Dancing With the Dragon

Rating:
Summary: Too much incompetence by the opposition to be interesting
Review: Now that the Soviet Union is no more, the authors of novels concerning armed conflict need to find another enemy for the United States to face. The obvious choice is the emerging superpower, the People's Republic of China. There are many points of potential conflict between the U. S. A and the P. R. C., not the least of which is Taiwan. However, for a story to be engaging, it must have a degree of plausibility. It is not enough to simply invent a conflict and it must not be too one-sided so that the outcome is obvious.
In this story, P. R. C. agents recruit American physicists to develop a powerful laser that can be used to blast planes from the sky. This laser is placed on ships and used to destroy some American military planes, which leads to an armed conflict between the nations. It rapidly escalates into a launch of nuclear missiles by the P. R. C. that fortunately do only minor damage.
The main characters are Scott Dalton and Jackie Sullivan, two special American agents who are directly controlled by the U. S. Secretary of Defense. They are sent many different places and always succeed, but their successes stretch the limits of credibility. I have a basic theory about such novels. Any part of the story line must not rely on a level of incredible incompetence of people in power. These two agents sneak deep into the P. R. C. to a military base in an attempt to recover an American physicist who is working for the P. R. C. The base is alerted while they are there, but they fight off the soldiers, fly a helicopter to an airport, take off in a civilian jet, are shot at by Chinese military jets where an engine blown off, and then they successfully land it on an aircraft carrier in very rough seas. This is just too much and I found it all beyond my limits of believability. It is also very hard to believe that the Chinese leadership is so crazy that they would openly begin hostilities and launch nuclear weapons, given the overwhelming American technical and nuclear superiority.
For these reasons, this story lost my attention. The plot stretches the limits of believability far beyond that which makes a good story.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: The buildup of this story is tortuous and improbable. American warplanes are shot out of the sky by what appears to be an alien spacecraft -- which we later discover is a Chinese laser with a holographic projector. (Right!) The president of China assumes dictatorial powers, and China occupies the Panama Canal. Finally, the Mainland Chinese take the final step of attacking Taiwan (to force reunification) and America responds.

Throughout the book, the heroes, Scott Dalton and Jackie Sullivan, take on almost superhuman powers as they fly all softs of high-tech aircraft from Harriers, Lear jets and helicopters; as they brave suicidal James-bond like parachute infiltrations while saving each other's lives; and then dining (in their off hours) in luxurious tropical resorts -- while never once getting romantic.

It takes a lot of twisting (in these solo-superpower times) to create a plausible scenario for world conflict. In Dancing with the Dragon, Joe Webber leads us down every turn. The book is enthralling -- so long as one doesn't take the heroics or the political rhetoric too seriously. Fans of military aviation will surely enjoy the ride.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: The buildup of this story is tortuous and improbable. American warplanes are shot out of the sky by what appears to be an alien spacecraft -- which we later discover is a Chinese laser with a holographic projector. (Right!) The president of China assumes dictatorial powers, and China occupies the Panama Canal. Finally, the Mainland Chinese take the final step of attacking Taiwan (to force reunification) and America responds.

Throughout the book, the heroes, Scott Dalton and Jackie Sullivan, take on almost superhuman powers as they fly all softs of high-tech aircraft from Harriers, Lear jets and helicopters; as they brave suicidal James-bond like parachute infiltrations while saving each other's lives; and then dining (in their off hours) in luxurious tropical resorts -- while never once getting romantic.

It takes a lot of twisting (in these solo-superpower times) to create a plausible scenario for world conflict. In Dancing with the Dragon, Joe Webber leads us down every turn. The book is enthralling -- so long as one doesn't take the heroics or the political rhetoric too seriously. Fans of military aviation will surely enjoy the ride.

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Weber Novel
Review: Weber tells it like it is. The U.S. military, stretched to the breaking point by the war on terrorism, is faced with their worst nightmare - a head-to-head confrontation with China. If you read DEFCON ONE or PRIMARY TARGET, you know that Weber is a master at taking current world events and weaving them into a humdinger of a fictional scenario. As a pilot, I have a special appreciation for his in-depth knowledge of the military and for his technical accuracy. It's clear; he knows where all the bells and whistles are. DANCING WITH THE DRAGON may not appeal to left leaning readers. Weber's books are all pro-military, and President Cord Macklin bears an uncanny resemblance to George W. Bush. Macklin, a former Air Force fighter pilot, is a determined leader with strong convictions. I had to keep reminding myself that this character first appeared in PRIMARY TARGET, published in 1999, almost two years before Bush (43) became president. If you enjoy military action in full after-burner, you won't be disappointed with DANCING WITH THE DRAGON.

Rating:
Summary: Not For the Faint of Heart
Review: Weber tells it like it is. The U.S. military, stretched to the breaking point by the war on terrorism, is faced with their worst nightmare - a head-to-head confrontation with China. If you read DEFCON ONE or PRIMARY TARGET, you know that Weber is a master at taking current world events and weaving them into a humdinger of a fictional scenario. As a pilot, I have a special appreciation for his in-depth knowledge of the military and for his technical accuracy. It's clear; he knows where all the bells and whistles are. DANCING WITH THE DRAGON may not appeal to left leaning readers. Weber's books are all pro-military, and President Cord Macklin bears an uncanny resemblance to George W. Bush. Macklin, a former Air Force fighter pilot, is a determined leader with strong convictions. I had to keep reminding myself that this character first appeared in PRIMARY TARGET, published in 1999, almost two years before Bush (43) became president. If you enjoy military action in full after-burner, you won't be disappointed with DANCING WITH THE DRAGON.

Rating:
Summary: Didn't Quite Work for Me
Review: Weber writes a great action sequence, among the best I have read. Also his geopolitical scenario is well thought out and his military and aviation details are accurate and well researched.

Still, the book fell kind of flat for me. The problem is in the details.

His characters keep getting into chases and fights because they make basic mistakes in spy craft, like giving details over an open phone line. Not what you would expect from a couple of ex-CIA whiz kids.

I won't be giving away much to say that the book involves a war with China and our heroes conduct a dangerous undercover mission. However, I was unable to find any connection between their high-risk mission and the conclusion of the war.

One of the main characters is a female former military fighter jock. I am supposed to expect she accepts constant male chauvinist put-downs. I think not.

Finally, the dialogue has major problems. Much of it is very formal and stilted. It doesn't ring true.

Also, there are multiple sections in the dialogue of what SF authors call the "Don and Ron" where characters tell each other what they already know to advance the plot. "Ron, I am sure you'll recall that an antimatter torpedo only has a range of 5 parsecs." "But Don you must remember you can double that with power from the forward shields." You get the idea.

I finished the book because I bought an autographed copy full price and that made me stubborn. If you like action sequences and can overlook problems with the basic structure, it's a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Another 12 month wait
Review: Well Mr. Weber has done it again. A 300+ page novel of heart stopping action slowing down occasionally so you can catch your breath.
Although this book came out last month, last week the actual headlines in various news outlets read, "China beginning preps to reunify Taiwan". Mr. Weber's crystal ball was right on target again.

What I like the most about the book was the ability to use my imagination to determine outcomes within the book, IE Scott and Jackie's personal life and the significance of there secret mission. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out these things, but each reader may have a different spin on it.

The technical details were accurate and did not bog the story line down (After all who cares what the lat/long is of a microphone on the ocean floor, or how far a photon torpedo will travel in the vacuum of space (If this is information you need get a tech pub).