Rating: 
Summary: Good, well researched, and interesting. Well plotted
Review: But for the love of Pete, edit more.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: Ryan has become the caricature of a crass, crusty middle-age man. Too much sex, too much foul language, too many stupid locker-room jokes, too much sermonizing and too little editing (the same clichéd phrases over and over). The book drags through the beginning and only picks up in the last few hundred pages. But the end is disappointing and unsatisfactory, as if the last few pages were abrubtly wrapped up.
Rating:
Summary: Not Tom Clancy's finest hour
Review: I was really looking forward to this book. I have read all of Tom Clancy's books (some multiple times), except for his Op Center series. No one except maybe Larry Bond can write a techno-thriller like Tom can. Unfortunately, this book is well below the level of quality we've come to expect from Tom Clancy.To begin with, Tom has decided to spend the first 400 pages writing a cheap sex novel. I have never read such filth in any of his novels. He has a CIA operative seduce a Chinese national to get government information. I think it is possible to describe this without going into extreme graphic detail when there is no relevance in doing this. He also seems to want to portray all the leaders of China as depraved sexual predators. Tom Clancy then goes on to insult basically all genders and races in the novel. He continually refers to the Chinese as barbarians and calls them Klingons because he can't understand the way they think... He seems to have a field day with respect to women. I don't know how he can rationalize his duality on this issue. Most of the female characters in his novels have been strong, competent professionals. This is still the case with Cathy Ryan and Andrea Price (Ryan's secret service chief). However, he continually trivialize women in this book with statements like: "Women were all the same. Treat them in the right way, and they turn to wax in your hand, to be kneaded and shaped to your will." , and "You just couldn't turn some women loose on computers. It was like loosing a four-year-old in a gun shop." Tom also spends a large portion of the book ranting about his thoughts on abortion rights, gun control, the environment etc. This is supposed to be a techno-thriller. Next time he should leave his soapbox at home. On the positive side, the last 300 pages are vintage Tom Clancy. The action is exciting and riveting. The ending however is very abrupt. After the US successfully shoots down a Chinese ICBM right over Washington DC, Jack Ryan goes home and gets drunk. The Chinese send an apology and the novel is done... It was almost as if Tom Clancy got sick of writing and just stopped. While it had many bad points to it, the novel was still fun to read. I would not recommend spending the money on the hard cover. Wait until the softcover edition comes out. Better yet, wait until the softcover is available in the second-hand shop.
Rating: 
Summary: Naysayers?
Review: I could not agree less with the other reviewers. Seldom in my 70 years have I finished a novel with such regret. I thought it was dynamic, suspenseful and well written. Further, it subtly points to the fallacy of our Clinton administrations $30 billion per month trade deficit. It is tantamount to Roosevelt allowing all of our scrap iron to be sold to the Japanese in the 30's so they could melt it and create weapons with which to shoot back at us! The Chinese are a wonderful people. The Communist dictators who run that wonderful country are not. Wait and see!
Rating: 
Summary: Clancy at his worst
Review: I've read all of Clancy's previous works, but this will be the last. Similar to Rainbow Six, this book could be made at least 200 pages shorter by editing out Clancy's rambling political pontifications. Clancy suffers from the extremely naive notion that unfettered capitalism will solve all the world's ills (tell that to people riding on Firestone Tires). Sadly for the reader, Clancy feels compelled to fill this book with an endless diatribe of Limbaugh-esque gibberish. If you must read this book, prepare to skip over pages of propaganda to find the story. It must be in there somewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Save a tree -- skip this book
Review: Artless, long, and dull. I plowed through it because it was all I brought to read -- a big mistake. Notably worse than Executive Orders in style.
Rating: 
Summary: Too many Sub-Plots or an Intricate Plot?
Review: As a person who reads all of Tom Clancy's books, The Bear and the Dragon, was a real treat. I was on the waiting list at Amazon and was not disappointed. I have read the reviews whining about too many sub-polts. Excuse me, but I found the sub-plots extremely informative. One of the things I like best about Tom Clancy, aside from great story telling, is his insight into global politics. This book is great and will cause the serious reader to think.
Rating:
Summary: Steadily downhill
Review: I've read all TC's books and it's been going downhill since Hunt. I've stuck with it as long as I can but this is the last. The same story, again and again, with two-dimensional characters that do a disservice to our professionals in uniforms-- heck he even does a disservice with his bad guys. I'm switching to others, most particularly those who actually wore a uniform and served, such as Stephen Coonts, Dale Brown, Bob Mayer, and I especially like Andy McNabb's SAS books. Check out titles such as BRAVO TWO ZERO, CUT OUT, or how about DeMille's SENSE OF HONOR?
Rating:
Summary: Best Clancy in years!!!
Review: Tom Clancy was, in my mind, the unequivocall master of the techno thriller untill Without Remorse, that was the last great book he wrote, untill now. Although The Bear and the Dragon is not as good as Clancy's early work it is far better than Executive Orders, Rainbow Six or any of the CRAP he writes as the Op-Center or Power Plays series. This book takes us back to the style of Hunt for Red October or Red Storm Rising. I would recomend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Tighter story, please...
Review: While there are some compelling moments in this story, this is a book that could have been about 400 pages shorter. I've always enjoyed Clancy's work, but I felt that there was too much political posturing in this story and unnecessary backstories much like his more recent Ryan-verse stories. I'd like more techno-thrills from this techno-thriller author, and there simply wasn't enough. That said, the last 300 pages were entertaining - I just wish the 1st 700 pages were as entertaining.
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