The two books by Nikki Sixx, I've been re-reading them.
The two books by Nikki Sixx, I've been re-reading them.
Raisor just read Tom Clancy's latest Jack Ryan/John Clark 800+ page book in one sitting today.
I read both "Dead or Alive" and "Teeth of the Tiger". They were pretty OK. A notch (or 2) below his stuff from the 80's, but readable and Clancy-esque.Originally Posted by bucksfan2
"Against All Enemies" is like a book written by another guy. Its a relatively decent read, just not Clancy at all. Just don't pay money for it (or at least not full price).
It's kinda like after Jimi Hendrix died and they continued to leak out albums of dregs that he had recorded. I kept hoping to happen upon another "Electric Ladyland" but no, it was just crap. It took me a few years to come to grips with this. Clancy isn't dead, but he is definitely over the hill.
She used to wake me up with coffee ever morning
I thought Teeth of the Tiger was awful, but the last two books have been goof. Think it is the result of the cowriters.
I've got about 100 pages left of "World without End". Enjoyable read, not nearly as good as the epic "Pillars of the Earth" which "World Without End" is the sequel to, but not nearly as bad as I've heard a couple of people describe it as. At roughly 1,000 pages long, it needed to either be an additional 300-500 pages long to fill in some of the gaps, or it needed to be trimed about 300-500 pages to leave out parts of the story seem to be hastily played out.
Really? I found it entertaining. I haven't really read much Clancy. I read The Hunt For The Red October and though it was ok. Teeth of the Tiger much better. I also read Rainbow Six which was slow to start but fantastic to finish. I have Dead or Alive but haven't started it.
I just finished David Baldacci's Zero Day. It was a little bit different than his usual style but a very entertaining read none the less.
Holy smokes, if you like Clancy, go back and read his books!! I'd love to be you and have this catalog to go through. My favorite of his is "Red Storm Rising". But everything up through "Rainbow Six" is very good.
Starting at "The Bear and the Dragon", his wheels started to fall off (IMO) and I've generally been disappointed. Its been a long while since I've been excited about a Clancy book. But everything before that is good.
I'd recommend:
The Hunt for Red October (1984)
Red Storm Rising (1986)
Patriot Games (1987)
The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988)
Clear and Present Danger (1989)
The Sum of All Fears (1991)
Without Remorse (1993)
Debt of Honor (1994)
Executive Orders (1996)
Rainbow Six (1998)
She used to wake me up with coffee ever morning
Holy Smokes indeed.
I began the attempt at Clancy a few years ago starting with The Hunt for Red October and then it stalled there. It was decent but I think I read it a little out of context. It would have made much more sense in 84 than it does almost 30 years later. I have heard great things about his novels but they take up a great deal of time to get through. I will probably venture onto Dead or Alive here soon and maybe back track from time to time.
Does it count if I have seen the movies?
Yeah, the subject matter of the books can be pretty dated with the fall of the Soviet Union. I'm a child of the cold war so it was all very real to me. And yeah, the books I listed about are probably somewhere north of 5000 pages. But I'm a voracious reader so that never daunted me (but did cause a lot of lack of sleep when its midnight and I've got 200 pages left and I go "crap, I'm going for it"). So let me re-order:
cold war stuff
-------------
Red Storm Rising (1986)
The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988)
good, stand-alone reads
-----------------------
Patriot Games (1987)
Clear and Present Danger (1989)
read these 4 in order
--------------------
The Sum of All Fears (1991)
Without Remorse (1993)
Debt of Honor (1994)
Executive Orders (1996)
And sure, the movies count and I always thought HFRO and Patriot Games were good movies. But do yourself a favor and read the books some day.
She used to wake me up with coffee ever morning
I enjoyed The Bear and the Dragon.
To me, the problem with a typical Clancy book has always been that the first 1/3 or so of his books are a grind. The plot and story lines are so deep and far that it takes a long time to "get going". It also seems like this same part of his books are a little bit dry as he gets into the nuts and bolts of his background story. However, once the story lines start to come together, his books take off quickly and lead to a fabulous journey.
the one book of his that seems to stray from this line was "Without Remorse" It has always been one of my favorite stories of his, or any authors. The movie rights have been swaped around a handful of times, different writers have been brought in, but its never left development, so I doubt the movie ever gets made.
The Ryan books (in cronological order)
Without Remorse (The origin of John Clark)
Patriot Games (First Ryan book)
Red Rabbit (about Soviets attempted assination of the Pope)
Hunt For Red October (Russian sub defects)
Cardinal In the Kremlin (america's highest Soviet spy)
Clear and Present Danger (Drug war in columbia)
Sum of All Fears (Terrorists fabricate a nuke)
Debt of Honer (war with Japan)
Executive Orders (Follow up to war with japan)
Bear and the Dragon (War between Russia and China)
Teeth of the Tiger (The adventures of Jack Ryan Jr)
Dead Or Alive (Jack Ryan Jr teams up with John Clark and Ding Chavez to try to take out a Ben Laden like character)
Locked On (Mostly a John Clark book with Jack Jr)
Red Storm Rising (co written by Larry Bond) and Against All Enemies are stand alone non Ryan/Clark books.
My favorite book in the bunch is Without Remorse followed by Clear and Present Danger and Cardinal in the Kremlin.
Last edited by Raisor; 12-19-2011 at 08:54 PM.
"Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain!", by "Dilbert" creator Scott Adams. (Hey! I work 70 hours a week! "War and Peace" ain't on my must read list!)
Just finished The Lost Symbol, I think they are already making the film adaptation.
Angles and Demons and The Divinci Code were fantastic novels. I have read both multiple times and still am amazed by the storytelling. I was disappointed in The Lost Symbol. For the years of buildup it didn't hold a candle to Angles and Divinci Code. I haven't checked lately to whether or not Dan Brown has another book in the works.
According to a FB post yesterday, he is working on another novel, not giving any details on subject matter or anything about it tho.
I was wildly disappointed in Lost Code too. It did not hold up to the level set by Angels and Demons or DaVinci code.
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