Rating: 
Summary: bear and the dragon
Review: What were you thinking, Tom Clancy? At 10028 pages this book is much too heavy for the "I only have time to read before I go to sleep crowd". My husband loves Clancys books, but holding THIS tome aggravated his carpal tunnel syndrome causing the book to fall on his face cutting off his respiration and might have resulted in unlawful book death had I not detected the lack of snoring. He refuses to pick the book up again, so we will have to make do with the audio version. My advice is to take S. Kings advice: If the book is too big---make it a serial---or, make it part one and part two--if the story is good, we will be there to buy the book. At this size, The Bear and the Dragon is too dangerous to read!
Rating:
Summary: Not the Clancy we learned to love
Review: Man, this was worse than going to the dentist. Not only does Clancy subject the reader to 1000+ pages of drawn-out plot and completely unrealistic coincidences, but he somehow thinks we'd all like to hear him spout off on right-wing politics. Add in the fact that this book has less action, more rambling, and generally a lower level of writing than what we've been used to, and you'll find this book a poor piece of work. The facts seem a lot less well-researched, too. Several times I found myself wondering if Clancy had done the same kind of superior research and technical investigation that he did on his early books. Dammit, I used to LOVE this guy's stuff, but they've gradually become less and less enjoyable fiction and more and more long pontifications of Clancy's personal political opinions. Maybe he's got so much money now that he just doesn't care and wants to spend the rest of his life writing conservative political crap and lecturing his readers on his social theories, but he's lost one customer here who bought every book up until this one. Sorry, Tom, but you really blew it on this and I won't be buying your product again.
Rating:
Summary: Oprah's Book Club For Men
Review: Okay, all of you...put the Clancy books down and step away from the cash register. I mean if he won't bother to write them, why should we be buying them? It's Oprah's Book Club for Men - "Must...buy...new...Tom...Clancy...book" Move on, you can sure tell he has. This is another dim-witted over-politicized, shallow thriller about our dear old Jack Ryan. The thing is, I feel really bad that Jack has to put up with being put in these situations again and again to sell books. I'll suspend disbelief, but Jack Ryan as President? Please. The early books were truly great, very gripping and fun to read, but God help me if I buy another one. Fool me once, shame on you...fool me 14 times... 5 to 1 the next book is ghost written.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than Rainbow Six
Review: I liked the mix of action, types of characters and use of "technology."
Rating:
Summary: Never Again!
Review: I couldn't finish the last Clancy book and this one is hopeless. Just hundreds of pages of research by his staff, I'm sure and no story. Plus it bears NO resemblance to what really goes on in the White House. I will not buy the next novel from Mr. Clancy.
Rating:
Summary: Ok
Review: This book is very good if you skip the first 300 pages. With the exception of the first 30.
Rating:
Summary: Clancy is slipping ...
Review: After following Clancy's early books with enthusiasm, I've found his more recent books to be lacking in story content. "The Bear and the Dragon" has hit bottom for me - I gave up after 350 pages!While the story potential is great, Clancy seems to have devoted only about 50% of this book to the basic story. The remaining 50% is divided between moralizing and strutting his knowledge of international and military affairs. I've read his books for the great stories, and his moralizing leaves me feeling cheated and mislead. I don't want to pay for a book just to listen to his personal moral concepts.
Rating:
Summary: Just a (poor) rewrite of his previous books..
Review: No new plots. Clancy's annoying habit of pontificating the rights and wrongs of the world culminate to a new high. The plot lines are exactly the same from his previous books, i.e. stupid_event + news_coverage = threatened_econmic_collapse_so_we_go_to_war_and_get_soundly_defeated_without_scratching_the_paint_on_a_single_American_tank. Clancy has such an unrealistic view of war and such an overwhelmingly overly optimistic sense of American fighting power that it is hard to stomach. Dont waste your time or money.
Rating: 
Summary: Time for this series to end.
Review: when I was thirteen I read The hunt for Red October. From that book on I was hooked onto clancy's writing, most notably the Jack Ryan books, But it would seem that Clancy's ego has grown as large as his books. This book while entertaining is about 400 pages to long. He is certainly stretching for material and needs to end this series with a final book. One that is 1000 pages long. He was at his best when his books were 500 pages or so .
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Most of the complaints seem to be about the lack of editing, but what about the usual attention to detail. The length would have been no big deal if it was of the usual quality. Ususally, Clancy is rock solid on his facts, some of which were wrong, and you end up learning way more than you wanted to about something, not this time. It was more the quality of OP-Center books. Not too much thought. I've been debating China/Russia politics with my Army friends since the early 80's and it was an unfortunate waste of an excellent topic. Still even bad Clancy is better written than most books and even if it was disappointing it was still a good read as long as you all you expect is typical fiction.
|
