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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
I have not read a Tom Clancy book before but some of his titles sounded familiar as movies that my father fancies. I love thrillers but I do not read military or political ones typically. This one was recommended to me. I was pretty intimidated because this was a close to 900 pages book and it would probably be the longest book I ever read. I was not sure what this book was about as well so it was taking a risk.
In general, I found quite alot of the military and western jargon hard to understand. But the writing had a cinematic quality that matched the plot. I found the story to be quite slow at times but very exciting at others. At it's best, it was atmospheric and gave so much insight into covert operations and espionage. The hostage scenes were very tense and well written, I was at the edge of my seat.
At worst, the story was predictable. How can you NOT read those words and not guess what could happen?
Spoilers...
Eventually someone would have figured out Rainbow Six's identity and that they are not an elite police team from the country that was targetted eg. Bern, Spain and Germany. The next thing was that, their families would be targetted. After the author so clearly wrote about Price smoking his pipe in view of the media and Patsy and Sandy working at the local hospital.
Towards the end I felt that some parts would have been sped up, it dragged quite abit. I have to praise the author's knowledge and research into writing so much indept content for the military and it's workings as well as the defense agencies world wide. But I have to say that the bad guys in this book were well set up. At first I was confused because not much was revealed. But the premise for the villains is actually quite scary as it could easily be real. The ending was unexpected and for that I have to praise the author's thinking.
The characters were multi facted and I liked that we had such a diverse crew in terms of nationality. Interestingly the actions of our main characters John Clark and Domingo "Ding" Chavez are quite gray. I could easily say they were not completely good or bad. Their actions sure are questionable at times. That ending where Clark makes all the people from the Project strip naked and leaves them in the jungle in Manuas made me wonder if it was okay to do it. I expected him to arrest them. But in a way the villains logic was faulty.
I was initially worried that this book would be hard to read because it is part of a series but it felt like a standalone. Luckily for me. I enjoyed this much more than I expected.
In general, I found quite alot of the military and western jargon hard to understand. But the writing had a cinematic quality that matched the plot. I found the story to be quite slow at times but very exciting at others. At it's best, it was atmospheric and gave so much insight into covert operations and espionage. The hostage scenes were very tense and well written, I was at the edge of my seat.
At worst, the story was predictable. How can you NOT read those words and not guess what could happen?
Spoilers...
Eventually someone would have figured out Rainbow Six's identity and that they are not an elite police team from the country that was targetted eg. Bern, Spain and Germany. The next thing was that, their families would be targetted. After the author so clearly wrote about Price smoking his pipe in view of the media and Patsy and Sandy working at the local hospital.
Towards the end I felt that some parts would have been sped up, it dragged quite abit. I have to praise the author's knowledge and research into writing so much indept content for the military and it's workings as well as the defense agencies world wide. But I have to say that the bad guys in this book were well set up. At first I was confused because not much was revealed. But the premise for the villains is actually quite scary as it could easily be real. The ending was unexpected and for that I have to praise the author's thinking.
The characters were multi facted and I liked that we had such a diverse crew in terms of nationality. Interestingly the actions of our main characters John Clark and Domingo "Ding" Chavez are quite gray. I could easily say they were not completely good or bad. Their actions sure are questionable at times. That ending where Clark makes all the people from the Project strip naked and leaves them in the jungle in Manuas made me wonder if it was okay to do it. I expected him to arrest them. But in a way the villains logic was faulty.
I was initially worried that this book would be hard to read because it is part of a series but it felt like a standalone. Luckily for me. I enjoyed this much more than I expected.
4 stars might be a little generous, but this is a solid 3.5 and Clancy is my favorite author so I'll cut him some slack. I hadn't read this one in a few years and picked it to read right after Clancy died.
The Cold War is mostly over and Clancy needs some new enemies. John Clark is the head of a new international anti-terrorist group, and they've been busier than they expected to be because someone is out there turning old terrorist cells loose.
The parts of Rainbow Six where Clark and Chavez are doing their special ops work is pure Clancy goodness. Even the way the terrorists are activated was very well done; detailed and interesting.
The only problem with the book was the choice of bad guys. A private company trying to destroy the entire population? A little far fetched, even for the guy who blew up the Super Bowl and crashed a plane into the Capitol years before 9/11. Other than that this book was on par with Clancy's other books.
The Cold War is mostly over and Clancy needs some new enemies. John Clark is the head of a new international anti-terrorist group, and they've been busier than they expected to be because someone is out there turning old terrorist cells loose.
The parts of Rainbow Six where Clark and Chavez are doing their special ops work is pure Clancy goodness. Even the way the terrorists are activated was very well done; detailed and interesting.
The only problem with the book was the choice of bad guys. A private company trying to destroy the entire population? A little far fetched, even for the guy who blew up the Super Bowl and crashed a plane into the Capitol years before 9/11. Other than that this book was on par with Clancy's other books.
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Druids, they call them.
I still haven't found a treehugging reference to druids, except in Lewis' Narnia.
I still haven't found a treehugging reference to druids, except in Lewis' Narnia.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Well-woven plot and great action sequences, but the characters are a bit thin and too similar to each other. Even the characters from different countries act and sound alike. An enjoyable read nonetheless.
Whew wasthat a slog. So long winded and the plot creeped along. I agree with everyone who said it would have been an excellent book if you cut it down to around 200 pages. Overall the story was fun if you skimmed all the pages about machismo and the same 8 descriptor words said over and over.