Rating: 
Summary: Same old Jack Ryan
Review: The Jack Ryan books have gone from great to average. Having read "Sum of All Fears", "Debt of Honor", "Executive Orders" and now "Bear and Dragon" pretty much back to back to back, the decline is palpable. All have interesting premises and, of course, the detail in each is stunning. However, the quick-thinking, intellectual, reluctant but ready action-hero Jack Ryan of the first two of these has become the I-don't-wanna-be-President mope who fills up so much of the later two. And between EO and B&D, he has taken a turn for the even more monotonous. Tom, you only have to say once a book that JR doesn't like his current position and then let it go!B&D also suffers a few other things. A promising plot line concerning the personal life of a spy in China that is detailed in the first half of the book is pretty much left out of the last, oh, 500 pages. A second plot line involving Russian spy trackers gets a little more extended coverage but in the end it, too, is abandoned. The ending has little or no umph, unlike EO where there was at least a few really good stand up and cheer moments to wrap things up. And finally, while the first half of the book builds up a considerable expectation that the good guys might have their backs to the wall, the final half makes you wonder what all the fuss was about. The best I can say is that the book is a good time filler in the way all Clancy/Jack Ryan novels are. Unfortunately its not much more than that.
Rating: 
Summary: Give the man a break...
Review: Although this is not the Author's best work, I did find it the most captivating in a long time. Cardinal of the Kremlin is my all-time favorite, which may explain why I really enjoyed this book. Sure the book has it's faults, all of which seem to be painfully explained in other revues. I personally enjoyed the "entertainment" value and didn't take it as serious as everyone else. If you like Tom Clancy you will like this book, if you loved the Cardinal of the Kremlin, you will love this book...enjoy
Rating: 
Summary: Close to the bottom
Review: In the beginning, Clancy's books were great. Why was that? Well, his main character (Jack Ryan) was a good one, with lots of development potential, always in the middle of some interesting spy-situation in the dual world torn apart by the cold war. Besides, his style and competence to describe accurate and believable military conflicts was what captivated millions of readers around the globe. Well, the years passed, lots of books came and went in what is now known as "Ryanverse". But the quality of the books surely is not the same. What happened? First of all, Ryan is now president, and a veteran of almost ten books. He has nowhere to escalate further, and after ten books there are few development fields for a character: they become repetitive and predictable. Now, Ryan is a boring man, always complaining about being POTUS. What is worse, few new characters are introduced in the series. They are always the same: Clark, Chavez, Golovko, Jackson, Van Damm, etc. etc. The readers are getting tired. Second, Clancy now doesn't write anymore about military, he writes about politics. That would be OK, if the book wasn't 1100 pages long. I mean, who has the patience to wait 950 pages of politic (and sometimes economic) conflicts that go seemingly nowhere before Russia and China engage in a war over oil and gold? I don't have that kind of patiente. Even with all that, this book could be considered average (not like his previous and good books, but still average); but this time Clancy overreacted: every sub-chapter has an ethnic prejudice sentence, and not after long I was tired of the supremacy and intelligence of the americans and the stupidity and craziness of the chinese. In the end, after the war is concluded, the book rushes to an end in less than five pages. I mean, I read more than 1000 pages and this book doesn't even END PROPERLY? Ridiculous. Clancy is clearly doing his own editing and that is always a mistake. Clancy is treating his readers as idiots. And, if I was a chinese I would be very, very angry at Mr. Clancy right now, work of fiction or not. It's very clear the author doesn't know that much about China (or was misinformed, but I don't think that is likely) and created a ridiculous China look-alike with lots of hateful things to instigate that hate on his readers. In my opinion, it backfired, and now Mr. Clancy himself is in a bad position. (...) Grade 4.0/10
Rating: 
Summary: A lousy book from a (once?) great author
Review: Tom Clancy wrote several of the greatest and most riveting novels I've read. The list includes "The Hunt for the Red October", "The Sum of All Fears", and "Red Storm Rising". Unfortunately, as the Cold War came to an end and took away the rivalries between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, so did Clancy's bearing. His recent novels floundered like a fish out of water or a former Red Army soldier out of uniform. Instead of trying to look around, understand the post-Cold War developments, and use the new world order as a backdrop of his stories, he kept clinging to the old political landscape and tried to expand on it. It simply does not work. United States is the only Superpower left and no other countries will challenge it the way Soviet Union did. Jack Ryan was portrayed more like John F. Kennedy dealing with the Cuban missile crisis than either George W. Bush or Bill Clinton fighting global terrorism while trying to shore up Medicare. "The Bear and the Dragon" is simply not compelling and impossible to believe. While I still enjoy his attention to details and the way he put together sentences and paragraphs, the overall story itself makes completely no sense. How could one enjoy the book when one opens a newspaper to see a completely different picture? After three progressively worse novels - "The Debt of Homor", "Executive Orders", and "The Bear and the Dragon" - he finally came up with two new novels in which he seemed to have reversed his course. I haven't read either of those - perhaps I am still trying to muster the courage to do so after the recent disappointments. I do hope that both novels offer the same fascinating stories that his earlier novels do.
Rating:
Summary: heyho USA
Review: Heyho USA thats what I think after reading this book, One of Clancy's worst books (SSN is worse) and thinking I loved Rainbox six. While the politics part isn't that bad, the military part sure is, I think Eric L Harry's Protect&Defend is far supperior on the same topic (China invading Russia for the recource deposits).
Its just insulting to read how supperior US forces are towards everything else, lacks all sence of realism here.
(can't remeber a single US casualty) No after reading this one I hesitate to buy any new Clancy book!
Rating:
Summary: Action: OK, Politics: Lousy
Review: Mr. Clancy changed genres from technical/military to political thriller a couple of books ago. As a result his political thriller contains lots of - semi - military jargon and action. It must be said this side of the book is OK (not splendid as the "Cardinal of the Kremlin" or "Red October", but OK). However, the political part of this 1080 page book is unfortunately not op to standards: the issues have not been thought through enough to be convincing. And though some solutions could be tempting (some problems are irresolvable if all issues are taken into account), most are a mere waste of time.
Another problem I have with this series is the decline in the language quality (techno talk and an overdoses abbreviations was always a part of this series, but the current level is having an impact on the readability.
I would like to suggest Mr. Clancy to stop solving the problems of the world with this series and let Mr. Ryan rest.
Rating:
Summary: Clancy's Web of intrigue
Review: I have been a Clancy fan ever since my father took me to see ÒRed OctoberÓ when I was in Jr. High. Since then IÕve read every book and my appreciation has only grown. While I was greatly let down by ÒWithout RemorseÓ and ÒRainbow SixÓ (even though Clark is my favorite character), Bear and Dragon illustrates all the best in ClancyÕs cache of literary talents. The plot, focusing on President RyanÕs second term as commander and chief, involves RussiaÕs new found Siberian oil fields, ChinaÕs last grasp at imperialism, espionage, counter espionage, the press and one hell of a great conventional battle reminiscent of ÒRed Storm RisingÓ. The plot is one of his largest and most involved yet, causing some readers to cringe in fear upon learning of the massive page count, but upon completion of this book youÕll feel very contented and eager for more. The story is plotted out like a chess game, and once the reader starts to see everything falling into place, we marvel at that satisfaction the climax gives us.
Rating:
Summary: This is your Mind on Popularity
Review: Clancy has deservedly earned a reputation as the King of the Military Intrigue Genre. What made all of those stories so well liked was - as it is in almost all stories - that these stories were character-driven in spite of all the hardware and battles. You long remember the Cardinal, or of the Kremlin or John Clark or even the young Jack. My personal opinion is that Clancy's writing started a slow descent when he began stretching what was and not possible in the political realm. The rise of Ryan to VP, then Commander in Chief was just too...hokey. From there we have more and more implausible scenarios. These last few books seem to be ghost-written, or published without benefit of critical editing. They commit the worst literary sin possible - they bore. I found myself thumbing ahead, first paragraphs, then pages and finally whole chapters. Is it possible that Clancy cannot break away from Jack Ryan much as Dorothy Sayer was stuck with Lord Peter Whimsey, Anne Rich with Lestat or Elizabeth George with her crew of five? This particular writing is appropriately turgid with absolutely zero originality. Tom, take a vacation and get those juices flowing again. Find a new plot, a new character, anything to return to the good old days.
Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment
Review: I'm not sure what has happened to Tom Clancy in recent years. I guess he's been too successful and that he's just lost interest in his craft. What a tragedy. When at the top of his game (Red October, Clear and Present Danger, Debt of Honor), Clancy is one of the great entertainers in the history of fiction. That, of course, was when he was interested. Those days are clearly over. The decline that began in earnest with Rainbow Six has picked up considerable speed. The Bear and The Dragon is dreadful. Clancy retreads plot points from prior works throughout the book. The plot moves excruciatingly slowly. Characters repeat themselves ad nasuem. About 3/4 of the way through, I began to wonder if Clancy had even written the book. There were so many repetitions and blocks of incredibly clunky dialog that it appeared to me there were at least two different people telling the story. There were rumours a few years ago that Clancy used ghost writers. I didn't believe it then, but now I'm not so sure. It pains me to say this, but this is going to be the last Clancy book I buy. I'll keep my collection of his past great work, and every so often, I'll re-read his brilliant early stories. But no more. I'm tired of being disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: was slow in getting my interest
Review: The book could have been cut in half and been more interesting. It was slow in getting to the story. There were so many characters to keep track of that it took a while to sort them out. Jack Ryan is the president who sounds like he really doesn't like his job, which is contrary to what I have seen in the election battles which we have seen over the years. We have Russia which has discovered a huge oil field in Siberia and gold, another big find. We have China who wants it, the United States who is trying to help Russia (which is just the opposite of what we have seen in years, the U.S. trying to build and strengthen Russia, the very country we have been opposed to all these years?). The greed I can see, in fact, right now, we are in a war fighting for oil, so it just doesn't ring true. The book was so-so and I can't really say I would recommend it. This doesn't mean that I wouldn't read another of his books because I would, because he has written some great ones.
| 
