What readers think of The Bear and The Dragon, plus links to write your own review.

This so called "thriller" is boring and poorly paced at best, and blatently vulgar and racist at worst. The villains are completely one-dimensional and incredibly stupid, while Jack Ryan seems to completely toss away any and all likable qualities he may have had in previous novels. Don't bother wasting your money.

Just another example of the outstanding work turned out by Clancy. Can't wait for the next one!

This book is monumental because it is where Tom Clancy has "jumped the shark." It takes three hundred pages to get into the action, then another couple of hundred to get to more action. In between, you have characters needless bickering and one asian CIA agent's uneventful (and unsuspenseful) sexual recruitment of an intelligence source.

This is not the novel that I expected with the tension build up with the Chinese that has been present in the previous, much better, Clancy novels.

I bought it, but regretted it. Good thing that I bought it at Sam's.

it was brill reading i loved it. fantastic - tim quincy ur the man !!!!

Completly riveting...a book that is compelling from start to finish. I'm only 15 and I think Tom Clancy's ability to build suspense is surpassed by no other writer out there.

Really mind-blowing when it comes to Tom Clancy!!!!

I Love it and i'm in 7th grade

This is a very good book. For a moment, I was afraid it would take after the godawful Rainbow Six. Fortunately, not so.
The plotline; after a Tienanmen-like disasaster, the PRC is abandonned virtually overnight by a world community tired of its years of barbaric human rights violations. Out of money and hurting for oil and other products, the PRC decides to invade Siberia, where the Russians have recently discovered oil fields large enough to rival the Gulf. Thanks to unusually good American intel, newly reelected President Jack Ryan manages to organize a joint Russian/American defense of Siberia.
The plotline is good and credible. The political comments from Rainbow Six are still there, but directed at the world's largest dictatorship, they aren't so bad.
Characters were also well develloped. My favourite was Sergey Golovko, Ryan's Russian friend and head of the SVR, who backs and encourages the rapprochment and friendship between Russia and America. Also Fang Gan, the Chinese Minister Without Portfolio who wants to liberalize China.
Most interesting was Zhang Han San, the other Minister Without Portfolio, who is finally clearly defined. In Debt of Honor, he was simply an undercover envoy of his government. Executive Orders, however, hinted at a much larger political role. In this one, we finally discover that he is a full Politburo member and the power behind the throne in Beijing.
One problem with this book is Clancy's constant denunciation of Chinese culture and history, which is why I give it only four stars. Other than that-great book!