Rating: 
Summary: The Bear and the Dragon
Review: In the Bear and the Dragon a desperate China launches an invasion into Siberia to sieze gold and oil recently discovered by the Russians. The first three fourths of the book deals with American and Chinese relations and rising tensions, an investigation of a possible assassination attempt on the SVR Chairman, and Clark training Russian Special Forces, then the war begins. The book would have been considerably better had the actual conflict with Russian and China started a little earlier on and had much of the stuff before that been cut, it really wasn't necessary for this book to exceed 1000 pages. John Clark and Rainbow should have had a bigger role rather than drinking and training with Russian Special Forces, though Rainbow did have a little mission to go on near the end. This is far from Clancy's best work, coming in around average, but the fast pacing, the military action being some of Clancy's best since The Sum Of All Fears, and the very suspenseful climax make up for the faults.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring....Boring....Boring....
Review: The first 800 pages are pure drudgery. Not one exciting moment. Just trivial dribble and pointless dialogue. I've read every Clancey book but this book is horrible. When the action does finally start it has to be rushed to a quick conclusion because 900 pages have already been written. The battlefield scenes are shallow and undetailed. Don't waste your time on this one.
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Summary: That is just a story..
Review: Dear all,
After you read Tom Clancy's novel "The Bear and The Dragon",
it is not necessary for you to take it so serious. Take it easy.
If you are Chinese or Russian and you read this novel, you just read the book and spent your leisure time. I live at Taipei,
Taiwan. You know, like Hollywood movie, you buy the ticket and
enjoy the happy time with your family. Good guy always won. Who care? Above all, take it easy. OK!Larry
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing rehash of better books
Review: The main story line is really a rehash of the vastly superior Red Storm Rising. In both books, a communist government needs access to some natural resources. Rather than simply asking for them and buying them, said communist government decides to launch a world war to conquer the land containing the desired resources. The war eventually turns against the communists and so some hardliners decide to launch nuclear weapons. This decision prompts a relatively unknown member of the government, who has previously acquiesced in all questions, to take control of the government and end the war. Other parts of the book, namely the technical excercise in destroying missles with lasers, is a rehash of a very similar storyline in Cardinal of the Kremlin. This one even brings the main scientist back again, though he seems to be a very different man now. He's gone from pretty geeky scientist to gung-ho soldier. Finally, let's think about what's happened in the Clancy universe recently. The US has fought 3 major wars (Japan, UIR, China), experienced multiple terrorist attacks (the bomb in Sum of All Fears, the ebola outbreak in Executive Orders), and shut down the Bond-like terrorist with plans to destroy all mankind. This all happens in a span of about 4 years (Sum of All Fears takes place in the middle of Fowler's administration, Debt of Honor and Executive Orders in the election year that would have been Fowler's attempt at reelection, Bear and the Dragon somewhat into Ryan's term as POTUS). Does anyone really believe our military could do all this in such a short time frame?
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Summary: Behold the long, long, long road to a Russo/Chinese war
Review: While not engrossing, this book managed to keep my intrest. Its main flaw was its length (unless you're on the NYC to Cape Town flight) and predictability. It starts with the head of the SRV [KGB]nearly getting blown up by an RPG (who done it, the Russian Mafia, the Chinese, or was it just an accident?) and the resulting investigation. At the same time, gold and oil is discovered in Siberia, Russia; whose military is grossly undermanned. Then it focases on a CIA agent seducing a Chinese Politburo secretary (no detail ommited) and then having her put a bug on her computer, which sends notes of every Politburo meeting straight to the CIA. You also get to see how Jack Ryan does as President, feel free to laugh. The novel then launches into the lengthy process needed for China to invade Russia. For this to happen, the following occers: 1. CNN twice films the Bejjing police killing diplomats and beating up Christians. 2. This offends the world, who prompltly sever trade relations with China-plunging them deep in dept. 3. The Chinese Pulitburo (I hope to God that Tom Clancy made everything he wrote about them up)-as opposed simply to apologizing-decides to invade Siberia and take control of the gold and oil. 4. All attempts to dissuade the Chinese fail and they invade. As soon as the Chinese cross the border, a remarkable thing happens. The Russians stop acting like undermanned, undertrained, and ill-equipped ... and start acting American. And speaking of Americans, despite the fact that they deployed a tank division and lots of aircraft to Siberia, I didn't count one American causualty in the whole book. Anyway, the Russians let the Chinese advance unnopposed, then a bunch of B-2 bombers cut their supply lines. The Russians then kick their butts, thanks to the Darkstar drone. I'll leave the ending a mystery, but I'll say it includes a nuclear missle over
Washington D.C., Jack Ryan becoming John Wayne, and some renegade Chinese college students. So why did I give this book 3 stars? Because its plot was at least possible (as possible as Rainbow Six's anyway), it had some belated action, and it had what I wouldn't mind seeing, Russia kick China's butt.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad show for a Tom Clancy novel
Review: Unlike Tom Clancy's previous works, The Bear and the Dragon falls way short of the standard that fans have come to expect from him. His potrayal of the average PRC Chinese is accurate -if the book was set in the early 80s. Many racist remarks are sprinkled throughout the book, making a boring product offensive as well. Give it a miss and spend your money somewhere else.
Rating:
Summary: Total disappointment
Review: I had read all Clancy's books, and I am so naive to think that he always did a detail research before he writes.I had no problem with the plot, I throw this book away without finishing it because I know that Mr. Clancy have not visit china or meet and talk with any chinese for the last 15 years. It's a pity that I had to give this book ONE Star to show this review.
Rating:
Summary: Dull and Disappointing
Review: I have read all of Clancy's novels and I have generally liked them-except for this one. The novel has several problems including: 1) It is long and boring. The super-secret military techno gadgets are not very impressive and he is repetitious and long winded in his descriptions of them. For example, he spends a lot of time gushing over unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with high resolution optical and thermal cameras that provide detailed, real time data on enemy positions-yawn. His descriptions of the Chinese and Russian governments seem naive and unrealistic. 2) The plot is silly and naive. China invades Russia to take away its newly discovered oil and gold fields thinking that the world will sit by and allow this and then buy these ill-gotton gains from them. Right. 3) The dialogue is painfully awkward. This has been a problem with Clancy's books and this one is no exception. The dialogue used to describe government workings, gadgets, etc. comes off as a droning college lecture and the speaker sounds arrogant-like he is talking down to his "pupil". The lecturer will speak for several sentences uttering an "ok?" after every 2-3 sentences to make sure everything is sinking in. He also sprinkles in a lot of unrealistic and unnecessary expletives I guess to keep the reader's attention? This book had some good points such as the opening in which the head of the Russian intelligence agency almost gets killed and the recruitment of a spy in the upper ranks of the Chinese government. Clancy does well when confining himself to small-scale plots like this and in the Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Without Remorse, and Clear and Present Danger. When he tries to tackle large-scale and global war (Sum of All Fears, Red Storm Rising), his stories become ridiculous. Skip this one.
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Summary: Not Up to Tom Clancy Standard ; Xenophobic
Review: Most Clancy fans reading this book would ask the question "What is happening with him ?" Some plots were good but most were so-so. The characters were shallow. Contents were too long and repetitive. Language used in dialogues was disgusting. It is fine to be creative, e.g. China invading Russia. But xenophobia is another matter. Every thing in the book about China/Chinese was negative. It seems as if Clancy was trying to portray Chinese as an evil people. The view points (e.g. trade conflict) were one-sided. Cultures and Countries are different. Disagreeing with the US doesn't necessarily mean the other party is wrong. We have to be careful of such "either black or white" mindset being spread through popular culture like novels. I used to find Clancy's accounts about Latin America and Russia very interesting. But now reading his description about China, I can't help doubting the vividness of Clancy books' contents related to non-US countries. The Beijing he talked about was back in early '80s !
Rating:
Summary: Amazon is making me give it 1 star
Review: Clancy's THE BEAR AND THE DRAGON debacle stands out in the sad decline of an author who doesn't write novels so much as squeeze blood from turnips. Reading Clancy is no longer to be introduced to a gripping story - the only appeal of techno-thrillers - but rather to be exposed to a sterile fantasy world of atrocious dialogue, bad similes, bizarre racial slurring, and a mind-numbing plot of little content. Throw in the puerile blatherings of the Ryan character's internal monologue, and I actually felt awkward on Clancy's behalf. The plot--what little there is--is an artificial mockery of what Clancy gave us with RED OCTOBER and CARDINAL. His characters have always been tedious, but the sad schmuck that is our dear President Ryan is one of the most ridiculous this side of an Ayn Rand novel. The Hero President's speech is delivered in the most contrived "aw shucks" attitude it becomes almost embarrassing. Ryan's self-indulgent odes to himself and his monotonous world are supposed to impress the reader with his noble detachment from the filth of politics, but instead we become teeth-grindingly tired of his pompous self-directed homages after about the ... oh ... thirtieth time. I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone read this book, but if you do, have no fear in skipping the often multi-page internal monologue of the characters Clancy uses to deliver a vapid political ideology, you will miss nothing of the rather elusive (yet predictable) plot. The characters are only able to communicate to each other in cliché, and each adopt an attitude of the most obnoxious condescension to each other that it is impossible to believe they would be able to interact civilly. The real target of the characters' snooty explanations of "reality" is really the reader, who ought to rightly feel offended by Clancy's repetitive and very exhaustible source of ideas. His treatment of the Chinese is one of the weirdest and most uncomfortable aspects of the book. Clancy historically has nothing but denigration for his "tree-huggers" and any media figures unless they submit to the bland ideology of our heroes. There is little but contempt for those who disagree with him, and he uses his characters to engage in their dismissal through epithets, rather than any kind of encounter with their ideas. However, the insistent reference of his American heroes to the Chinese as "slant-eyes," "klingons," "chinks" etcetera is not a man challenging PC oppressions, which is what he thinks he is doing. Rather, Clancy is presenting heroes who suffer from the same dogmatisms and closed-loop learning patterns with which he stereotypes his absurd and self-gratifying sense of Chinese psychology. The blind superiority he mocks in his villains is the mirror image of the self-validating world he creates. However, the outcome is never in doubt, no one of any consequence suffers. What little action there is is telegraphed to us in a routinized recitation of glorious acts. If fact, though a couple of F-14s get shot down, it is once again a bloodless and triumphant ride to glory for Clancy's America. It's very tedious, since Clancy is skillful at showing he has read a lot of Popular Science articles, and not at much else.
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