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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This one was ok - very long and the last 100 or so pages, geeze, I just wanted to be done with it. Right away I had bad vibes about this one b/c there's an author's note that basically says, hey I co-wrote this book but I didn't think he deserved to have his name on the cover. That's kind of shitty, don't you think? Anyway, the name of that person is Larry Bond. And if he co-wrote it, give him the proper credit. The 80's were hilariously obsessed with the cold war in our pop culture. Just a few things that pop off the top of my head, Red Dawn, Top Gun, Rocky IV ... and then of course, books like this. It's a fine enough story and a plausible idea for war. Oil, as it turns out, is something the world does indeed like going to war over. I also don't doubt that this book is expertly researched and written with military-style accuracy. If you're a military person, a war historian, or a military zealot you probably loved it. Me, being none of those things, had a tough time with it. There were entire battle scenes where I had a very difficult time figuring out what the hell was even happening. Maybe that makes me a dumb ass but really what I think it illustrates is the need to explain more of these terms or to dumb down the battle stuff for a more average reader b/c I certainly wasn't going to take the time to look up what some of this military speak meant b/c I just don't care enough. The best and worst part of the book for me was on Iceland. I loved the plot line following the rogue unit who escaped attack and turned into spies. But the whole officer falls in love with pregnant local girl who was raped thing just came off really inauthentic and stupid and not believable and just plain bad. Here's that whole male authors are obsessed with rape thing, rearing its ugly head again. OMG, and this absurd line..... "The girl went back upstairs, probably to wash. He'd read that after being raped one thing women wanted to do was bathe." HOLY SHIT - CRIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGEEEEEEEE. Just awful writing. I almost dropped the book right then and there. But I stuck it out. All in all it was pretty meh. (PLOT SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT IF YOU DON'T WANT THEM) Of course the Russians lose and then they overthrow their government to stop nuclear war on top of it - just comes off pretty hokey. Very 80s. Very pro America, anti Russia predictable stuff. I kinda figured this might be one of his more 'less interesting' books b/c it's not mentioned very often - turned out to be the case. Hopefully there are better ones ahead. Last thing I'll mention that also didn't age well - some of the review quotes in the book. This one from the SF Chronicle made me laugh out loud. "The Kremlin should study this book with care!" LMFAO - What? Oh yea - I'm sure the Kremlin had a lot to learn from a fictitious war book written by an American. Somebody got paid a lot of money for that review. Not his best work. A big downgrade from Hunt for Red October.
The ultimate scenario for World War III. Well, during the Cold War era, that is. The most action-packed novel from Clancy with almost all kinds of warfare you can imagine. Dogfights, submarine battles, tank attacks...This is Clancy at his best.
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot