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06-14-2010, 09:06 PM | #1 |
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Would you recommend Tom Clancy to someone who has never read military/spy novels?
Hey guys,
Tom Clancy is a prolific writer and a lot of people seem to love his work, so I'm curious more than anything. I feel neutral about the genre and I suppose that stems from being inexperienced with the material. I usually read scifi and fantasy with a little bit of political non-fiction every once in a while. Is he a good writer? Would his stuff interest someone like me? |
06-14-2010, 09:29 PM | #2 |
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I surely would. I love the Jack Ryan series. Might as well start with the first (Hunt for Red October)
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06-14-2010, 09:49 PM | #3 |
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I second that. Clancy is certainly among the very best of the genre and I can't think of a better author to begin with if you want to check out political/military thrillers. And yes, The Hunt for Red October is the perfect place to start. Good film too.
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06-14-2010, 09:51 PM | #4 |
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Great books. I've worked on a couple of the projects in his books. We loved to read them for the 'shout outs'. Jack Ryan's a great character.
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06-14-2010, 09:54 PM | #5 |
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I only read The Hunt for Red October - reluctantly - because I'd enjoyed the movie years earlier. I'd avoided Clancy thinking - guns, boats, planes shooting each other, yawn. But after reading THfRO, I realized that at, least until the last few of the series, his Jack Ryan series is about characters and relationships - and it wasn't just a series of "Jack Bigguns banked his plane 38.47 degrees while increasing throttle 8.3% resulting in him shooting everyone."
I was glad to expand my horizons. |
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06-14-2010, 10:16 PM | #6 |
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Clancy's early books are very good indeed. Hunt For Red October is gripping and brilliant. Red Storm Rising was not as good; a little too overreaching. Patriot Games is very good, Cardinal of the Kremlin in my opinion one of his two best, along with "Hunt for Red October.
Without Remorse and Debt of Honor are very good. After that in my opinion he went downhill a lot, and indeed I suspect he used ghost writers. Rainbow Six is so bad I lost interest in his further efforts. |
06-15-2010, 09:36 AM | #7 |
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Thanks folks. I'll check The Hunt for Red October after I'm done reading my current book (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
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06-15-2010, 12:08 PM | #8 |
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No, I wouldn't. I have read and enjoyed the Jack Ryan books, but I think for someone new to the genre he is much too detail oriented.
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06-15-2010, 03:49 PM | #9 |
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I very much enjoyed the Tom Clancy's starting with Hunt For Red October, Dale Brown's starting with Flight Of The Old Dog and Harold Coyle's starting with Sword Point. All 3 authors I eventually got a little tired of but the first 4-5 of each I thought were excellent. (and the first Clancy was Red Storm Rising, an excellent book)
The spy stuff, you can't do better than trying out Robert Ludlum's Bourne Identity or Trevanian's Shibumi. John Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy if you like less adventure, more realistic. Last edited by wayspooled; 06-15-2010 at 03:51 PM. |
06-15-2010, 06:36 PM | #10 |
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Surely that depends on the reader's preference.....? To say Clancy is unsuitable simply because he includes a lot of detail seems rather nonsensical to me. My first book of the genre was Red Storm Rising and I loved it, detail or no detail.
Last edited by Belfaborac; 06-15-2010 at 06:39 PM. |
06-16-2010, 01:36 AM | #11 |
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Without Remorse is one of my favorite books. I think its his best.
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06-16-2010, 03:21 AM | #12 |
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"Red Storm Rising" is excellent. Of course, it's been overtaken by history (no more Soviet Union), but as a thriller, it's still one of my favourites.
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06-16-2010, 02:50 PM | #13 |
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The Rainbow Six books were good reads too. Good Special Ops stuff where he didn't get too bogged down in the heavy techno details
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06-16-2010, 03:35 PM | #14 |
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I think what I would like is maybe stories about the psychology of the special/black ops soldiers and what goes through their minds when they are involved in high-stakes missions at the behest of their government. I don't really want pulpy nonsense action just for the sake of pulpy nonsense action.
Already planning on getting Red October, but anything like this from Clancy (or any other author really)? |
06-16-2010, 09:51 PM | #15 |
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Red Storm Rising is still a cracking good yarn about what could have happened if the Cold War had gone they way a lot of us expected it to in the 80's. Can't recommend it enough!
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