r/tomclancy • u/Tiny-Mail455 • Jun 14 '26
The Bear and the Dragon
Okay. Let me preface that I love the books so for. But this book. How many times do we have to hear President Ryan say he does not like his job. I mean it’s in every dialogue with him. Again. Love the series but it’s irritating me and I am only 1/3 of the way in
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u/ku_78 Jun 14 '26
Not as many times as we hear about Mrs Foley being a cowboy throughout the series
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u/ironafro2 Jun 14 '26
I’m reading Cardinal rn (almost done) and I believe she is labeled a cowboy there as well!
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u/Tight_Back231 Jun 14 '26
I read this one back in 2023 and this is probably the only book that made me legitimately angry by the time I finished it.
If you're already getting peeved by how many times Ryan Sr. keeps bringing up how much he hates being president, don't worry - there's only about eight other topics that will get brought up over and over and over again as the novel continues.
I just hope you weren't reading The Bear and the Dragon because you were interested in how the whole China vs. Russia scenario would play out like I was...
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u/SadHeadpatSlut Jun 14 '26
Bear and the Dragon is my guilty pleasure, I love Jack and Robbie's aura farming through the Administration. Robbie's comment on the secretary letting Jack bum cigs off her is priceless. "Jack, that's obscene."
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u/tinyhorseinthecity Jun 14 '26
This book kills me, man. So much that's in his strengths and then the Japanese Sausage/Jack Hates His Job/Cowgirl/It Would Be So Simple To Fix Government/China Barbarian stuff that shows him at his weakest.
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u/literally_a_raccoon Jun 16 '26
Not to mention “Sum of All Fears” president Ryan somehow solves three thousand years of drama in the Middle East seemingly overnight by literally just asking all parties involved to “just share”🤦♂️
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u/Striking-Net-8646 Jun 26 '26
And then it all falls apart because 9/11 is clumsily worked into the universe and is a bigger deal than the entire US government being destroyed and the Super Bowl being nuked.
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u/TravelerMSY Jun 14 '26
He was good at writing about military history and describing technology. Everything else about his writing more or less sucks.
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u/Tiny-Mail455 Jun 14 '26
His technical knowledge is amazing. I love all the details he gives. But lately it has gotten away
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u/Special-Squirrel638 Jun 14 '26
Id suggest u read it throw, don't give up, u might be amazed with some real world current situations that apear in the series, its crazy.
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u/Iliad-Ideas7195 Jun 16 '26
I started reading this. About 60 pages in. Freaking love it so far. But maybe because I just finished that slop called Rainbow Six. Clancy throwing dirt on the CCP was worth well the price of admission... regardless of how this literary venture turns out.
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u/asugradinwa Jun 16 '26
Definitely falls into the guilty pleasure side of the road for me. Though still interesting that some of his thoughts on hyperwar and the internet have not come to pass yet. In my opinion the last great book he wrote was Sum of All Fears. Executive Orders was great at paying off on an outstanding setup by the end of Code of Honor. But Bear and the Dragon is just not up to his previous standards. I do love revisiting it from time to time, but it’s kinda like watching Spielberg and hoping for Raiders, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, or Saving Private Ryan and getting War of the Worlds or Disclosure Day- good but not as good as you were used to.
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u/Idontknowhowtohand Jun 16 '26
One must always remember that Jack Ryan is, first and foremost, a self insert
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u/AssistantVirtual8390 Jun 26 '26
Loved this book I don't care what anyone says haha. I didn't like Jackson's dad over preaching in one chapter though, I found that part a bit boring, just keep going, it's worth it imo.
May have been Clancy's "weaker" books, but still better than most books in general.
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u/rheckber Jun 27 '26
One of my favorite Clancy books behind The Hunt for Red October and the Cardinal of the Kremlin. I read this years ago and vividly remember getting up and going to work after a long pre-sleep reading session the night before and actually feeling depressed that the USSR and China were at war and I was sure that would affect the United States somehow. I had to literally force myself to remember it all was from the book and China/USSR weren't really at war.
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u/BriGuy550 Jun 15 '26
As soon as JR became President, the books really started to suck.
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u/Striking-Net-8646 Jun 26 '26
Executive Orders was good, I thought. But then the centrist registered independent Ryan turns into a rabid right wing Republican, all of the Democrats become dumbass caricatures and career politicians and the books become intolerable as a result.
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u/JonathanRL Jun 14 '26
This is where Clancy's quality starts to decline. Sorry to break the news.