Rating: 
Summary: Where was Congress during all of this?
Review: So the tenth out of ten missiles hits the ICBM that's about to plug D.C., and what does JR do? He invites the crew of the missile cruiser to his house for a party. What a great denoument! Clancy has always been a fun read (except for the execrable Patriots) and he managed to pull me through all 1000+ pages of this one, but mostly out of curiosity over whether ANY of our new weapons systems would fail. I could overlook the right-wing hyperbole on almost every page and the repeated wisecracks; the profanity was a pain in the neck, but I've seen worse. But, having had several PRC students in my classes, I really wonder about the irresponsible characterization of these people that underpins the whole plot. Chinese political leadership may not be as enlightened as we would hope, but they are not as stupid as Clancy portrays them. We would be stupid to think so...
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to get into the first half
Review: I have also read all of his books but it took what seemed like days to get through the first half. Once it heated up it was very good. Think it should have been 500 pages even though I LOVE long books. But they have to hold my interest. Really do enjoy all the old characters coming into play again. I will continue to read Mr. Clancy's books.
Rating:
Summary: Preachy
Review: Being a long-time great fan of Clancy, this was my very first disappointment. I agree with much of Mr. Clancy's politics but for a techno-thriller, this has too much. I don't read these books to be preached at, but for entertainment. It is certainly his right to sound off, and I will read the next Ryan novel, but hopefully most of the pontificating is now done for a few books. And if Jack Ryan whines about being President one more time I'm going to send him some fortune cookies with little notes that tell him to grow up. Flawed characters are fine but this beats a dead horse a few times too many. This is the first Ryan book I had to struggle with to complete. The last 200 pages got my attention, but those feel rushed. The book's pacing is uneven. On the use of course language, that is OK but after reading so many Ryan novels, it was a little surprising. Well, that's enough complaining and fussing on this end...I'm starting to sound like Jack Ryan, and without his measly $200+ salary.
Rating: 
Summary: Classic Clancy; If you like Clancy you'll LOVE this one!
Review: If you're a Clancy fanatic (yes, I'm one) you'll love this book. If you've read his earlier work (the novels, not the co-written material), you'll find this one to be very similar. One big change is that because this work involves the topic of diplomacy, the major action develops very slowly and builds throughout the book. This is in stark contrast to some earlier works (like Sum of All Fears) where dramatic world events "take off" in the first 5-10 pages of the book. Some earlier reviewers commented about the somewhat more adult content (fairly minor) in this work, and I agree with their findings. Clearly a book written for adults, NOT for the younger set due to some sexual references throughout. If you love Clancy's work, you've got to read this one!
Rating:
Summary: Major disappointment in need of serious editing
Review: As you've probably read below (or will read in a moment), this one is a huge disappointment. All the elements are here for another great Clancy book, but it appears that he wouldn't listen to his editor. Tons of repetition and wheel-spinning. I should have just listened to an abridged version. Recommend that you do that instead.
Rating:
Summary: Tom Clancy's Best
Review: OK, the book was long, but it still had great detail and was very interesting. I have read alot of his books and this just had to be the best. The profanity could have been cut down a little, but he's trying to make a point that Jack Ryan is not your normal president. The part about Ming and Nomuri went into a little to much detail but that really happens in the world.
Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER HOME RUN FOR CLANCY
Review: Again, the king of the techno-thrillers, hits another homerun with the bases loaded. The book starts wtih a bang but as usual picks up speed until the end of the book. Clancy really shows his technical as well as literary skills in all portions of the book, especially in the battle scenes. The author also, in a side note, seems to handle "sexual espionage" as astutely as he does in describing military hardware. This book is another must read to all of us who are hooked on this genre. I cannot even imagine where the next installment of "Jack Ryan-president-knight-spook" will take us, but I cannot wait to come along for the ride. Thanks again to the author, the ending of the book, and everything in between, was as usual, so good, as to be almost painful to put the book down.
Rating:
Summary: A real disappointment
Review: Like many, I've really enjoyed Tom Clancy's books.... great stories, fascinating research, and very interesting characters. But The Bear and the Dragon is a real disappointment. The story lines are simpler and very slow. The content feels preachy, over-explained, and repetitive. The many unnecessary commentaries present extremist and therefore naive biases, making the book feel more like a political commentary (a poor one) than a good novel. The commentaries regarding the Chinese pyschie and the ordinary Chinese people are grossly simplified and in many cases not even true....they feel like stereotypes borrowed from the 1970s, not at all reflective of the "Internet" age as the book attempts to portray. The characters that I've really come to like have deteriorated, too. When did Jack Ryan become such a whiner? Oh and the unnecessarily (and repetitively) foul language...I really looked forward to this book, but compared to Debt of Honor and the Executive Order, this is a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: The Bear and the Dragon
Review: I've read every Tom Clancy book and own all of them in hard cover. I eagerly buy them on first day they are available. With such an interesting premise, I was really looking forward to this 1000+ page monster. Unfortunately, Clancy took WAY too much time setting up the story, was repetitive and then rushed through the ending. I even began to question his research, which really runied things for me. Among the minor errors, he referred to a stock with a four letter symbol as trading on the "Big Board". NYSE stocks have three letter symbols. One of his characters took rides to LaGardia airport on the subway? I don't think you can do that. And how many times does one have to hear different versions of Jack Ryan stating he does not like his job? I also was getting tired of being preached to. I agree with many of his views, but what happened to subtlety? Granted, any Tom Clancy book is better than most, but I think he is either too busy with other projects to devote full attention or, worse, simply thinks that he is so much smarter than everyone else, that he can simply go through the motions and collect his $20 million. Sorry, but this one was a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Clancy books are too long
Review: This may be the last Clancy book I read, and I've read all of them so far. I want books to beg to be read. Clancy goes into such minute detail about military matters that are not needed that it is becoming a chore to get to the end of the book. I get the feeling that he really wants to write military books, or to truely be military, but enough is enough. This book is over 1000 pages long. Take out the unneeded details (100's of pages) and the excessive bad language and you would have a good readable bestseller.
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