Rating: 
Summary: Lost his touch
Review: Clancy sure is getting dirty in his old age. A lot more focus on sex than I remember from any of his other books. I couldn't even bring myself to finish reading it since every page was filled with the f-bomb or some description of sex. I'm not sure if I even want to bother with Red Rabbit.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than Rainbow Six, so he gets one more chance
Review: After reading Rainbow Six, I wasn't sure if I even wanted to bother with another Clancy book. Considering how much I've enjoyed his past work, that's a large statement.Personally, I preferred it when Jack Ryan was a nobody; just a cog in the workings of the intelligence arm of the US Government. Things were a lot more exciting then. By making Ryan the President, Clancy has entered into an area where it's a lot harder to write a believable story, since everything he now does has large ramifications on entire nations. I am getting tired of Clancy's notion that Americans can do no wrong; that every man and woman in uniform is an expert, and the foreign folks are emotional idiots. The only "villians" that Clancy ever endowed with any brains were the Soviets, and now that they're gone, there's nobody left who's really a worthy adversary. The story isn't bad, and I enjoyed the book enough to give Clancy another chance, but he needs to get better. I'm not asking for another Red October, just a nice, believable story.
Rating: 
Summary: Remarkably Prescient
Review: The main thrust of Clancy's latest novel depicts a conflict over Siberian resources between China, Russia and the USA. This part of the book contains all the combat action we have come to expect from this great author and more. It is undoubtable that the last section of the book that deals with the war itself is his most masterful piece of writing yet. I would certainly have liked to see this expanded to take up a greater section of the book at the expense of shortening some of the sidestories that are a hallmark of Clancy's novels, because I particularly enjoy the author's descriptions of military action, but those readers who prefer the build up phases will be happy with the allocation of the bookspace. Overall, this is an excellent book that I would highly recommend to any fan of Tom Clancy and it has the added benefit of identifying what may very well become a point of conflict in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Is Clancy racist?
Review: Let me begin by saying I am a big fan of Tom Clancy's fiction. But I was a bit taken aback by this one. I would love to pick his brain on the writing of this novel.
I have always loved the characters in Clancy's books. I especially love the fact that all of his books, minus "Red Storm Rising," fall into the same universe, with minor characters returning and evolving along with the star actors, Jack Ryan and John Clark. I have always felt the different personalities as they dealt with whatever crisis Clancy decided to throw at them...until this book. In "The Bear and the Dragon," I almost felt like I was reading a 1000 page essay on Tom Clancy's view of the world and how he would like to see our country run, only with the use of all his returning characters as vehicles for his viewpoints. Everyone in this book seemed to have the same views on every situation. The most disturbing part of this was all the racial slurs made against the Chinese. It seemed that all military figures, whether they be Russian or American, referred to the Chinese as Joe Chink. Is this an exact representation of how all of those soldiers would be talking about their enemies? I can almost stomach that, until most of the government figures in the White House act the same. The one time Jack Ryan, as POTUS, berates someone for using a racial slur, Clancy makes a point to show Ryan thinking the same racial insult. It's a question I'd like to pose to Mr. Clancy.
There was also a lack of humanity present in the novel. I would have liked to have seen this wartime situation through the eyes of regular American citizens more than was shown. The book felt too sterile because of this drawback.
This was the slowest book of all the Clancy books I've read, and the only novel I have yet to read at the time of this review is "Red Rabbit." As another review states, the action doesn't start until page 800, although the tension starts to build around page 700.
That being said, I have to still give great credit to Clancy. Through those first 700 pages, my interest was kept. What makes Clancy one of my favorite authors is that even when his books slow down, they are extremely interesting. I am looking forward to reading the last two books, according to Clancy, in the Jack Ryan saga. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Rating: 
Summary: Politics first, story second
Review: I'm on my third try with this book. The first two times I stalled out because I got so damned tired of Clancy's right-wing rants intruding on the story (why pause a military/political thriller to have the predictable Ryan deliver a predictable diatribe on, of all things, abortion?). All Clancy's strengths are here: ability to keep straight innumerable plotlines, mastery over vast quantities of information, "insider" info on how governmenr and the military work, a good over-all picture of the world we live in. Unfortunately, Clancy's weaknesses are here as well, the principal one being that Clancy/Ryan simply cannot grasp the concept of an honest difference of opinion. Either you share his narrow right-wing view of things or you are a gullible commie dupe/sympathizer. Ryan wins every argument and is never wrong. How realistic is that? The world Clancy/Ryan live in is very small and artificially black-or-white, us-or-them. And why is it that he LOVES the Russians while hating everyone else (non-whites like Japan, China and, mysteriously, India)? The only way to read this book, and probably all others to come, is to ignore what Clancy/Ryan thinks and concentrate on what he/they do. Like so many other authors, Clancy has become more pompous and self-important as he has become more successful. And if he would cut down on the sermonizing he could cut his books in half.
Rating:
Summary: Clancy's greatest masterpiece
Review: This was an astonishing display of talent from Tom Clancy. I truly enjoyed this book, it was my favorite of all of his. It may have been a little slow at times, but it picked up easily and kept me on the edge of my seat. My only regret was the number of explicit scenes portrayed in the book; however this was only a small shortcoming.
Rating:
Summary: below average would be a compliment.
Review: I give up. Clancy's parody of himself in "The Bear and the Dragon" is more than I can take. I've loved all the (real) Tom Clancy novels up to this point. I was so completely impressed by "Executive Orders" that I started thinking of Clancy's work as literature instead of him being just another fiction novelist. Boy, did I miss the mark on that one. This novel is so poorly put together I am at a loss for words. The Jack Ryan character that I have always respected comes across like a whiny little fussbudget. Here's an idea for Mr. Ryan: if you don't like the political games, don't run for president. Instead, this story picks up with Ryan having won the presidential election, and complaining all the way because he hates the "politics" of it all. The character is OUT of character so often that as a long time Clancy reader I was getting confused with his actions and reactions to events. In previous novels, Clancy had a flair and a style all his own, and when he would incorporate the military lingo it always sounded fresh. Now, it comes across forced and almost unreadable. Referring to someone as a "Two-Star General (promotable)" - what the heck does that mean? Do people actually speak to this general and refer to the fact that he's (promotable)? Same way with referring to Ryan as POTUS (President of the United States, get it?). I can see military strategists using that acronym on occasion, but Clancy uses the phrase as if it were as normal as saying "him" or "Ryan". The usage of the jargon sounds very forced here, and makes me feel as if Clancy is doing a parody of himself. There is another sequence involving an agent who seduces a woman to gain info. I don't know about you, but if I never read another sex sequence from Clancy it will be too soon. The agent also buys this girl lingere and perfume from Victoria's Secret, and makes an aside comment to himself "wait'll you see the drawers I just got you, honey". DRAWERS? Come on, DRAWERS? Tom Clancy had been the last person on Earth I would want to write any sort of seductive passages in a novel and this clinches it. I didn't even get far enough to revisit our old cardboard friends Clark and Chavez, but I'm sure they show up at some point or another. Of course you have Ed and Mary Pat Foley, that intrepid husband and wife team of spies, who have zero personality other than Ed calling his wife "honeybunny" repeatedly. .... What a bad novel this is. Tom Clancy was so brilliant up to "Executive Orders". Now he is just a windbag. Sad.
Rating:
Summary: Boring and Offensive
Review: One of Clancy's weakest efforts. First 800 pages are full of sophomoric dialogue of characters who think and speak in the same voice. Full of racist terms for Asians but not other races or ethnicities.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: Clancy has written better novels than this.
The plot is quite good, but the execution in places is often unimaginative. At times it was like reading 400 pages of prolog.
Unlike previous Clancy works, this work is rather...graphic in places.
The battle sequences are well done and very enjoyable. All in all, I wish I had waited for the paperback because this one will not remain in my library.
Rating: 
Summary: Started slow but.......
Review: This book was a hard slow read at first but about 20% into the read I couldn't put it down.
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