Rating: 
Summary: Good story, but overly complex
Review: The continuing story of Jack Ryan, now President of the USA, and the trials thrown upon him by the leaders of the world. Again, Clancy can write a compelling novel, keeping track of his immense complexities with ease, requiring his reader to follow to the bitter end to see the outcome. The problem, again, arises in the very complexities he weaves: Like life, Clancy's novels have more people than can conveniently be kept track of, and i am not one to set up a Rolodex file for the purpse of reading a book; nor do i enjoy flipping back the pages i've read to rediscover who i'm reading about; thus i find that all too often i have to read a sentence or two of the new paragraph to be reminded just who the particular character is, what their complaint about Ryan is, and what they are in the process of doing about it. All of which is not to say i dislike Clancy, just that reading him takes a greater effort to keep track of characters than reading anything less than the geneological lists in the book of Numbers.
Rating: 
Summary: Great "listen"
Review: I got the audio CDs to listen to while I went on vacation in Mexico since it was easier to carry five CDs and a CD player than it was to lug around the book. The story was great and the reader was excellent with his ability to add accents to the characters. There were parts of the story where I cheered the reader did such a fine job... though this got a few curious stares from the other people who I was also around the pool.
Rating:
Summary: A Total Adventure
Review: The best!! I haven't read a book this good ever. I couldn't put it down. Tom Clancy has outdone himself. I never thought he beat Hunt for Red October. Jack Ryan is the most unlikely President. From the moment he promotes Price to the attack at the school and then the war, I was spellbound. What is next for President Ryan?
Rating:
Summary: solid where Clancy sticks to what he knows
Review: Monster of a book. Solid where Clancy sticks to what he does best (writing about espionage, warfare, foreign affairs, and so forth), but weak and tedious when Clancy tries to bring in his politics (over a full page devoted to a "flat income tax" doesn't advance the story at all, for example). Weaker than his other books (the next book, Rainbow Six, is much better).
Rating: 
Summary: Worth reading, but it'll take you a while...
Review: Whoa! What a monster of a book! Even though it's a compelling novel this one really needs a strong edit since it's WAY too long, probably twice as long as it needs to be. As in Debt of Honor, there are some exciting moments and the concept of President Ryan is intriguing but muddling your way through the filler to reach those interesting moments can be exhausting. Also, the final scene is too reminiscent of a mediocre action film, the payoff doesn't equal what's been hammered out over the previous 1300 (! ) pgs. Ryan drops a bomb on the Iranian leader that started the biological war. The end. Abrupt and unsatisfying. Still, I find it to be much less confusing and easier to digest than DOH was.
Rating:
Summary: Love it or Hate it
Review: I loved this book. This continuation from the previous book was a good ending to this portion of the saga. Jack Ryan's character has grown from the first novel, and if you have read all of the Clancy novels involving Jack Ryan, then you will see how the character has matured. It is interesting to see a President who does not worry about politics. A President worried about the people, instead of re-election. I have other friends who read Clancy novels, and they either loved it or hated it, as you can see from the previous reviews. I suggest borrowing it and reading the first few chapters. Then, if you like it, buy it. If you don't then you wasted an hour of your time. I personally couln't put the book down.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow and Preachy
Review: Yes, that's not a typo. Clancy has written a book with over 1,300 pages. And so it should come as no surprise that I found the story slow. I mean, how many fast paced 1,300-paged books do you know of? And I do mean SLOW. For those new to the Ryan story to date: ex-CIA action hero turned cabinet member turned VP is now president after the prior president is killed in a suicide bombing run at the end of Debt of Honor. Not just the president, but also just about every other high ranking politico in DC. (Is Clancy hinting something here?). Ryan becomes president and must show the doubters (and those evil media types) that he is a big man and can do the job. Of course, Clancy tries not to stray from his reputation as a techo-guru and so he includes discussions on the investigation into the terrorist attack as well as a superficially indepth look at militia life (a group of militia folk decide to go after the President).Since his early stories, Ryan has become increasingly unlikeable as a character. He will occassionally spout off on rhetoric and make long-winded proclamations on everything from the Russians, so-called "liberals," femanists, to the role of women and the media. This books seems to read like Clancy's own manifesto, a book where the author injects his own beliefs into the main character without bothering to be objective. People who disagree with these views or Ryan are depicted as the bad guys. Ryan, it seems, never makes a mistake: he just has tough choices to make the results of which can cause the loss of lives. Clancy creates too many subplots and does surprisingly short shrift with each of them. This is strange after he has spent hundreds of pages developing each subplot. A story about a rival politician is taken care of in quick order near the end of the book in a nice, neat package. Other subplots (a militia group and terrorist group try to take advantage of the new president) also reach anticlimatic, and unbelievable, conclusions. (i don't want to give a spoiler, but Ryan actually orders a military operation to occur at the same time he is live with a U.S. nation: kinda like a "look, don't mess with us, we are serious, see what we are doing right this very second?" Unfortunately, the long journey to the end of the book is not worth it. What Clancy needs is an editor, someone who will tell the guy to cut down his writing. To get on with it. And to remember that what made his earlier books popular was his plot and storylines. And, of course, someone should ask Clancy to get off his soapbox.
Rating:
Summary: Culmination
Review: This novel is the culmination of the Jack Ryan saga. Gripping, intense and thoroughly believable. Jack Ryan has been one of my favorite characters since his debut. Every new saga was eagerly anticipated. This final novel is the perfect ending to the years of pleasure. It picks up where the previous novel left off with Jack Ryan being sworn in as President. As usual he capably handles adversity while maintaining his humanity. This is Tom Clancy's best work ever! This series is one you can enjoy many times. It's worth re-reading the entire set more than once. I have.
Rating:
Summary: Typical Clancy - Awesome!
Review: If you're a Tom Clancy fan, this is a must read. Even though it's pretty lengthy (about 1400 pages), once you start, you just can't put it down. It continues with Jack Ryan's odyssey through life, with all of his adventures and blunders. Great book!
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but hardly spectacular
Review: Clancy's great gift as a writer has always been his ability to tell a good story, and he does a fair job with this one. However, this isn't a great story, and it's not very well written. Although the concept is quite interesting, Clancy's writing fails in two critical areas: characters and continuity. His characters are generally simple and one-sided: the villains are easy to hate, and the heros are easy to love. Nobody wears a hat, but you get the idea nonetheless. Other than the characters that Clancy has developed over multiple books, there isn't anyone here who really feels quite real. Clancy fans will still root for Jack Ryan and John Clark, but they don't really have much competition here. As for continuity, Clancy loves to pack his novels with subplots, which can be a good thing, but here he apparently bit off more than he could chew, as one subplot is rather arbitrarily cut off. Losing it does not hurt the book, but if he wasn't going to use, Clancy could have improved the book by simply omitting it entirely. Overall, the novel offers an interesting look inside a fictional presidency and is a fun read, but little more.
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