Rating: 
Summary: I really tried to like this novel.
Review: I just couldn't. Maybe Clancy has tired of writing exciting novels. I certainly tired of reading The Bear and the Dragon. A friend recommended that I read this novel because of the recent diplomatic problems with China and the American spy plane. The book pales in comparison to the real drama. Jack Ryan has been a great character in the previous novels. In this one, his age shows badly. He's a character that has lost his shine. In the story, Ryan has reluctantly run for and been elected to the presidency. He doesn't really like his job. By the end, I wish he had just resigned. Clancy uses abortion in a very inflamatory way to paint the Chinese as horrible people. Clancy should have saved his opinions on this issue for a letter to the editor. Instead, he should have written a compelling story. Skip this one. If you're new to Clancy, read his earlier novels, like Red October. They're much, much better stories.
Rating:
Summary: This could have been so much more.
Review: I have read all of the Clancy novels, usually buying the latest one within a couple of weeks of its release. This one leaves a lot to be desired. I think the reason that I like Clancy's novels is the plausible plot lines, current for their times, mixed with the detailed explanation of military technology and procedures. In this one, the technology is still there, but the plots leave a lot to be desired. I'm also used to all of the plots being resolved in the last 150 pages, but I can't stress enough how disappointed I was in the ending of this one. If a novel is good, I'll usually find an excuse to keep reading it. This one was engaging enough to keep reading, but when I got to the end, I found myself wondering why I had bothered staying up late. I will keep reading Clancy novels, but if I get another stinker of an ending like this one, I will consider taking a pass on any future novels. Maybe it's getting too difficult to keep the suspension of reality now that Ryan is president, and we had to rebuild the government from scratch a couple of books ago.
Rating:
Summary: That's the last of my money Tom Clancy will get
Review: If you didn't know Tom Clancy's personal politics going into this book you will know them afterwards. I tend to lean to the right, but the numerous references to Clinton/Lewinsky go too much even for me, especially considering there was never a Bill Clinton in Clancy's alternate universe. This book was needlessly long. Without the constant melancholy reflections by President Jack Ryan about how his life had changed and what a prison the White House is this would have been a couple hundred pages shorter. Another hundred pages could have been trimmed from the predictable military engagement described in ultra-technical detail at the end of the book. We believe you know alot about military hardware, Tom (after all, someone gave you that nifty captain's baseball cap in your picture), now give us a break...
Rating: 
Summary: I liked it
Review: Perhaps not 100% accurate in his description of the Chinese, still some stuff was pretty close. I only enjoyed disagreeing with the parts i found innacurate while reading the book. Overall I found it very entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: Ouch
Review: Like many of the other reviewers, I've read almost all of Clancy's books. Most of them were page turners which I couldn't put down. Not so with this one. Instead of techno-thriller suspense I got a reactionary, bigoted diatribe on why white upper-class Christian americans are great and everyone else (Asians in this book) are evil. It almost seems like Clancy went out of his way to offend people. Apparently he's looking forward to writing for an audience composed entirely of hard-line conservatives, beacause he's trying hard to alienate everyone else. Save your money and definately don't buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Running out of gas
Review: I'm another long-time Clancy nut - first hooked on HFRO, by Clancy's terrifically intricate plots and attention to detail, which allowed one to suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride. Unfortunately, in his more recent works, he seems to have begun to run out of ideas, and in so doing, trades tight, gripping plots for bigger explosions at the end. His most enjoyable and plausible stories (see HFRO, Cardinal, or Patriot Games) are those that didn't alter the world, but merely took the reader for a tight, wonderful read. Jack Ryan used to be the best anti-hero I'd encountered in popular fiction - the common-sensical everyman, with flaws (like fear of flying) to boot. Making him president ruined the character, especially after Executive Orders (it was mildly entertaining to watch Everyman Ryan take on the presidential trappings ... for a couple of hundred pages). Likewise, Clancy used to give us great villians - complex and authentic (see the Soviets of Red Storm Rising or COTK, the Arab terrorists of SOAF, or the Irish terrorists of Patriot Games). Now they are cardboard characters, and too often portrayed in racist and insultingly simplistic terms - and thus utterly unbelievable. His female characters have likewise become defined as either good (read: nurturing, mother figures like Mrs. Ryan, Mrs. Clark, the pregnant Mrs. Foley or pregnant S.S. Agent Price), or bad (read: liberal, feminist NSA in SOAF, or scientist in Rainbow 6). These juvenile depictions of women make Clancy seem like the creepy 16 y.o. who couldn't get a date to the prom. I had hope that after the debacle of Rainbow 6 (environmentalists out to kill all of mankind ... please ...) that this story would return to plausible global politics/espionage/warfare scenarios, but Clancy now disappoints with silly portrayals of the Chinese. There were some interesting ideas in this plot, but it now seems that Clancy has to go to war in each new book (three wars respectively against Japan, Iran, and now China ...) I don't at all mind Clancy's politics (in fact, agree with many of his opinions), which he has increasingly thrust into the last few novels, but his endless ranting against "tree-huggers", political correct-ness, feminists, Roe v. Wade, etc., makes him sound like the obnoxious drunk at the end of the bar who won't shut up. These opinions add nothing to his stories and seem more like he intends his novels now to be his soapbox. Likewise, the good guys all seem to use the same "jock-speak" and come across as wooden and very predictable. Maybe ending this series and starting fresh with new characters and a return to what he is the master at - detailed, intricate and creative "what if" plots - will bring Clancy back to form. Here's to hoping so.
Rating: 
Summary: Right out of today's headlines
Review: This is a very entertaining book, though the ending seems too abrupt for a work of 1,000-plus pages. I read this during the flap over the EP-3 surveillance plane that landed in Hainan and found that the China of "The Bear and The Dragon" was all too similar to the one in the news, with cynical, propaganda-peddling Maoist leaders trying to reconcile their failed ideology to the realities of an emerging capitalist state. Ryan is superb as the refreshingly politically-incorrect Leader of the Free World, and the book offers an enlightening take on high stakes diplomacy. Not Clancy's best work, but still a very good read.
Rating:
Summary: Tom Clancy is my favorite writer, but
Review: Tom Clancy is by far my favorite writer, but this book lacks something. I have been trying to finish it since November. To me, the story line is too far-fetched, and we have talked about going to war for over 700 pages before we actually do it. I don't know yet how it ends, and I may never know at the rate it is going. It is a disappointment for me.
Rating:
Summary: The worst Clancy ever
Review: If you have read the last eight Clancy novels, prepare for a disappointment. In contrast to his other work, this one is full of stereotypes and predictable throughout. It does have some suspense, so you keep reading and waiting for the major plot to begin. There is none. I just felt bad afterwards - it's a waste of time. This book reads as if written by a ghostwriter, not Clancy himself.
Rating: 
Summary: OK story, but could have been better
Review: It's mainly OK because there were things that happened in this story that we didn't need to know about. I picked this book up in August of 2000 but didn't really get around to reading it until recently. Tom Clancy could make this, and many previous books, much better if he would trim a few hundred pages of nonsense the reader isn't interested in as well as the techincal gobble-de-gook most readers don't undertstand, unless you're in the armed forces. However, toward the end, it does get exciting. I won't spoil it for those who haven't read it yet, but I thought for sure a nuclear war was going to erupt. It probably still will in the future books to come. I will say this though. Are we really expected to believe that after everything that occured, the United States in real life would just say "Oh, forget about it" to another country that nearly blew up a major city of ours? I think not. Tom, I'm sorry, but I think it's getting to be time to either kill off Jack Ryan, or retire him. He was a much better man when he was still in the CIA. Being POTUS doesn't give him much freedom, as we discover in this story.
| 
