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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Possibly my favorite book of all time, and a fantastic movie. Not a lot of the Clancy stuff has transferred over super well to Hollywood, but I think this is the exception. I love the book, and I love the movie. It's rock solid.
Tom Clancy books were a familiar fixture in our household when I was growing up, and as I grew older and went looking for more ‘interesting’ things to read, Mr. Clancy was amongst the first ‘adult’ reads that I gravitated to. I read everything he had written up to that point, and then through the years I kept up with each new release. It has been many years since I last read the series as a whole, but over the past few months have found myself exploring them again.
My mother has been in and out of hospital over the past 6 months- and being an avid reader, I gave her a Kindle so she would have something to read while she was recuperating. Mum loves Tom Clancy, he’s among her favourite authors, so I suggested reading this series as a buddy read- but, on the days she isn’t well enough to read for herself, I read them to her. We love to discuss the details of the books after each read and even though we’ve both read the series before, it has been just as enjoyable this time around. It’s also been a great bonding experience for us, and we have really enjoyed revisiting Mr. Clancy’s work.
Jack Ryan is an analyst for the CIA and even though he isn’t the typical James Bond type action hero, he’s just as successful. Jack is more the outsmart/outthink the enemy type of hero and the situations he finds himself in are quite compelling to read. I love all the different Jack Ryan stories- they all manage to keep me interested in what is going on and completely invested in the outcome. There is always intrigue, suspense, a little mystery, drama, interesting and fully realised characters, a complex and well-developed plot with clever twists- which all blend together to produce a memorable read.
I can always count on Mr. Clancy and Jack Ryan to take me on an adventure that never gets old, no matter the situations or how many times I’ve read these books.
My mother has been in and out of hospital over the past 6 months- and being an avid reader, I gave her a Kindle so she would have something to read while she was recuperating. Mum loves Tom Clancy, he’s among her favourite authors, so I suggested reading this series as a buddy read- but, on the days she isn’t well enough to read for herself, I read them to her. We love to discuss the details of the books after each read and even though we’ve both read the series before, it has been just as enjoyable this time around. It’s also been a great bonding experience for us, and we have really enjoyed revisiting Mr. Clancy’s work.
Jack Ryan is an analyst for the CIA and even though he isn’t the typical James Bond type action hero, he’s just as successful. Jack is more the outsmart/outthink the enemy type of hero and the situations he finds himself in are quite compelling to read. I love all the different Jack Ryan stories- they all manage to keep me interested in what is going on and completely invested in the outcome. There is always intrigue, suspense, a little mystery, drama, interesting and fully realised characters, a complex and well-developed plot with clever twists- which all blend together to produce a memorable read.
I can always count on Mr. Clancy and Jack Ryan to take me on an adventure that never gets old, no matter the situations or how many times I’ve read these books.
Honestly, 2 stars is the best that i can give this book given some aspects of it that I did not enjoy at all. If I was grading this book based on the audiobook alone I would give it 0/5 stars. The narrator of the audiobook sounded like Microsoft Sam, the generic narrator on most Windows PCs. He was absolutely AWFUL. He had laughable southern accents and couldn't do a british accent to save his life. It was embarrassing, and if anyone is going to give this book a shot, please stay AWAY from the audiobook, whatever the cost. The book itself was insanely detailed with needless information on US and Soviet naval specifications. If you are one of those Alex Jones types who loves fantasizing about being a hyper-masculine submarine commander, or if you're a former military personal who wants to read fiction about your former profession, then you will love this book.
I thought I was going into this book with the right mindset, I understood it to be military fiction. I loved other military fiction books like "Gods and Generals" and "Killer Angels". However this was that on steroids. I did come at it as a completely casual reader and I expected a lot of technical aspects to be glossed over in service of the story, which I thought would be page turning and gripping. However this book was vastly technical and bogged down with the insane level of detail that borders on obsession. The plot was constantly hampered by Clancy's need to explain every aspect of naval operations or of cold-war espionage. Something as simple as "The captain ordered the ship to make a hard left to avoid the torpedo" would be written as "The Captain ordered Ryan to execute a 730 maneuver to avoid being detected by the boomer's telescopic sonar replication systems, which were simultaneously trying to get a read on their spectrographic charts using the gregorian methods favorite by Soviet missile attack boats."
You need to remember so many details about submarine and carrier operations in order to follow the plot, and then Clancy decides to add numerous characters to the story that, in my opinion, did not need to be added at all. All of this, I believe, was done to give it a sense of "accuracy" for those military nuts who love these types of stories. Military personal both former and ex who want to read stories that pertain to their lives. As a History Major who loves more early American history, the level of detail was a real turn off. It was way too specific and way to hard to follow at times.
The story picks up and drops off at various points, almost solely dictated on how long Clancy decides to dedicate to details that are irrelevant or superfluous. However it did pick up at points. What I got was not a gripper, edge of your seat, thrilling story however, but rather an overtly technical, lukewarm story that I could kind of get behind in a general sense. The lukewarm parts of the book, when the plot actually wrestles controls from the schematics and overt-details, is the only reason I felt kind enough to give this book more than one star.
If you're one of the aforementioned military lovers, or a former military personnel, you will probably dig what Clancy wrote. But if you're not into Military history at all, or if you're not into spy "thrillers" (I say that in quotes, I don't find this book very thrilling at all), then you won't like this book at all.
I thought I was going into this book with the right mindset, I understood it to be military fiction. I loved other military fiction books like "Gods and Generals" and "Killer Angels". However this was that on steroids. I did come at it as a completely casual reader and I expected a lot of technical aspects to be glossed over in service of the story, which I thought would be page turning and gripping. However this book was vastly technical and bogged down with the insane level of detail that borders on obsession. The plot was constantly hampered by Clancy's need to explain every aspect of naval operations or of cold-war espionage. Something as simple as "The captain ordered the ship to make a hard left to avoid the torpedo" would be written as "The Captain ordered Ryan to execute a 730 maneuver to avoid being detected by the boomer's telescopic sonar replication systems, which were simultaneously trying to get a read on their spectrographic charts using the gregorian methods favorite by Soviet missile attack boats."
You need to remember so many details about submarine and carrier operations in order to follow the plot, and then Clancy decides to add numerous characters to the story that, in my opinion, did not need to be added at all. All of this, I believe, was done to give it a sense of "accuracy" for those military nuts who love these types of stories. Military personal both former and ex who want to read stories that pertain to their lives. As a History Major who loves more early American history, the level of detail was a real turn off. It was way too specific and way to hard to follow at times.
The story picks up and drops off at various points, almost solely dictated on how long Clancy decides to dedicate to details that are irrelevant or superfluous. However it did pick up at points. What I got was not a gripper, edge of your seat, thrilling story however, but rather an overtly technical, lukewarm story that I could kind of get behind in a general sense. The lukewarm parts of the book, when the plot actually wrestles controls from the schematics and overt-details, is the only reason I felt kind enough to give this book more than one star.
If you're one of the aforementioned military lovers, or a former military personnel, you will probably dig what Clancy wrote. But if you're not into Military history at all, or if you're not into spy "thrillers" (I say that in quotes, I don't find this book very thrilling at all), then you won't like this book at all.
The Hunt for Red October is exactly as-advertised. If exhaustive details about military equipment and strategies/tactics excites you, you will almost certainly love it. As for myself, it was like listening to somebody talk about something they're deeply passionate about but that I have no interest in. The enthusiasm it was written with made it a worthwhile read, but it's almost certainly my last Clancy & Co. book.
Also, who could not like Jack Ryan's wife as a highly successful eye surgeon? It's good to see the off-screen wife busy with her own highly specialized work for once. Nothing against that standard housewifery, mind you. It's just a nice change.
Also, who could not like Jack Ryan's wife as a highly successful eye surgeon? It's good to see the off-screen wife busy with her own highly specialized work for once. Nothing against that standard housewifery, mind you. It's just a nice change.
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I read this for a book club and hated it.
Too many characters. It’s too hard to tell who the main character of the story is supposed to be. There are way too many stupid details throughout the whole book that don’t mean anything. Such as when the Russian leader goes to open the letter, but long story of how he acquired the letter opener. Multiple flashbacks histories of characters I wouldn’t call important are throughout the book. It’s completely Dreadful filler that only angered me. I completely missed the captain was telling him he was defecting as it was too wordy, not clever, and definitely not concise during the letter opening. Repeat again and again. It’s full of political intrigue, which bores me. It’s full of technical descriptions, which also bore me. It’s packed full of men, which doesn’t bother me. But it’d be nice if a woman was a bit more than only one or two sentences a couple times in the book.
I might like it if it was 1/3 of the size, less characters, less filler, more meat—get to the point already, and no politics.
Too many characters. It’s too hard to tell who the main character of the story is supposed to be. There are way too many stupid details throughout the whole book that don’t mean anything. Such as when the Russian leader goes to open the letter, but long story of how he acquired the letter opener. Multiple flashbacks histories of characters I wouldn’t call important are throughout the book. It’s completely Dreadful filler that only angered me. I completely missed the captain was telling him he was defecting as it was too wordy, not clever, and definitely not concise during the letter opening. Repeat again and again. It’s full of political intrigue, which bores me. It’s full of technical descriptions, which also bore me. It’s packed full of men, which doesn’t bother me. But it’d be nice if a woman was a bit more than only one or two sentences a couple times in the book.
I might like it if it was 1/3 of the size, less characters, less filler, more meat—get to the point already, and no politics.
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, War
Minor: Pregnancy