Rating: 
Summary: I feel like I need a tee shirt for fininshing that opus.
Review: The Bear and the Dragon starts up about as quickly as a 78 olds in the dead of New England winter. The first 400 pages could and should have been condensed into about 50. I ended up feeling that Mr. Clancy was speaking his political opinion through a sometimes whiny Jack Ryan. That adolecent complaining coupled with the perpetuated weakness of nicoteen addiction has really grown old on me. When you read this book, you'll understand what I mean. This awful begining makes the remainder of the story difficult to enjoy. References are made to past books that seem forced, almost as if the thread was caught in the editing phase and was just thrown in. I won't spoil the story for you but how can you spend the first third of a novel graphically describing the exploits of a spook, only to completely forget about them for the remainder of the book? This is a very sub par effort by Mr. Clancy. I read my first Clancy book, Rainbow Six, a little over a year ago. In the mean time, I have read every book in the Jack Ryan era spare cardnial and enjoyed them for the most part. with out question, Mr. Clancy has had a slump that started the last 300 pages of Executive Orders, spiked up during Rainbow six, and now has dropped through the floor with The Bear and the Dragon. I will conceed that when this book is good, it is fantastic. Unfortunately, only about %40 of the book is fantastic and it may only be fantastic since the remaining %60 is about as much fun as a trip to the dentist. If you are a Clancy fan then by definition you are accustomed to drawn out boring side stories that you really don't care about. Read the book so you can tell people at parties you have read all of Tom Clancy's books. If you are trying to convert your brother in law into a Clancy fan, this book is probably your worst choice.
Rating: 
Summary: A great read with a message
Review: The Bear and the Dragon is, as usual, a highly plausible look into thefuture. Assuming, of course, the Russians actually discover oil and gold in Siberia. However, the story is secondary to me. I am much more interested in what this book has to says about the current state of Chinese society. Mr. Clancy has always had the supremacy of the American or way of life as a major theme in all of his books, and this one is most certainly no different. Who cares if he is a little more overt in expressing his political views....
Rating: 
Summary: Makes a good paperweight
Review: Oh for the Tom Clancy of yesteryear! Intricately plotted, well-crafted, a plethora of gadgets and military secrets....the man invented the techno-thriller! But now his books are mostly obscured by overly long, intermitablely slow plots. He should charge by the pound, rather then the spoken word (its a damn heavy book!), and one which could have and should have been cut drastically, without losing anything but weight. 1027 pages that go generally like this - interesting, somewhat exciting opening (maybe 10 pages), 500 pages of tedium, a few more interesting snippets (maybe another 15 pages), then another 250 pages of tedium. Only in the last 250-odd pages does the book begin to take off and get interesting. If you are bored with from the usual endless soliquizing by main character Ryan (now improbably and rather unbeliveably the US president, as outlined in previous books) about the state of the world, the travails of the presidency, a rather unbalanced, somewhat naive (and very US-oriented) view of world politics, and a dash of anti-abortionism, the book contains very little that you will enjoy. I recommend you skip 500 pages or so at a time, until the action starts. The action (when you get to it) is first rate, but not terrifically gripping. If you are one of those people who, like me, stayed up til 3 am reading Red Storm Rising, Patriot Games, or the Sum of All Fears because you just couldn't put the damn thing away and sleep -- this book will leave you disappointed, weary and uninspired. Save your money, and hope (as I do) that the next book will be worth the effort to lug it around. Oh for the Tom Clancy of yesteryear!
Rating: 
Summary: C'mon... it's FICTION!
Review: I have read all of the TC novels, and although I do not feel this is is best work, I was still a good thriller. So many have bashed the politics of Jack Ryan and Tom Clancy, but when you make your main character president, he HAS to have some political affiliation and Jack not surprizingly has his creators'. All of Clancy's previous works have offered a deep insight into Jack Ryan's personality and beliefs, and the portrayal here is no different-- he has always been a passionate person who holds his ideals up on high. Now, he is not fighting to save his familiy or commandos left behind; he is fighting for what he BELIEVES is right for his country. You may not agree, but I doubt we all agree about the actions of any president-- fictional or not. Yea, Jack complains about his job many times, maybe too many. Yea, there was more profanity than I can recall in his previous work. And, yea, there were some phrases and analogies used more than once. Maybe it is time for Jack to retire and become an ambassador somewhere to become a more minor character. Still, that doesn't spoil what was a good story with the usual intricate plotting and realism that is classic Clancy!
Rating:
Summary: Not his best, but still entertaining
Review: Yes, the language is a bit strong. Yes, the editing was sub-par (too many repeated thoughts). But this book provided everything you come to expect from a Clancy novel. Lots of intertwining sub-plots and a good dose of technology and 21st century military stategy. Clancy does apply some controversial political views to Ryan (probably his own) but what president does not have strong convictions often not shared by others? After the large dose of liberal views applied to most Hollywood presidents who demonize conservatives, I have no problem seeing the opposite here. If you do not like his domestic political views, ignore them and enjoy the other 975 pages of international political/military intrigue. Do not get on your high horse and just lable him a right-wing racist. As to the language, these are techno-thillers, often involving warfare and lots of resultant deaths. This is not a Harry Potter childrens book. I find it humorous that some claim to have stopped reading the book due to the language but murder and warfare are just fine. I realize this is more of a defense than a review, but I felt compelled to do so after reading some of the other reviews. Suffice to say I enjoyed the book, not as much as some of Clancy's earlier work but better than almost anything else out there in this genre.
Rating: 
Summary: This should have been a 400 page novel, not 1000 pages
Review: I've always enjoyed Clancy novels, but the whole Jack Ryan-as-President thing is getting old. And how many times is Mr. Clark going to save the world? How many times do I need to hear that Jack Ryan hates being President (it was great the first hundred times, but I really don't need to be reminded every other page - I get the picture now move on!) There are also several anti-Clinton side-references in the book, making subtle condemnations of some of the more outrageous Clinton escipades. But in Clancy's world there never was a President Bill Clinton, so his obvious references really corrupt the plot. You know what the author is trying to say, but a fiction-novel is not the format for a manufactured political diatribe. Usually I'm amazed by the subtle way Clancy brings all the sub-plots together, but in this book everything feels contrived. It's painfully easy to figure out what's going to happen next, and one of the better sub-plots in the book just fizzles out in the end. The chilling tension that is the hallmark of a Clancy novel just isn't there. The characters felt contrived as well; cookie-cutter. Sometimes I felt like Clancy was preaching (at one point quite literally)through the mouths of his characters. Overall, The Bear and the Dragon was a great disappointment. Any serious Clancy reader knows about the "Clancy Experience" - the nail-biting tension, the total immersion in his world, that keeps you reading until beyond 3am. I've read through the night many times with a Clancy novel in hand. Sadly, The Bear and the Dragon didn't capture me at all. I found myself wanting to skip to the end just to be done with it, but I plodded through because I owe Clancy that. I hope the next one will be better because Tom Clancy is a great writer, and it pains me deeply not to recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: keyword "fiction"
Review: I guess I read Tom Clancy books for pure entertainment. So many reviewers seem to be taking it as a text book for global politics. This is a work of fiction people. As for Jack Ryan turning into a wimp, I don't see it that way. Who would want to be in his position. Who wouldn't feel doubt about being able to be a worthy leader of the free world. I think that everything Jack Ryan does in this book just proves that he is an ordinary man, and that is what makes him a great hero. On the issue of profanity, if someone looks up and sees a nuclear missle headed straight for them and doesn't say f__k, or s__t they would be, to me, as unbelievable as James Bond. I'm going to make this next observation as simple as possible, If anyone out there believes that it is ok to stick a needle in the head of a new born child and kill it before it can breath, then I guess I can see how you would be offended by this book. The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars was the very end. I agree, there could have been at least 200 more pages just to put some finishing touches on the story lines. I couldn't get enough of this book and would take another 1000 pages if I could. Keep writing Mr. Clancy. Those of us who know the difference between fiction and text books will keep reading.
Rating:
Summary: It's like his other books, just longer
Review: Some people whine about how long this book is, well just try reading it in several sittings as I did. I found the book to be typical Tom Clancy material with lots of interesting military stuff, some political commentary, lots of detail. I could have done with less of the #%!** words although I think that it was probably what you could expect in the real world. I did notice, as I have in many of Clancy's other books, the irritating tendency to mix times and dates up. He has Ryan in high school during the Cuban missle crisis,(that would be 1961),yet from reading other books in the series the guy could only be in his early to mid 40's. Another detail gone wrong is the mention of the Capitol Dome, that was destroyed in Executive Orders. A little detail clean up would improve things greatly.
Rating:
Summary: It's Just a Bad Book--Regardless of Politics
Review: As a Libertarian, who generally votes Republican, I think that this book is virtually unreadable. It has nothing to do with politics--this is just a badly written book.
Rating:
Summary: What an ending!
Review: If I wrote 1000 pages of hash and rehash, I would be so tired I would probably have come up with as lame an ending as this one. He must get paid by the pound. I could hardly BEAR to DRAG-ON.
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