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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
There are some really intriguing parts to this story, but it gets bogged down by long tangents and technical explanations. Some of these descriptions for how mechanical systems work are intriguing and help me understand their relevance to the problem/plot, but many of them rely on so much military jargon that the information slides off the brain. As such, each paragraph is massive, and the word count for the novel is much larger than needed.
I decided to not finish this book around 60% due to the bloat and lack of clear language. The effort to wade through the unknowable excess was not worth the reward of the story.
I decided to not finish this book around 60% due to the bloat and lack of clear language. The effort to wade through the unknowable excess was not worth the reward of the story.
This book was decent but I kept losing interest when it got technical. This book is perfect for people who have military and maritime knowledge.
informative
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Rewards a patient reader with a tense final 100 pages. Very detailed description of military tactics and equipment; the characters take a back seat. Slow paced but engaging enough to keep me interested!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Death
Minor: Racism
Complex, highly technical, yet biased, propagandistic and puerile americanization regarding the munity of the Soviet frigate Storozhevoy (1972).
The mutiny was led by the Captain of the Third Rank Valerij Sablin who wished to protest against the corruption of the Leonid Brezhnev era. His aim was to seize the ship and steer it out of the Bay of Riga, to Leningrad through the Neva River, moor alongside the museum ship Aurora, an old symbol of the Russian revolution, and broadcast a nationwide address on what people publicly wanted to say but could only be said in private: that socialism and the motherland were in danger; the ruling authorities were up to their necks in corruption, demagoguery, graft, and lies, leading the country into an abyss so there was a need to revive the Leninist principles of justice (more or less, the same subject themes Orwell talked about in his "Animal Farm").
Sablin got killed and the Kremlin spread the false information that the execution of Sablin was due to his wish to sell himself to the Americans. A lie Clancy liked so much to a point of writing an entire book. (Source: "This Was the Real Hunt for Red October - Mutiny on the Storozhevoy", documentary watchable on Youtube).
In the book, in fact, Captain Marko Ramius turns against the Soviet government not to bring it back to the Leninist line, but "to avenge" the death of his wife. The vessel in the fiction is not an anti-submarine frigate but the submarine Red October, which is not diverted to the Soviet Union but to the coast of the United States of America, as Ramius intends to hand it over to the Americans.
I don't think I will read any more books written by Clancy, to be completely honest.
The mutiny was led by the Captain of the Third Rank Valerij Sablin who wished to protest against the corruption of the Leonid Brezhnev era. His aim was to seize the ship and steer it out of the Bay of Riga, to Leningrad through the Neva River, moor alongside the museum ship Aurora, an old symbol of the Russian revolution, and broadcast a nationwide address on what people publicly wanted to say but could only be said in private: that socialism and the motherland were in danger; the ruling authorities were up to their necks in corruption, demagoguery, graft, and lies, leading the country into an abyss so there was a need to revive the Leninist principles of justice (more or less, the same subject themes Orwell talked about in his "Animal Farm").
Sablin got killed and the Kremlin spread the false information that the execution of Sablin was due to his wish to sell himself to the Americans. A lie Clancy liked so much to a point of writing an entire book. (Source: "This Was the Real Hunt for Red October - Mutiny on the Storozhevoy", documentary watchable on Youtube).
In the book, in fact, Captain Marko Ramius turns against the Soviet government not to bring it back to the Leninist line, but "to avenge" the death of his wife. The vessel in the fiction is not an anti-submarine frigate but the submarine Red October, which is not diverted to the Soviet Union but to the coast of the United States of America, as Ramius intends to hand it over to the Americans.
I don't think I will read any more books written by Clancy, to be completely honest.
The first rating I had given to this book was a paltry one star. Looking back at it, I can attribute that to my lack of interest in espionage thrillers that stepped beyond the regular cloak and dagger genre. This is not an apology note to my initial rating but now that I have a fairly better understanding of the cold war and the paranoia that surrounded the era, this book deserves a slightly better appreciation. The story is quite a famous one by now made even more so by the movie starring Alec Baldwin and Sean Connery. The pacing, ambiance and buildup are quite well done too. The storytelling is a testimony as to why it launched Tom Clancy’s career as a worldwide bestselling author.
The funny part of the whole story is the characterization. It’s either that Hollywood copied from Clancy or vice versa for all the American characters are from the same mold of cocksure, arrogant know-it-all’s while the Russians are the giants who struggle to catch up. Which in quite simple terms shakes hands with the word ‘cliché’. A decade or so after having read my last Clancy book, the one thing that still stayed fresh on my mind was his detail oriented writing. This is more on the technical side of things which is to say that not even a simple screw on a machine will be spared inspection during the course of the story. It is a fine political thriller and one that really does know how to build suspense.
Revised rating : Three stars.
The funny part of the whole story is the characterization. It’s either that Hollywood copied from Clancy or vice versa for all the American characters are from the same mold of cocksure, arrogant know-it-all’s while the Russians are the giants who struggle to catch up. Which in quite simple terms shakes hands with the word ‘cliché’. A decade or so after having read my last Clancy book, the one thing that still stayed fresh on my mind was his detail oriented writing. This is more on the technical side of things which is to say that not even a simple screw on a machine will be spared inspection during the course of the story. It is a fine political thriller and one that really does know how to build suspense.
Revised rating : Three stars.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
medium-paced
I scarcely remember this book. So far, it's my first and only foray into Tom Clancy. Despite me owning hardcover editions of all his books because I apparently really enjoyed this book at the time. It was extremely technical though, and I think that went over my 16/17 year old brain. My reading tastes have since changed, but I'm curious what I'd think of his books now. Quite honestly, what's keeping me is their length. But once upon a time, this book was an all time favorite. It's a shame I can recall so little of it now.
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated