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Summary: Action adventure classic, a must read
Review: A standard MacLean book, which means that it is a must read for fans of red-hot action and twisted intrigue. The movie doesnt even do it justice!
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Summary: Disappointed Clancy fans should discover MacLean!
Review: Alistair MacLean could keep readers on the edge of their chairs as they read and as they watched the many movies made from his books. Where Eagles Dare is one of his best.
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Summary: Don't Think Too Hard
Review: Alistair MacLean was not famous for his subtlety. He wasn't even a very good writer (he hated the physical act of writing). But no one ever spun a more taut yarn than MacLean. His early books might be tiresome in spots (even the famous "Guns of Navaronne"), but by the time he wrote books like "When Eight Bells Toll", "Ice Station Zebra", "Breakheart Pass", and others, he whacked out all the fat and built aaction/suspense stories of amazing complexity, that grip from the first page and never let go. With "Where Eagles Dare" he was at the height of his storytelling abilities. It's an unremitting book. Oddly enough, though Clint Eastwood slaughters Germans in their thousands in the movie, in the book the characters are more restrained and only kill out of necessity. A great trait of MacLean's is the ability to coil stories through double and treble crosses -- and perhaps more! There's always a traitor in the midst in MacLean, and this slab of treachery is mind-boggling. This is a book that's difficult to put down. MacLean isn't Tolstoy -- but Tolstoy couldn't have written anything so full of hair-raising adventure, either.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Think Too Hard
Review: Alistair MacLean was not famous for his subtlety. He wasn't even a very good writer (he hated the physical act of writing). But no one ever spun a more taut yarn than MacLean. His early books might be tiresome in spots (even the famous "Guns of Navaronne"), but by the time he wrote books like "When Eight Bells Toll", "Ice Station Zebra", "Breakheart Pass", and others, he whacked out all the fat and built aaction/suspense stories of amazing complexity, that grip from the first page and never let go. With "Where Eagles Dare" he was at the height of his storytelling abilities. It's an unremitting book. Oddly enough, though Clint Eastwood slaughters Germans in their thousands in the movie, in the book the characters are more restrained and only kill out of necessity. A great trait of MacLean's is the ability to coil stories through double and treble crosses -- and perhaps more! There's always a traitor in the midst in MacLean, and this slab of treachery is mind-boggling. This is a book that's difficult to put down. MacLean isn't Tolstoy -- but Tolstoy couldn't have written anything so full of hair-raising adventure, either.
Rating: 
Summary: 5 stars in the 1970s, 4 stars today
Review: Alistair Maclean weaves as good a tale of intruige and unexpected plot twists as anyone, and he did it better in the 1970s than anyone. When compared with today's similar action adventures by authors such as Tom Clancy, however, Maclean's come up only slightly second best.Even with that being the case, Maclean's books, and WHERE EAGLES DARE in particular are worth a look. In this book, set during WWII not long before D-Day, an American general who is one of the chief planners for D-Day is shot down over Germany. British intelligence decides to send in a top-flight group of agents to try to rescue him from an impregnable castle fortress in Bavaria. The leader of the group, Smith, is accompanied by 5 other British agents and an American, Shaffer (not to mention a woman who is part of the endeavor, known only to Smith). Smith is completely British, including his humor, while Shaffer is completely American -- including American humor. This is a fast read, at only a little over 200 pp., quite a bit shorter than the 400+ pages of Clancy's works. The dialogue is good, the plot development and its twists and turns are great. There is not a lot of depth of character development, just enough to carry the story, but the action and suspense make up for it. As you probably know, this book was made into a movie starring Richard Burton as Smith, and Clint Eastwood as Shaffer. The movie is quite faithful to the book, including dialogue directly from the novel. They kill fewer people in the novel than in the book -- Shaffer and Smith both come across as being more gentle, still cold-blooded, but gentle, than in the movie. Keep an eye out for Shaffer's falling for Heidi -- something that doesn't happen in the movie. It's a good, fun, summer read. 4 stars. Be careful out there! Alan Holyoak
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Summary: Amazing World War Two Adventure!
Review: Alistair Maclean's novel, 'Where Eagles Dare,' is a great adventure story that takes the reader back to the desperate days of World War Two. The story centers around a crack British commando team infiltrating a Bavarian stronghold to rescue a high-ranking American officer. From start to finish this is riviting fiction. Maclean's protagonists are the kind of characters that make you want to cheer and the plot contains enough twists to keep you guessing right up to the end. The movie version of this novel, which stars Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood, is one of the the most faithful film interpretations of a book ever made. Read the book and then see the film!
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Summary: Classic
Review: an adventure classic! ive seen the movie 9 times, and looking forward to the tenth. maclean brings out the intricacies of the plot and the setting with fluid ease.
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Summary: Wonderful story
Review: Excellent characterization, witty dialogue, and a superb plot with a thrilling twist at the end make this one of Maclean's best. I can't think of a single hero (including Bond) who can stand up next to one of Maclean's heroes without wilting a little. This happens to be one of the few stories wherein I can also recommend the movie.
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Summary: One of my favorite MacLean's still a page turner
Review: Growing up in the UK my reading material was an eclectic mixture of Enid Blyton children's adventure novels, Ian Fleming and John Gardner espionage tales and Alistair MacLean wartime escapades. It was in this environment that my love for well crafted tales of suspense, adventure and espionage was fostered and nowhere is this more apparent than in the MacLean thriller WHERE EAGLES DARE.
Second among my favorite MacLean works (my all-time favorite being WHEN EIGHT BELLS TOLL) the storyline for WHERE EAGLES DARE was faithfully recreated for the 1960s movie with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood (not surprising really since MacLean adapted his own novel for the screen).
A group of British Commando's along with an American Ranger parachute behind the German lines in World War 2. Their stated mission: the rescue of an American General who has been captured by the Nazi's and taken to a mountaintop fortress.
Of course like many I had seen the movie several times before finally settling down to read the book, but settle down I did and what a ride MacLean treated us to. The action is well described with white-knuckle realism and MacLean's complex and intricate plotting is both well structured and compelling. For those unfamiliar with either the book or the novel there is also a nice twist that to this day has me marveling at its pure ingenuity.
Okay so the dialogue may not be the best, but I for one do not read MacLean novels for their dialogue.
For adventure novels, MacLean is the master as much as Agatha Christie is the Queen of the whodunnit. I wish that the entire series of novels would be reprinted for a new generation to enjoy.
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Summary: Are you a Worl War 2 fanatic
Review: Have you ever read a book that is thrilling? Well Allistar McLean has written many outstanding books and he is a very noticeable writer from the late 1960s, he has won many awards since his first books. One of the best books include "Floodgate", "the guns of Navarone". "HMS Ulysses" and of course "Where Eagles dare". Allistar McLean is a writer that puts a lot of enthusiasm in his books. He also is a very sentimental writer when he writes his books, expressing his feelings in the characters. He can do a better book of war than a war-thrilling author, because of his way of writing.
For me the best book he has written is "Where Eagles Dare", it is about 8 ally agents, 7 men and a woman land behind enemy lines during World War Two. Their mission: to rescue an American general held at the Gestapo HQ before the nazis making reveal information about the D-Day operations. The 8 ally agents suffer a lot of trama in this book, many of them die, and many betrade their own country and the rest keep up with the mission.
Love, death and betrade become the main themes of this awesome book. This book from the moment you start reading it, you feel a need to keep on the reading, it is a sensation that gives that I cannot explain, it is surely a page turning book. From the beginning to the end this book has special touch that will pump up[ your adrenaline veins, your eyes are going to be focused on every word you are reading. This is the first I read fro myself that no one tells me to get it form the library. This book leaves you a lot of things on your mind, like how can some secret agents betrade their own country on a top-secret mission. This is one of the millions of things that make Alistair McLean awesome writer and makes it on hell of a book.
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