The Bear and the Dragon

Rating:
Summary: "Back to Basics For Clancy . . . and it Worked!"
Review: This is Clancy's best work since "Debt of Honor." Starts off with a bang as a key aide to the Russian President is almost assassinated. While that is being investigated, a huge oil and gold strike is made in Siberia. That has China licking its lips. Now, former adversaries the U.S. and Russia must join forces to prevent Chinese domination of Siberia.

Excellent work on the characters, who are almost old friends to hard-core Clancy readers by now. Loved the portrayal of Jack Ryan in the presidency. For the most powerful man in the world, he seems to have little independence. Ryan is a slave to public perception, scheduling, security. Many of the things he deals with on a day-to-day basis bore him. Ryan is the ultimate hands-on guy working a job that lets him be anything but. He really hates this job, but is too dedicated to duty to up and quit.

As far as plot goes, Clancy keeps your interest throughout. After an unfortunate incident in China with a couple religious folks, it's hard to put this book down. Good presentation of the Chinese leadership. These men had a very narrow view of the world and how things are supposed to work. That just exacerbates the brewing international crisis. Clancy caps it off with a very exciting ending. One thing I would have liked to have seen more of is stuff going wrong at critical points of the conflict, which has been a Clancy trademark since "The Hunt For Red October."

Rating:
Summary: More work than normal
Review: The Bear and the Dragon is more of a political statement than the other Clancey novels that I have read. I disagree with the political statement but the description of the thought process that Clancey uses is remarkable. I think that he shows a great deal of understanding of the thought process that other people use. The level that he is able to accomplish this is remarkable .

The story though far fetched is excellent. Of course the idea that somebody would drive an airliner into a building was bit far fetched not so very long ago. The technical detail that he describes the weapons with is wonderful. It is interesting to hear about the same weapons on the news every night.

I did not find this story as spellbinding as some of the other works I have read by Clancy but it is still a better book to buy than most of the entertainment books out there.

I wrote the above before I read the other reviews. I would caution the potential first time buyer if all you get out of this is an American, Russia, Chinese comparison you ain't paying attention. The nationalities aren't representative of races as much as they are thought processes. And they are foils more than reality. This book is not about America versus them. It is a very, VERY detailed pro-life statment. Either that or I totally missed it.

Rating:
Summary: Tom Clancy's worst, boring predictable drivel.
Review: Tom Clancy's works where always known for having all the little things go the right way for his hero's, but in this book he takes
it too the extreme. He spends too much time and effort into demonizing the PRC, harkens back to the Fu Manchu racist stereotypes of old. And the war at the end (as every other reviewer states it takes how many pages to get to that?) comes off as far too easy. Predictable, I yearn for Clancy's days of old Red Storm Rising and such...

Rating:
Summary: Typical propaganda from the American Empire
Review: I liked "Red Storm Rising" because it was an accurate story of how World War III, fought between NATO and the Warsaw Pact in 1986, would have unfolded. I awaited this book eagerly, thinking that I would be reading a realistic scenario of a war between China and Russia. Saying I was disappointed would be an understatement. Not only did Clancy take around 700-800 pages just to start the war, but he filled them with such obscene, racist,ignorant propaganda that I was tempted to use the book for toilet paper (it was a library book so I didn't). He rambles on (through Jack Ryan - the president, God help those who commit the crime of disagreeing with the Yankee kaiser about democracy and human rights) about how evil abortion is (when it is a sound method of birth-control in an overpopulated world), and how the "klingons", sorry, the Chinese, are evil just because they have different views on human rights, birth control and international relations. Okay, I agree that Mao Zedong was a mass murderer (and a child molester), but America has killed more people than China over the past 60 years, as well as America's natice population. When he finally got to the Chinese invasion of Siberia, Clancy spoke of how Russia was made a NATO member (yeah right)and lovingly describes how American technology rips the guts out of China's best units, with Russian forces taking heavy losses (of course) but America loses only one or two fighters, due to huge opposition, not skill on China's part (naturally - Americans are superior to everyone else).

If you are someone who enjoys reading about America demolishing anyone who disagrees with them, you will love this. Otherwise, stay away from this. If you are sick of smug, self-congratulatory dribble from Yankee supremists, I recommend that you read "World War 2006" by Simon Pearson. This book describes how an arrogant America is caught off guard when the Islamic world unites under one leader who sets about planning Israel's destruction and putting America in its place. It is realistic, written from a neutral viewpoint (Pearson is British) and does NOT underestimate how Islamic cunning and knowledge can defeat American technology and ignorance.

Rating:
Summary: THE BEAR AND THE DRAGON introduction to Clancy's next great
Review: Clancy is a magical storyteller but I have noticed that his books alternate between the fantastic and the good but could be a little better (leading into the next fantastic book). Patroit Games was fantastic, the Hunt for the Red October was good. Cardinal in the Kremlin was fantastic, Clear and Present Danger was good. Sum of all fears was fantastic and Debt of Honor was very good. Executive Orders was fantastic and the Bear and the Dragon was good. It is the classic good book that lays the foundation for his next great book. I am a devoted Clancy fan and I can't wait for his next fiction book in the Jack Ryan series. I hope Clark and Jackson have more face time.

Rating:
Summary: My last Clancy book
Review: It would be hard for me to improve on the several hundred other reviews of this book, so I'll just hit the lowlights:

1) The book is waaaaay too long for what little "content" there is. Clancy definitely needs an editor.

2) Clancy has gotten waaaaay too preachy, using every inconsequential shred of dialog (and there are many) as an excuse to inform the reader of his view of "how things should be done."

3) The story is too contrived. He really has to try hard to make this one believable and fails miserably.

4) Clancy's prose (if you can call it that) is ridiculous and, in many parts, dwells way too much on parts of the male anatomy.

'tis a far cry from Hunt for Red October. You'd really have to try hard to write a worse book than this.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect for October 2001
Review: Until Sept. 11, our country, especially its national media sources, were full of contempt for patriotism. Now that we have been attacked, we are united again, and the country's citizens are showing the media the true spirit and heart of the country: love for God, love for country, and gratitude for both.
Tom Clancy's latest novel is perfect for this time. It shows the greatness of our nation: military might combined with passion for those who love freedom and democracy. I almost hope what Clancy has written comes to pass, for my experience with the Russian people is not unlike Clancy's: appreciation for their greatness, marred by too many years of despotism. May a revolution come soon to China, so that their great people can bask in the blessings that other free peoples enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: assumptions made too simple for the book
Review: i think the book might present a better and more logical backdrop to the chinese invasion of siberia by mentioning the historic facts concerning how siberia was lost to russia in the 19 century by the corrupt and incompetent Qing Dynasty regime. This may provide a more balanced reasoning for the poliburo members, rather than depicting them as simple minded greedy thugs.

Rating:
Summary: Putrid...
Review: Bear and Dragon is an utterly horrid piece of .... I'm a long-time Clancy fan, but, if this is the best he can do nowadays, he should retire from writing fiction. A single "star" is far too high a rating for this .... Amazon's rating system should allow negative numbers for "books" such as this. Ick.

Rating:
Summary: Tom Bless America
Review: I started reading this book a few days after the World Trade Center was destroyed by terrorists. I'd read and mostly enjoyed Executive Orders, which contained elements similar to the real-life disaster. From Tom Clancy, I was expecting a cutting-edge description of 21st century warfare, and lots of right-wing politicizing. I got both of those. In spades. In buckets and spades.

The first half of The Bear and the Dragon is a leisurely setting up of the chess pieces. A cartoon version of China (whose Politburo is staffed by half-a-dozen foaming copies of Ming the Merciless) wages war on a newly prosperous Russia. The Russians are all hard drinkin' law and order cops. The United States, whose Democrat-led government was swept aside by terrorists two Clancy books ago, has been remade as a conservative military power.

And what a power they are! In the second half of the book (roughly 400 pages of the 1100-plus), or about 48 hours of real-time, the USA thwarts the Red Communist threat. It's to Clancy's credit that I read every page of the book and absorbed all his political views, ranging from abortion to religion to gun control to tobacco and booze, and back to religion again (this Clancy guy really watches his "O'Reilly Factor"!). But I knew what I was getting into, so apart from the occasional eye-roll I didn't mentally fight back.

If you can stay awake for the 1100 pages, you'll find an old-fashioned flag-waving romp over the Evil Enemy (is there really any other kind). The final 100 pages turn funny as President Ryan leaps out of the Oval Office and into action in the unlikeliest of places. Bear/Dragon has about 0% literary merit, but most people read it for the hardware and the bombs and the political asides, so if you're up for three weeks' worth of those, you're in for a few smiles. And eye-rolls.