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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
Loved the movie enough that I decided to track down the book and series, I was not disappointed. The book is full of Naval and Submarine jargon that can distract if you are not familiar with the terms, still will very little memory you can still follow all the titles and people. Very well written and can't wait to get the next!
Very cool book. The weaving of the plot is something else!
A Russian submarine, the Red October, is making its way into US territory undetected- almost. CIA analyst Jack Ryan comes across photos of the submarine and thus launches a fast-paced, suspenseful hunt to find the submarine and figure out the plans of its crew. Are they coming for asylum or invasion? Ryan is sent undercover as a member of the navy to lead the mission, which ends up being more dangerous and filled with more tricks and spies than he had anticipated.
Pros:
•Jack Ryan was a fun character- a brilliant CIA agent who’s terrified of flying. Definitely helped that I was picturing John Krasinski the whole time. I can totally see future stories with him being exciting, and you’re definitely rooting for him the whole time.
•I like using fiction as a way to learn about a different part of the world or history that I wasn’t previously familiar with, and this was a cool introduction to the military and the cold war era, etc.
Cons:
•I was confused by all of the subs and generic men, and I couldn’t keep anything straight. Is this man American? Russian? British? On our side? Which ship is that? It probably didn’t help that I don’t know anything about different positions so I couldn’t distinguish them. A character guide at the beginning would have been immensely helpful and I probably would have followed the story better
•The book was so plot driven that if you don’t understand some of the jargon it’s quite easy to get lost and also frankly quite boring. What I got out of the book did not need to fill 500 pages. This is potentially more of a reflection of me than the book.
•There is literally one female character who is there for like 10 pages and I think zero people of color. I guess that’s what was happening in the 80s military but yeesh it could not have been poorer representation. At least have Ryan call his wife or something.
Recommendation: I recommend if you’re into plot-based military stories, in which case I think you’d find this interesting and suspenseful. I personally found it quite boring and had a hard time keeping track of what was going on. That being said, I think this is representative of the fact that I am not the target audience for this book. Avoid if you like character based stories, diverse representation, or are not very familiar with the military.
Pros:
•Jack Ryan was a fun character- a brilliant CIA agent who’s terrified of flying. Definitely helped that I was picturing John Krasinski the whole time. I can totally see future stories with him being exciting, and you’re definitely rooting for him the whole time.
•I like using fiction as a way to learn about a different part of the world or history that I wasn’t previously familiar with, and this was a cool introduction to the military and the cold war era, etc.
Cons:
•I was confused by all of the subs and generic men, and I couldn’t keep anything straight. Is this man American? Russian? British? On our side? Which ship is that? It probably didn’t help that I don’t know anything about different positions so I couldn’t distinguish them. A character guide at the beginning would have been immensely helpful and I probably would have followed the story better
•The book was so plot driven that if you don’t understand some of the jargon it’s quite easy to get lost and also frankly quite boring. What I got out of the book did not need to fill 500 pages. This is potentially more of a reflection of me than the book.
•There is literally one female character who is there for like 10 pages and I think zero people of color. I guess that’s what was happening in the 80s military but yeesh it could not have been poorer representation. At least have Ryan call his wife or something.
Recommendation: I recommend if you’re into plot-based military stories, in which case I think you’d find this interesting and suspenseful. I personally found it quite boring and had a hard time keeping track of what was going on. That being said, I think this is representative of the fact that I am not the target audience for this book. Avoid if you like character based stories, diverse representation, or are not very familiar with the military.
3.5⭐
Aside from some difficulty in following along with the technical side of the book (there's quite a bit of that I'm afraid) the novel was fast paced enough to keep me glued to the book!
Aside from some difficulty in following along with the technical side of the book (there's quite a bit of that I'm afraid) the novel was fast paced enough to keep me glued to the book!
I only picked up this book because every month I'm reading a book with the name of the month in it. I NEVER would have otherwise read this. A military novel sounded boring. But it was hard to put this book down! I was not expecting it to be so thrilling! I loved that all of the characters were intelligent and how realistic this was! I got so invested. I knew I loved this book by page 3. It had mystery elements, was fast-paced and I ended up not minding all the "military" speak I was so worried would make this boring. I am so shocked. This was AMAZING!
Listened on audible. Narration was amazing.
Overall story just wasn't for me.
My review probably doesnt accurately reflect how good the book is to ppl who like this type of thing so I'm not going to try.
But ya....no more from Tom Clancy for me.
Overall story just wasn't for me.
My review probably doesnt accurately reflect how good the book is to ppl who like this type of thing so I'm not going to try.
But ya....no more from Tom Clancy for me.
I feel like all my recent reviews have been four stars.
I love the movie version.
The book improves it by adding more detail and backstory.
If there's one thing I didn't like, it's that very few of the characters got fleshed out backstories. Luckily, the ones who do — Jack Ryan and Ramius — get really well developed and are some of the best written characters in the thriller genre.
The suspense is wild, even if you know the exact details of the story, and Tom Clancy's ability to weave a sprawling story in with techno babble and not losing his reader's attention is something to be marvelled at.
That being said, he also really likes ranting about communism — not just Soviet communism, which any logical person hates — but just the idea of communism itself. I wasn't surprised, but as a left leaning definitely not radical no not at all I'm very friendly haha it got on my nerves a little.
STILL.
Good book, good time.
I love the movie version.
The book improves it by adding more detail and backstory.
If there's one thing I didn't like, it's that very few of the characters got fleshed out backstories. Luckily, the ones who do — Jack Ryan and Ramius — get really well developed and are some of the best written characters in the thriller genre.
The suspense is wild, even if you know the exact details of the story, and Tom Clancy's ability to weave a sprawling story in with techno babble and not losing his reader's attention is something to be marvelled at.
That being said, he also really likes ranting about communism — not just Soviet communism, which any logical person hates — but just the idea of communism itself. I wasn't surprised, but as a left leaning definitely not radical no not at all I'm very friendly haha it got on my nerves a little.
STILL.
Good book, good time.
It was pretty fun for the most part. Lots of navy and general military jargon that went way over my head. Got a bit tedious in the middle.
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes