Rating: 
Summary: Love it or hate it
Review: This is a controversial book. You either love it or hate it. Those who give negative reviews to this book are big Clancy fans and love most of his other books. As you begin reading this book, you begin to notice the flaws in Clancy's writing (cardboard characters, repititions, the need to bring back characters in contrived and unnecesssary subplots, right wing pontificating, wooden dialog, etc). You then began to reflect on his older books and realize that those flaws have always been present. But, in the older books, those flaws weren't as prevelant and the stories were so exciting and the endings were so good, that you would tend not to notice the flaws. In this book, every flaw is greatly magnified, large portions of the book (especially the beginning) aren't very exciting and the ending is a bust. A number of people have complained that there are too many subplots. But, Clancy does a very good job of jumping between them. The real problem is that most of them have unsatisfactory conclusions or no conclusion at all. There is one extremely good part of this book, but it was probably unintentional on Clancy's part. That part is the last line of the book. Clancy finally turns Jack Ryan into a three dimensional character by evolving him into a sleazy politician. All throughout the book, Ryan insists he doesn't want to be president. But after kicking the butt of his political and international enemies, and getting the taste of real power, he changes his mind and says we will run for reelection.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent book
Review: A very entertaining book. Jack Ryan's assuming the Presidency and facing the tasks at hand is very well detailed. After averting an attempt by the former Vice-President to cause problems Ryan next has to face an Ebola virus unleashed by the Iranians. The gun battle with the terrorists who attempt to kidnap Ryan's baby pick this book up to another notch. The discovery of an Iranian mole on the White house Secret Service detail is a unique approach in writing. The ending where the Ayatollah is punished is outstanding. All in all a very good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Im soooo Sorry Tom...
Review: Okay, first of all, I want to mention that I have nothing against Tom Clancy. He is a great author, and write's amazing books....but, this book was a little different. It starts off great! The capitol building is demolished by a plane crash, and the president dies, and tons more. But then the technical part of Tom Clancy emerged. For nearly 1000 pages, I was bored to death and often fell asleep with this book in my lap. When I woke up I was on page 1190, and another boring part of the book emerged-Tom Clancy's descriptive and technical war descriptions. So, I fell back to sleep and woke up during the final good part-the bombing of the UIR president. All in all, if you can read 1000 pages an hour, this book won't seem so bad, but otherwise...make sure you bring some caffeine pills and drink some coffee cause this one can put you to sleep, but it can also improve your physical look, seeing how it weighs about 10-15 pounds. Thanks anyways Tom...
Rating: 
Summary: A different Tom Clancy
Review: Executive Orders was a book with many subplots that weaved together almost perfectly at the end of the story. If any book is filled with suspense, it was this book; 90% of the subplots start without you having any idea of what's going on. But then toward the end, you can see just how these subplots relate to the story. This was the first Tom Clancy book I read, and at the time, I thought it was FABULOUS, but then I read The Hunt For Red October and realized that I just wasn't expecting much of Tom Clancy when I read Executive Orders. When I finished The Hunt For Red October, I also realized how much better Tom Clancy could have been when writing Executive Orders. This is one of the reasons that I gave this book only 3 stars. The book also could easily have been shortened. If you don't mind, I'd like to tell you my thoughts on why the book is so long: Have you ever noticed that long books seem to be very popular or classic? War and Peace:1455 pages, Don Quixote:1050 pages, Les Miserables:1466 pages, etc. Are you getting my drift? I think that maybe he made it overlong because "long" nowadays can be translated into "Obviously good because if it's long, it must have a big complex plot and have lots of character development". There is a phrase that I think means a lot, but people seem to ignore it: "Brevity is the soul of wit."
Rating:
Summary: Get it from the library
Review: This book is a good example of too many confusing and unrelated subplots. In addition, there is very little character development throughout the entire novel. Why must we continue to read about Jack Ryan's rise to power and unending battles against evil, foreign and domestic? I think the peak of Tom Clancy's entertainment value has come and gone. Isn't it time to begin exploring newer plot lines revolving around some fresh characters?
Rating:
Summary: Contrived, cliched, tired junk
Review: Let me begin by stating that I am a big Tom Clancy fan, at least through Patriot Games. However the clumsy dialogue that first appeared in that novel (Jack getting chummy with Prince of Wales) has exploded through Clancy's novels like a weed on Miracle-Gro. Clancy did not write this book so much as spew it forth, counting the dollars to be earned with each keyboard stroke. Much of this book is stuff we have already seen, not just from other authors, but from Clancy himself. The military aspects of the plot, which is probably TC's strongest suit, are basically ones that we have seen before. The plot twists just aren't there like they used to be in his earlier works. This book annoys beyond endurance by: 1) constantly flipping back and forth between the various subplots; 2) Clancy heavy-handedly crams his sophomoric political views down the reader's throat at every possible opportunity (although he absurdly tries to assert that Ryan is nonpartisan). Clancy makes Rush Limbaugh look like a more liberal George Will. 3) Clancy cannot write a single decent, credible female character. I am sure that various feminists have crucified him in his first four or five novels for not portraying women at all (or when he did, portraying Jack Ryan's physician wife as a ditzy little arm ornament). However, Clancy's efforts to cure that problem are just so clumsy that it is painful. One of Clancy's biggest problems is that none of his characters are at all normal or average - they are caricatures, often childish ones. Clancy's female characters are even less realistic - they are either simpering bimbos or ultra cool, ultra hip-but-pretty-but-tough dudettes. It sure would be nice to see Clancy return to the quality of books like Red Storm Rising, Hunt for Red October and Cardinal of the Kremelin. This is one to be obtained from the library.
Rating:
Summary: One of Clancy's Best
Review: I can't improve upon the other reviews on this page. I just wanted to say that it was awesome that finally Ryan is in a position of power. I love Clark and his presence within the storyline is minimal, but strong. Great Job Mr. Clancy.
Rating:
Summary: Nobody Does It Better
Review: I HIGHLY and enthusiastically recommend this book! Tom Clancy is the Michael Jordan of his genre: Not only is he clearly the best there is, he redefines what being the best is. He truly possesses Plimpton's "x-factor." Yes, Executive Orders is long, has many subplots, and is very detailed -- so much the better! I finished the 1,358th page and wanted more. For sheer entertainment value, this book can't be beat. Sadly, there is also a bit of fantasy here. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our government officials really did just do their jobs and tell us the truth whenever possible? Ah well, this is a work of fiction, after all. Well done again, sir! Excellent well! I very much look forward to The Bear and The Dragon.
Rating:
Summary: Complex and Riveting, that's all I have to say
Review: Executive Orders started fast from the get-go. The Capitol building engulfed in flames. Now if that's not an exciting start, I don't know what is. The paperback of "Executive Orders" is 1,358 pages long, and I will admit that Clancy can get a little wordy at times, but most of the hunk of the book is due to the numerous sub-plots. Normally sub-plots are pretty boring and are just a means to make the book too complex or boring. And at the start of this book, it seems that the sub-plots are meaningless. But as the story progresses, you begin to realize that they are all connected one way or another. Clancy left at least a couple of sub-plots dangling at the end of the story, but I was glad that at least he cleared up the relevance of them in retrospect the overall story. But then I kind of like the fact that he left them dangling, because then you can make up your own ending. Jack Ryan is a much more well developed and round character now. Anybody who reads this book will get to see who John Patrick Ryan really is. If your thinking about getting this book to read, don't make the mistake of thinking it'll be a breeze, because, I won't lie to you, this book is LONG, but it's a great story, and the ideal pick for anyone who's looking for action, drama, suspense, tragedy, mystery, and inrigue all mixed into one book!
Rating:
Summary: executive orders
Review: I could not beliveve the negative reviews that Executive Orders received. Along with Debt of honor, this was the most spell binding of all. I, and my family loved it! Thanks Mr Clancy. Please don't allow Jack Ryan to dissappear. I noticed that in Rainbow Six Jack was referrerd to only twice, once as his friend the president and once as just Jack.
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