Rating: 
Summary: Not the best not the worst
Review: I remember the first Clancy book I ever read, Red Storm Rising. Now that was a book! Action from the first chapter. I'ver read every Clancy novel since, a first day buyer for every one. I've now slogged through all 1028 pages of Bear/Dragon. Like Patriot Games, it drags in the middle, but the middle is longer. Unlike Patriot Games, its "big bang" beginning is really tedpid. Lots of stupid Chinese leaders, lots of smart American leaders, nifty wind up (the pay off starts on page 773.) Not as good as Rainbow Six, not as as bad as Without Remourse, certainly not as bad as "Into the Storm." Tom! Give us more action and less sex! We love you babe!
Rating: 
Summary: A Must Read
Review: An *outstanding* story by an outstanding storyteller. Clancy not only portrays the technical details of statecraft and war in a believable way, but captures the very personalities of some real life counterparts of his fictional characters as he writes. May easily be the best book printed this year.
Rating: 
Summary: The Bear and the Dragon
Review: Hey, it's typical Tom Clancy! He has always been wordy & technical. He's just not talking military equipment this time. He's telling us to take note of who are future enemies may be. Even if he took out all of the "duly noted" and "honey-bunnies" It still going to be a long book... If your going to pay $18. for a book, don't you want to read it for more than one day? Talk about wordy books.... Read "Grapes of Wrath". We loved it, too. We feel this book is a continuation of the people we've know & enjoyed through the years. For those who love Tom Clancy... read some Clive Cussler... Keep up the good work, Tom.
Rating: 
Summary: Is there an editor in the house???
Review: Clancy needs a new editor. Someone who will do his job and ask Clancy to stop sending in first drafts. I've enjoyed most of his novels and I thought Rainbow Six was excellent. This one, however, has to be his worst. The plot is extremely one-dimensional, predictable, and oh....so......slow. This is his slowest one since Clear and Present Danger. The editor was completely out to lunch on all counts. The plot and characterization needed to be beefed up. Style needed a lot of polishing (Clancy used the same metaphors, jokes, and turns of phrase far too often). Scenes and whole chapters needed eliminating. A good 30% of this book needed trashing. The part that's left needed several revisions.And probably the worst part of it was the shallow idiocy of his portrayal of the Chinese Politburo. I think most people would agree that Communism is demonstrably not the smartest way to run a country. This doesn't translate, however, to sophomoric stupidity on the part of China's leaders. I'm very disappointed in this book and hope he either does better next time around or hangs it up before he completely fulfills the cliche about 'degenerating into self-parody'. I sincerely hope it is the former he undertakes because I'm a big fan and would really hate to lose one of my favorite authors. Mr. Clancy, fire your editorial team. Whoever told you this was a great yarn is a serious brown-noser. This was a great idea for a yarn that needed a lot more work.
Rating:
Summary: Do your Homework Tom
Review: As usual with Clancy novels the book is replete with action and lots of details indicating that, in at least some areas-military for example-the auhor has done his homework. However Mr Clancy is way out of touch when it comes to life in China-his characterization of Chinese women as poorly dressed and with lousy hairstyles, dressed in boiler suits is so out of date its almost funny. He characterizes women in China in the same way Americans used to characterize Russian women and he's way off base as anyone who has been to China would tell him. I also have the feeling its about time he found a new series-this series on Jack Ryan reminds me of a similar series by Allen Drury-originally very interesting but becoming increasingly less believable and mired in right wing ideology. Find a new subject Tom.
Rating: 
Summary: too bad "terrible writing" isn't a valid return reason
Review: It's too bad that Clancy has either forgotten how to write an exciting book or has so much money that he just doesn't care anymore. The first 600 pages of this waste of trees are spent primarily badmouthing and/or demeaning everyone in sight (chinese, russians, germans, israelis, jews, blacks, congressmen, women, the Supreme Court, Democrats, Pres.Clinton, supporters of abortion rights, the press.....). Apparently in Clancy's world the only really worthy people are white catholic men. Clancy's idea of ongoing character development is to turn all of his usual cast of formerly admirable characters/heroes into completely unsympathetic ones. The principal protaganist, jack ryan, has developed from an interesting, thoughful character into a whiney, self-absorbed one (much like Clancy himself from the interviews I've seen). If the author's books had started out this way he would have been relegated to the remainder's list with book one. There are no original ideas here (Red Storm Rising rides again) and a complete failure to generate any tension. Every plot turn is telegraphed well in advance and there is absolutely no suspense created nor surprises to be had. There was either no independant editor for this book ("department of redundancy department" phrases abound throughout {"didn't I just read that?"})or the publisher just figures "hey - we'll sell millions anyway so who cares if the writing is c**p". I have kept in my library every clancy that I've purchased. Not this one - it will be donated to my local library in hopes of saving some other potential sucker from wasting their hard earned money in support of Clancy's colossal ego. It's too bad that "no stars" is not an option - save your money!
Rating:
Summary: It sucked.
Review: If you have to read this book, borrow it from a friend or wait until it is in papperback, don't waste any more money than you have to. Clancy has become lazy or has a poor ghost writer. Perhaps it's a lazy, poor ghost writer. Either way, the book is a let down full of repetition, dogma, and typoes.
Rating:
Summary: Reality check please
Review: Tom Clancy is supposed to be someone who prides himself on his realism and insider knowledge. Here's what I see in this clunker: 1) Why is that every American officer is so brilliant, qualified and distinguished? In the stressful conditions of wartime, couldn't someone possibly make a bad decision? Just once? Instead, we get a steady dose of go-getting American officers dictating their will upon a prostrate enemy and coming up with brilliant plans that never fail. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the American military has made a few bad decisions over the years. Now about Vietnam for starters? 2) Why is every that American weapon works absolutely perfectly every time? We get it Tom, we're smarter than everyone else, but just once can something go wrong? Could a tank break down or something? History shows us that not everything America has produced has exactly been a war winning wonder weapon. Logic would dictate that in a future war, this might be the case as well. 3) This book gives us the usual claptrap Tom usually serves up to his readers: a large, evil, numerically superior enemy meets defeat at the hands of the gutty, irrepressible, ingenious, never say die Americans. It's like the Magnificent Seven or an A-Team episode on a larger scale. 4) Why this love affair with Russia? Clancy hammers the Chinese as mindless savages, but gives the Russians a pass for an equally impressive laundry list of human rights violations. 5) Who was there no mention of the breakaway Russian republics? The book mentions that American troops in Europe travel through Poland and across Russia. I'm no politcal science expert, but wouldn't the Americans also have to travel through the Ukraine and would the Ukrainians let them through? Bottom line, this book was a terrible disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Tom Clancy....you da MAN!
Review: This is classic Clancy, in ways vaguely reminiscent of Rainbow 6. However the plot is more sophisticated. It starts a little slow, but after page 200 (out of about 1000) you will not be able to put the book down. All the dimensions of the book (in one corner we have Ming/Nomuri, in the other corner there's a shot Russian pimp, in the other is a bunch of guys working on a cruiser) will make you constantly guess, what's next? Then it all just comes together in a truly awesome spectacle that is the ending! A must get!
Rating:
Summary: Not the best of Clancy; in fact, maybe the worst
Review: As with many other reviewers, I have read every one of Tom Clancy's books. His hallmarks of good action, plausible descriptions of the intelligence game, and authentic details drew me in. His last 4 books, however, have gone steadily downhill, and this is the worst yet. Clancy's ultra-right politics come more and more into play, and he no longer even gets the details right. I've become particularly annoyed at the demonization of various ethnicities. In Debt of Honor it was the Japanese. In Executive Orders it was the Iranians. In Rainbow Six it was those pesky environmentalists. Here it's the Chinese. I stopped counting how many times Clancy used the epithet "Chink" after the first 10, but I also noticed a few "Nisei" go by as well. I even saw "commie" at least once. Not to mention condemning all non-Judeo-Christian religions as "pagan" and "heathen." As for the ending--well, what ending? It feels as though Clancy spent himself spewing racial slurs and outdated Cold-War venom, then just ran out of steam. Overall I recommend sticking to earlier Clancy: anything prior to Without Remorse. The later ones are really only suitable for readers more conservative than, say, Pat Buchanan.
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