Customer Reviews

Red Storm Rising

5 star:		(174)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I read this book when it first came out and was amazed at the perceptive plot and a recent re-reading hasn't changed my view. The characters are well developed and not so simple as the ones in The Hunt for Red October.

The early battle scenes are in many ways the best and I enjoyed seeing the US commanders utterly fail in the initial battles of the North Atlantic. The ground assualts are believable esspecially in the way Tom Clancy presents your views as if a participant and seeing only bits and pieces leaving a general feeling of shock at the destruction and yet never undercutting your ability to follow the overall plot.

The end of the book is a little too tidy, to fast a wrap up and perhaps even anti-climatic. It is not that is is bad it is just that Clancy writes a realistic ending in the sense that battles often end from mutual exhaustion rather than one side soundly defeating the other. In one place the NATO commander realizes that he has stopped the Russians at last and thinks - Now what do I have left to push them back? The answer is not much. Very realistic.

All in all it rates 5 stars. The characters in this book are only matched by the CIA opperative Clark in future books.

Red Storm Rising starts out with muslim men blowing up a oil/gas factory in the former U.S.S.R., and now due to the damage, the hard-line high power Soviet leaders now have to make a decision; let the Soviet economy come to it's knee's, or take out NATO and invade the Middle East for their oil? Destroy NATO and her allies and invade the Middle East. So now, as the Soviet military head's to war, they then plan to get everything in order in 4 months to fight NATO. As the story goes along, we meet Bob Toland; a US Navy captain who is fighting against the Soviet's for their bid for the Middle East. The battles take place in Iceland, and the Baltic sea thanks to submarines.
As the battle get's fiercer, the Soviet's think they have NATO done, but things take a turn for them, and they are being swept back to mother Russia and away from the Middle East. Then in a huge battle to end the war, the Soviet's then back away from their strong holds, and are driven back to their own lines. Eventually WW3 is over, and the Soviet's take a serious defeat.

Red Storm Rising is a very interesting novel, although the Soviet Union is long gone, the book still holds it place as one of the best war novels out there. Also, not only do NATO take a beating, the Soviet's take a beating also, winning some, losing some. A great novel, and definitely one of my favorites.

I thought that the book Red Storm Rising was and amazing book.Its starts off with middle eastern men lighting oil factorinies off in Russia. Tom Clancy shows how well WWIII could eaasily happen in his story.
This is a story about the russian governmant declared war on the middle east and NATO. It shows how one coutry can be defeated so easily. Tom Clancy also shows how our world that we live in is so dependent on oil and gas, and how if one thing goes wrong countries attack each other.

Overall, this was a great book about the trigger affect. That if one thing happens it will set of a chain reaction. It also shows th main character Bob Toland and hes fight on Iceland to retreat the Russians. This was a great book about modern day war.

Red Storm Rising is an awesome book, i loved it so much, i couldnt put it down. The russians blowing things up and shooting people. this is Tom Clancys best book i think. i didnt like rainbow 6 that much but the game is sweet, Tom keep up the good work, you are a genius.

This is probably the best novel ever written that speculates about what a conventional war between NATO and the old Soviet Union would have been like, circa 1985 or so. Of course, when the book was written the Soviet Union still existed, and the possibility of such a war was all too real. Despite the changes in the world since that time, this novel is still highly entertaining and interesting, if perhaps somewhat less relevant.

Without putting out any spoilers, the plot of the novel is straightforward. The Soviet Union suffers a catastrophic failure of its internal fuel/oil supplies, which its leaders learn will soon bring the Soviet economy to its knees. Rather than deciding to deal with this setback through trade and negotiations, the Soviet leadership, dominated by hard-liners, decides to seize the Middle East oil fields immediately following a blitzkrieg campaign against NATO (to distract NATO from intervening in the Middle East). Therein lies the story.

Clancy does an excellent job showing us a scenario of rising tension and the preparations by the Soviets for the surprise attack. His speculations as regards Soviet strategy, while imaginative, are very reasonable and plausible. In fact, supposedly the strategy in this scenario was "war-gamed" with the superb strategy game "Harpoon."

Like most Clancy novels, the character development here takes a backseat to the military-political story he is trying to tell, but the novel is fine for all that, and there are in fact some interesting characters in this book. Overall, this book is an interesting and satisfying read, moves along at a brisk pace, and always holds the reader's interest. Without giving anything away, I thought that the ending was very representative of prevailing thought and attitudes prior to the end of the Cold War.

By the way, this is one of the few true Clancy novels that is not a "Jack Ryan" novel. This is not part of the Jack Ryan "universe" and Ryan is nowhere to be found in this novel.

As always, Clancy's depiction and understanding of NATO and Soviet military hardware, strategy, and tactics, is the strength of this book. Even today, this is one to read, and most readers will enjoy reading this one more than once.

This book is a highly gripping account of what a war between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. might have looked like. Tom Clancy keeps the story fresh by alternating between several sub-plots, which ultimately all converge. Clancy is a master storyteller who puts the reader right in the middle of the action. He provides just the right amount of technical detail when it comes to military equipment and operations. As a former Army officer, I learned quite a bit about the Naval tactics from this book. Clancy is also very good at choosing and developing his characters. The story could probably have been a little shorter without losing any of its punch, but overall a great work and a pleasure to read.

I picked this up one day never haven read a Tom Clancy Book. I know what the hype is about. This book takes you right into the action and gets your oriented what World War III would have been like. You'll go from American Subs and Carriers to the German/NATO Front Lines to the Soviet Ground and Air Assault. This book has everything!! Submarine and navy warfare, land and air based, and probably the deadlist, political warfare. If you're like me it'll take you longer than usual to get through this book because I was looking in a Atlas or on the internet for more research into the all the machines, acroynms, maps, and so forth. At the end of this book you'll have new respect and love for geography, world affairs, global warfare, Military structure, Militaries and their cool toys, and the master knowledge and penmanship that is Tom Clancy. A+++

A look into a very possible future is what this is all about. The idea of Muslim terrorists operating in "the former Soviet Union" is a reality - not a possibility. The notion of ethnic problems is also a reality. And the possibility of parts of the former Soviet military rising and acting independently is a nightmare waiting to happen.

As usual, Clancy deals with international capitals, intelligence gathering, detail-packed war plans and battles as well as all the political ramifications. The battlefield shifts across huge areas but throughout, he keeps the story unified without bulging apart at the seams.

The real problem is that Russia extremely weak economically, politically and militarily but still has lots of deadly hardware just waiting for an owner. The Iceland scenario was really daring if not exactly plausible. Oil and resources will continue to cause problems in the future. Great personalities / great battle scenes. Vintage Clancy.

I thought that Red Storm Rising was a really incredible tale of modern warfair. The detail that was used in this story was amazing. It seemed like Tom Clancy took in to account all of the factors that would go in to a modern war situation between two super powers like Russia and the NATO countries. I have read a few other pieces by Clancy including The Hunt For Red October which i also thought was very good. I really enjoyed reading Red Storm Rising, just like i have enjoyed other Tom Clancys. I love the way that Tom writes. All of the story lines are so interesting to me. I cant wait until I have the opportunity to be able to read his newest piece The Teeth and the Tiger. All in all i felt that Red Storm Rising was an excellent piece that I feel any war junkie like myself should read. It really gives insight to a world that I was prevously not familier with. I would defienatly give this book a 5 out of 5 stars. I highly recomened this book to people of all ages. ENJOY!!!

Okay so I made those words up. They're not actual military terms. Buried in this Tom Clancy book though, I doubt that anyone except submarine and naval experts would even notice. I've never heard of an author doing TOO much research for a book. I think Clancy lost touch with the everyday reader if he thinks anyone would understand enough of the jargon he spews here to care about this book. And when jargon is all a book offers (characters? what characters?) the book, to put in simple, non-Clancian terms, SUCKS! Clearly it's not the dumbest book I've ever read, but it is the worst. I make it a mission never to stop a book once I've started, and never to refuse reading a book given to me. This book made me question the value of such a mission. Too boring, too long, too technical, too empty.