Make your categories, list the books
Best books:
Hunt for Red October, Sum of all Fears, Rainbow Six, Red Storm Rising
Most screwed up movie adaptation:
Sum of all Fears - They totally hacked the beginning which is critical to the rest of the story.
Best: Red Storm Rising
Worst: The Bear and the Dragon
Best: RSR
Worst: Red Rabbit
the Bear and the Dragon was so over the top that thats where I stopped getting his books.
Red Storm Rising was the best.
Sum of All Fears I liked a lot because he actually let them explode the bomb at the stadium. Don't see many nukes actually get to go off in books.
The Bear and the Dragon was my last as well. Not good, go nowhere plot lines, poorly edited.
The Bear and the Dragon was over-the-top, but I thought it was dumb fun. I haven't read any Clancy since Red Rabbit.
RSR and debt of honour
I stopped at the one after bear and dragon
Red Rabbit was the one after B&D. I liked the idea of going back to Ryan's early years and the more believable espionage stuff, but that book was tedious.
Great article on the Dance of the Vampires scenario that was used in RSR
http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/tne/pieces/choreographing-dance-vampires#_ftn1
Best: RSR, Hunt, Clear and Present Danger
Worst: I'd say Red Rabbit but I haven't read it. Sum of All Fears for the needlessly sloggy pacing.
Despite the movie changing the bad guys, I thought it carried off the switch reasonably well. Wasn't keen on the rebooting otherwise, since much of the point of the Ryan novels is how he epically rises from a relatively low-level analyst to becoming an effective President. (This is why I've never bothered to read the book about Ryan's son... was it Eye of the Tiger? Did anyone read that? Was it worth any effort?)
Most Flagrant Ripoff of Mack Bolan the Executioner: Without Remorse
Best Ripoff of an Executioner book: Rainbow Six. Rips the plot straight off the first combination novel of Bolan, Phoenix Force, and Able Team. I can't recall that book's title now, but while I never cared much for Bolan and Able Team I reaaaallly liked the Phoenix Force novels, and this was one of my favorites despite the presence of the other characters. I grinned all the way through Rainbow Six.
Quote from: mirth on October 02, 2013, 03:02:37 PM
Great article on the Dance of the Vampires scenario that was used in RSR
http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/tne/pieces/choreographing-dance-vampires#_ftn1
you realize thats the beginning format for every sci fi space opera battle written during the last 25 years.
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on October 02, 2013, 03:17:32 PM
Quote from: mirth on October 02, 2013, 03:02:37 PM
Great article on the Dance of the Vampires scenario that was used in RSR
http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/tne/pieces/choreographing-dance-vampires#_ftn1 (http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/tne/pieces/choreographing-dance-vampires#_ftn1)
you realize thats the beginning format for every sci fi space opera battle written during the last 25 years.
Even this one?
Im talking about real sci fi battles like you would find in Honor Harrington / Shiva type books not 90 minute toy adverts.
or something like this:
"I tell them you learn to write the same way you learn to play golf," he once said. "You do it, and keep doing it until you get it right. A lot of people think something mystical happens to you, that maybe the muse kisses you on the ear. But writing isn't divinely inspired — it's hard work." -Tom Clancy
Best: 1. Hunt for Red October , 2. RSR, 3. Cardinal of the Kremlin
I stopped reading after B&D. Movie adaptation of HfRO was decent. The attempt to add Dance of the Vampires into the Sum of all Fears movie was nice eye candy.
its interesting that so many of us stopped after BatD.
Dance of the Vampires was a chapter in RSR AB, where the SoM's crush a carrier battle group with missiles. ;)
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on October 02, 2013, 10:47:17 PM
its interesting that so many of us stopped after BatD.
Dance of the Vampires was a chapter in RSR AB, where the SoM's crush a carrier battle group with missiles. ;)
I know, they tried to portray it in the movie Sum of all Fears wit Ben Aflec. Mixed results IMO. I give the movie makers credit for trying.
ah, that part. gotcha.
speaking of SoaF, does anyone know where to get the original nuclear scene? the post 9/11 edit sucked.
Quote from: Airborne Rifles on October 02, 2013, 10:53:07 PM
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on October 02, 2013, 10:47:17 PM
its interesting that so many of us stopped after BatD.
Dance of the Vampires was a chapter in RSR AB, where the SoM's crush a carrier battle group with missiles. ;)
I know, they tried to portray it in the movie Sum of all Fears wit Ben Aflec. Mixed results IMO. I give the movie makers credit for trying.
That was the best part of that movie, the scene with the Backfires attacking the carrier.
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on October 02, 2013, 10:47:17 PM
its interesting that so many of us stopped after BatD.
I liked BatD well enough -- it didn't make much sense in real history anymore, but I thought it made enough sense in the context of the alternate history Clancy had been building in his books for a while.
But I felt like it had brought all the major and minor characters to completions of their character arcs (almost a Red Storm Rising completion in itself), and I had other books to read than starting a new book about Ryan's son.
Quote from: JasonPratt on October 03, 2013, 09:17:47 AM
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on October 02, 2013, 10:47:17 PM
its interesting that so many of us stopped after BatD.
I liked BatD well enough -- it didn't make much sense in real history anymore, but I thought it made enough sense in the context of the alternate history Clancy had been building in his books for a while.
But I felt like it had brought all the major and minor characters to completions of their character arcs (almost a Red Storm Rising completion in itself), and I had other books to read than starting a new book about Ryan's son.
Those are good points Jason. It wasn't that I felt BatD was terrible, but it did seem like the conclusion to the Jack Ryan Sr. series. I didn't have much interest in the Jack Ryan Jr. stuff that came after.
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on October 02, 2013, 10:47:17 PM
its interesting that so many of us stopped after BatD.
Me too. I think i lost all appetite for the books after that one. I did read a couple of his non-fiction books.
Red Storm Rising remains my favorite Clancy novel overall. Of the Jack Ryan books, I'd say it was a tie between
Patriot Games and
Cardinal of the Kremlin.
Quote from: mirth on October 03, 2013, 10:18:29 AM
Quote from: JasonPratt on October 03, 2013, 09:17:47 AM
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on October 02, 2013, 10:47:17 PM
its interesting that so many of us stopped after BatD.
I liked BatD well enough -- it didn't make much sense in real history anymore, but I thought it made enough sense in the context of the alternate history Clancy had been building in his books for a while.
But I felt like it had brought all the major and minor characters to completions of their character arcs (almost a Red Storm Rising completion in itself), and I had other books to read than starting a new book about Ryan's son.
Those are good points Jason. It wasn't that I felt BatD was terrible, but it did seem like the conclusion to the Jack Ryan Sr. series. I didn't have much interest in the Jack Ryan Jr. stuff that came after.
This sums up my feelings as well. I stopped with BatD because it felt like the conclusion to the main Jack Ryan/John Clark series.