Debt of Honor

Rating:
Summary: BOOOOOORING
Review: I had never read a tom clancy book until I read this. From the beggining this book was horrible. I stopped after 70 pages. I thought I was reading non-fiction. I think Clancy might have gone overboard with the details on this book. I dont even know what the story is about. Maybe it's just me but unless you want to be board to death dont read this book.

Rating:
Summary: The BEST book i've ever read!
Review: I am a 7th grader from Green Bay, and Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor has been the best book I've ever read. It has a complex plot (as all Tom Clancy books do) that results in 20 of the best pages i have read in my life (of 13 years), filled with surprise, suspence and anxiety. It all starts when Yatama, a businessman from Japan devises a scheme to all but cripple America in many aspects, including its military, the Stock Market, and puts America's politics to the test. It is set into motion when a terrible car crash involving two faulty Japaniese cars collide, and as a result congress passes a new act to all but stop trade between the US and Japan, and from there you will have to buy and read the book. If you liked this book, you should check out the sequel, Executive Orders, which is just as good, if not better than Debt of Honor.

Rating:
Summary: Starts with a whimper, ends with a bang
Review: This is probably one of the best books I've ever read. He never ceases to amaze me with ability to make a complicated plot and make it plausible with plausible solutions. Every little part in the book had a hand in the overall plot. As said by many other reviewers, his attention to detail is unparalleled. You feel like your a bystander watching the action unfold.

The book is not without faults, though. Sometimes he gets a little carried away with details. He knows his stuff, but it does get a little tiresome reading. I found the first 300 pages hard to read, but it paid off at the end. Another thing is that his bad guys are easily hated. They do not quite seem three dimensional. The best thing about the book is the ending. The last ten pages I knew what was going to happen but I could not put the book down. It does not stop until you run out of pages.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Read!
Review: This was a very readable book. A Japanese industrialist seeks to gain revenge on the Unites States for the death of his parents in World War II. It is a masterplan that entails both military and financial actions. The industrialist brings the countries of America,Japan,India,and China close to the brink of war. This underhanded industrialist has also got plans to disrupt the financial markets. After finally taking care of these situations Jack Ryan and the Unites States are prepared to strike back. The final scene of this book is beyond description. You will be totally shocked. This is a good book. Be sure to read it.

Rating:
Summary: Great action, but I don't buy the politics...
Review: "Debt of Honor," viewed strictly as a techno-thriller, works exceedingly well...until you begin to ask yourself questions about the scenario.

1) Why would the Chinese want anything to do with the Japanese, given the history behind the two countries?

2) Why would the United States want to set off an all-out trade war with any country, much less Japan? Trade problems usually lead to war (in fact, the same trade act that gets us into a shooting war with Japan in this book gets us into another war with China in a later book); perhaps that's Clancy's point, but the way he plays it, I don't think so.

3) Japan is a democratic nation, and the Japanese people have nothing but revulsion for nuclear weapons (understandable, since they're the only nation on earth that has suffered a nuclear attack); why would the Japanese government, which IS popularly elected, bother deploying such weapons?

Perhaps these criticisms are endemic to the "parallel universe" that Clancy's United States inhabits (in a previous book, for example, America completely does away with all of its land and sea-based ICBMs, which is exceedingly unrealistic), but it's evident to me that Clancy thinks this is all relevant to our real situation as well. The thinking reader might have quibbles with that.

Carping aside, this IS a darned good read, though. This is probably the last Jack Ryan book in which he appears as a real flesh-and-blood character, not just a right wing caricature (the transformation starts in "Executive Orders," and is completed in the latest Clancy book), and many of the other characters (especially Robby Jackson) are quite interesting as well.

All of the trademark Clancy tech-war stuff is present and accounted for as well, particularly the naval battles, which are VERY exciting. And the climax is absolutely incredible; it gives me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach just thinking about how easy such an act would be to carry off.

"Debt of Honor" also does a nice job of accurately depicting how the Japanese system works, and the importance of the "Zaibatsu" (a group of top Japanese industrialists).

Overall, a good read...if you can get past the political setup. If you can, this becomes a four-star book; I really couldn't, which held it to three stars.

Rating:
Summary: A tedious, flawed economic text
Review: Utter drivel, the worst Clancy I have read (and that includes the Netforce series). Most Clancy books need about 200 pages before it really kicks off - I did not find this book remotely interesting until at least 700 pages. A decent editor would say, OK Tom, the story is OK but please cut down the length (500 pages max will suffice). Too much ecomomic details appear which can lose or bore a military oriented reader. And cut down the American jingoism.

Rating:
Summary: Tom Clancy does it again
Review: I'm a high school student and have been a Tom Clancy fan for years. I have been used to the action packed political thrillers such as Red Storm Rising and Patriot Games. Now Clancy has brought Wall Street into the mix and made it all that more interesting and enthralling. I couldn't put it down. I think that the plot and characters are superbly conjured and make the story very interesting. I just think that Clancy seems to think that he needs to sell books by the pound.

Rating:
Summary: Okay, Not His Finest
Review: Now understand first: I don't mind long books. Executive Orders was over 350 pages longer, and I gave it 5 stars. Now let me proceed. This book was too long. It could have easily been 300 pages shorter with only minimal detractions to the story. Its story is rather farfetched, and many of the characters aren't developed very well. This falls short of its predacessor in the Ryan series, The Sum of all Fears, and its sucessor, Executive Orders. At least the climax is good.

Rating:
Summary: Close to Perfect!
Review: I just finished Debt of Honor last night and Ill just say it was fanstastic. Dont expect to read the book fast and the fast pace action doesnt come until about 600 or 700 pages into the book. Its interesting enough to keep you in it though, and the last 10 pages are the best of any Clancy book I have read. I cannot give Clancy's book 5 stars though because, unfortanetly he uses foul language not justwith principle characters but even with respectable buissnesmen which is absurd to say the least. He could have put Clark and Chavez in more as those were some of the coolest parts. Also the rather slow start takes away from it. But altogether a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Clancy gives the cash-cow a kick
Review: I'm an avid reader of Tom Clancy's fictional and non-fictional work, and IMHO he has never missed the mark.....except with this one. The plot becomes more preposterous with every turn of the page. The description of the Japanese "sneak" attack on the U.S. (I won't spoil it) is ludicrous, and I actually laughed out loud at the scenario. Some of the extremely over-simplified technological and financial situations border on insulting the average readers' intelligence. I came away with the impression that Clancy had some good ideas, but didn't have the time to develop them individually for his publishing contract. The result is a foul stew of pure tripe.