: In the middle of the book, i took some time and read some of the other reviews here to see what i was getting myself into by reading this book. The beginning was RATHER slow, and i found myself skipping over some of the more techno-jargon that i didn't really think i needed to know to enjoy the book. That being the case, not reading those sections, didn't hinder my enjoyment reading another good book by mr. clancy. however, i would recommend to anyone who reads this to re-read "Executive Order" and *maybe* "Rainbow Six" and "Debt of Honor." Since it had been a while since i had read those books, i found myself scouring my brain to remember the correct circumstances the characters were referring to. With all of that said--the last 100-200 pages move like lightening and are very exciting. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Enough with the Clancy-bashing!
Review: I have been a long-time Tom Clancy reader, and have yet to read one of his books that I didn't enjoy. That's why I was so surprised when, after finishing his latest tonight and coming to write a review, i found all this negative feedback about Mr. Clancy's most recent endeavor. I found this book to be very enjoyable and intellectually stimulating. I could barely put it down for the last 500 pages. While I thought the story ended rather abruptly, I was thoroughly satisfied that the time spent reading this book was time well-spent.
Rating:
Summary: love/hate relationship with Clancy
Review: This is a great book. Classic Clancy-detailed, opoinionated, rascist, misogynistic, self serving, thinly disguised right wing propoganda. But it's still a great read. There is no denying that Clancy has puts his personal, political, and sociological beleifs into his books. So what-he still spins a good yarn.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: Read a lot of Clancy and regardless of whether I enjoy them or not or thought they were somewhat slow, I could always count on his ability to get factual details, particularly with technical details correct. This book has significant errors that one does not expect from Tom Clancy. Seems that he has gotten lazy with his success and writes no better than the typical military-fiction types are writing today. Disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: a long book
Review: The book is longer than what I normally read. Its a good book for those who like his style of techno and government. It's not as good as his books of the past. It has good action and entertainment for those who enjoy that type of book. It's a thriller but too long for some people. I also enjoyed a thriller called Apocalypse South by Kyle Watson on amazon.com.
Rating:
Summary: The Bore and the Dragon
Review: I bought this book hoping for another Hunt for Red October or Red Storm Rising, but Clancy is getting further and further from what he's good at while delving deeper and deeper into his weaknesses. Yes, he's always written painfully shallow characters; villains of pure evil and heroes of unadulterated virtue. He's always told us what characters were thinking in lame, pointless internal monologues. He's often villified entire countries, and often turned his characters into mouthpieces for his own right-of-Atilla politics. But used to be, this all amounted to a small fraction of the book; the rest relying on his undeniable strengths -- plot and action. This time, we are treated to 700 pages of tiresome egotistical yammering before getting to the final 300 pages of good Clancy stuff. Not a favorable ratio. Most tiresome of all is that Clancy can't seem to imagine a male character going five minutes without mentioning, discussing, or contemplating upon his own penis. Tom, man, this gets very tiresome, very quickly.
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