Dancing with the Dragon

Rating:
Summary: Honey? Where'd I leave my High Altitude Penetration Chute?
Review: I had a real high stress job in the '80's and the late '80's and I decided to go back to one of my first loves, reading. I hadn't read a novel in years and I was literally, killing myself. So I picked up Joe Weber's "Rules of Engagement." My recollection of it was that it was a little superficial but good plotting. Trouble was, I hadn't read a book in 10 years. So by that standard it was "War and Peace" meets "Tale of Two Cities" with "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" thrown in.

Since that time I have probably read 50 books a year but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Joe Weber.

Well Joe, we're even. I don't know where you were going with "Dancing with the Dragon," but you didn't get there.

PLOT: Confusing. I lost track of what ocean I was in, what frigate I was chasing, who was flying what and what type of aircraft was being flown. C

INFERENCE: I was uncomfortable with the racism, but more importantly, I was uncomfortable with the assumption that all Chinese were evil or drunk or drunk and evil, politicians are fat, and that there are two ex-military pilots that are on a first name basis with the Secretary of Defense, State, NSC and the President. C-

DIALOGUE: I think that the characters should be allowed to report what has happened and what they are going to do about it, once in awhile for the reader's benefit. This is a good way to keep the characters, the reader and the writer figuratively and literally on the same page.

But every page we have these silly conversations between Scott and "whatever she is to him" on why this happened, what could have happened, why what could have happened didn't happen and what they're going to do about it." This is really exceptionally tedious. D

CHARACTERS: Come on. I kind of like Spenser and Susan where they go into the bedroom and the next scene we see is that pathetic dog sleeping on the bed with them and Susan is sighing and Spenser is trying to reach over to the bedstand to turn on the Red Sox game. 'Nuff said. We're all adults. We don't need a schematic.

But Scott and Jackie? Do they like eachother? Do they kiss? Do they sleep together? How about a really hot tango? Something. The two of them have got to be the most un-fun, robotic couple since Ward and June Cleaver. F

CONCEPT: Hey. Chinese holograms at 30 and 40 thousand feet fooling any number of Air Force and Navy pilots with engineering degrees and letters in physics. I don't think so.

But the laser beam that blows up spacecraft has some merit. I think Flash Gordon and Dr. Zharkoff got wacked that way in the 1930's. D

Sorry. I'd like to tell you what it was about but I'm just not sure.

Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: I have read Weber books before- most notably Primary Target, which was very realistic and actually pre-dated the methods of a lot of the terrorist threats in a post-9/11 world.
This book is a disappointment with an improbable plot, paper-thin characters and a surprising lack of action. Thrillers can get away with the first fault and still be good reads, but lacking in the other two is pretty inexcusable. The main characters spend most of the book discussing how bad China is, talk about China's rise to power at the strangest times in situations, and their conversations sound like a political science paper each time.
The action really only starts at the end and manages to miss any opportunity to redeem itself, for example a sea-air battle over Taiwan that sometimes just consists of listing the ship names that were sunk.
If you want to read books about war with China, read Dale Brown's Sky Masters or Fatal Terrain, do not read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Insulting
Review: I love a good pulp-action book, but this book is just insulting. I will give him credit for his aviation knowledge, it seems pretty complete. However he clearly knows little about real life in the military. I'm guessing he was in a few years at best. His mistakes are about the only thing fun about this book. What this really comes down to though is the guy can't write, and the book is boring. Don't waste your money.

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Weber Novel
Review: I read my first Joe Weber novel (Primary Target) in 1999 and, I must say, I was hooked by his writing style. Weber combines gripping action, a well-thought-out plot, believable characters and a pace that moves at break-neck speed. Unlike some who write military techno-thrillers, he doesn't slow down the action with techno-babble. When I heard he had a new book out (Dancing with the Dragon) I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy. I cleared my weekend calendar and dove in headfirst. I was not disappointed. In typical Weber fashion, the action begins on page one with the downing of an F/18 off the coast of Southern California by a strange 'bogey.' The pilot of the downed plane was a close friend of Scott Dalton (Primary Target). Dalton and Jackie Sullivan, who have an aviation consulting business as a front for their covert operations, are asked by the pilot's widow to look into the unusual circumstances surrounding the crash. Before you can say, "heat-seeking-missile," they find themselves in the middle of a Pentagon cover-up. Several U.S. military planes have been mysteriously downed by what the Pentagon, stretched thin by the war on terrorism, is calling, "routine training accidents." The President's National Security Advisor suspects something sinister afoot and puts Dalton and Sullivan on the case to find out who and/or what is behind the crashes. Their investigation leads them to a secret Chinese weapon's laboratory in Northern California, which was run by a group of prominent scientists from around the globe. With the exception of a Chinese-American, Dr. Richard Cheung, all the scientists have met an untimely demise. The Chinese are holding Cheung at their weapons development laboratory in Mianyang, China. It soon becomes clear that they plan to make their move on Taiwan, and their newly acquired laser weapon is an integral part of their plan. Dalton and Sullivan are tasked by President Chord Macklin (Primary Target) to rescue Dr. Cheung and, in so doing; to determine how many laser weapons the Chinese have deployed - a critical piece of intelligence to the U.S. if it is to become involved in a shooting war with China. As Dalton and Sullivan prepare to take on their mission, tensions between the U.S. and China heat up to the boiling point. The Chinese trap a U.S. Navy warship and its crew in the locks of the Panama Canal. President Macklin goes toe to toe with the Chinese President and all-out war seems imminent.
If you enjoy military action, Dancing with the Dragon is a must read. Be sure to set aside plenty of free time. Once you pick it up, you won't want to put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Wasted Time
Review: I'll admit this up front: I couldn't even finish this book, it's that bad. Other reviewers have sufficiently covered the weaknesses in the plot, but I became so weary of Dalton and Sullivan trying to out-talk each other, and trying to prove to me, and perhaps themselves, that they really are interesting, intelligent people, that I had to put the book away. This whole book seems devoted to showing just how many different types of aircraft Dalton and Sullivan can have blown out from under them without suffering a single scratch or hangnail. I love flying, and I love well-spun flying yarns, but landing a Beech Bonanza after a bomb has exploded on board stretches the limits of credibility for me. I have to wonder what kind of self-respecting assassin plants a bomb in a Beech Bonanza that only blows the engine off its mounts. One would think that a power like China would arm its operatives with enough C4 to obliterate such a tiny plane, but that would have brought this book to a mercifully quick close.

I'm also becoming weary of China as the main protagonist with current military thriller authors. Coyle invented a conflict with the Hungarians and the French that was refreshing a few years ago. Larry Bond wrote a great book involving the South Africans. The last three books I've read in this genre have centered around China doing something dastardly to conquer Taiwan. It's a worn out plotline, and I wish these guys would move on. There are plenty of potential adversaries out there, but this current crop of authors seems to lack the collective will to sit down and develop a plot that introduces something new to the genre. For a lesson on how that can be done, I would recommend the Honor Harrington series, written by David Weber. If you're a military sci-fi fan, and you enjoy well-written, engaging books, look no further than David Weber.

Sorry I can't comment on the end of Dancing with the Dragon, but I just couldn't slug my way through it. Pure drudgery.

Rating:
Summary: As entertaining as a boring MTV video.
Review: I'm having a hard time deciding whether to claim that this book is racist drivel or to give it the benefit of the doubt and call it poorly written jingoistic propaganda. Although based on a relatively standard "foreign-power with new super-weapon" premise, the plot is quickly relegated to the role of flimsy framework for long diatribes about how evil, irrational, and dangerous the Chinese government and Chinese people are. American soldiers are uniformly brave and noble warriors, Chinese officials are uniformly froth-spewing dictators (when not insane), and Chinese soldiers are uniformly incompetent to the level of absurdity. (Oh, and in case you were wondering, Americans of Chinese ancestry are apparently all spies, especially if they're in the US military.) The protagonists have the super-spy nature of James Bond combined with the wealth and connections of your standard W.E.B. Griffin character: Call a few cabinet secretaries before breakfast, execute a few improbable special-ops missions before lunch, and spend the afternoon by the pool of the mansion or flying around in your private plane.

Assuming that you are able to turn off your amazement at the level of mindless stereotyping exhibited by author and characters alike, you still won't find much to hold your interest. There's a whole lot of things happening, but none of it is covered in any depth - it's like trying to find a character's motivation by watching an MTV video. Epic naval, air, and ground battles are squished into a few paragraphs and Bond-esque infiltrations of enemy ships or complexes barely warrant a few paragraphs. The tension you'd expect to find when your hero is trying to parachute onto an enemy boat and gather intelligence without being caught simply isn't there when you've only got a few sentences to read (it doesn't help make things interesting when the guards, being Chinese, are of course drunk, asleep, or stupid.)

If Weber's other books are the same [as]found here, I find it hard to believe that any publisher is still willing to print this stuff. Even within the realm of mass-produced pulp techno-thriller, there's much better out there. Save your money and time.

Rating:
Summary: Insulting
Review: In what amounts to a decent mix of cloak & dagger, high-tech weaponry, and modern day warfare, Dancing With The Dragon presents an appealing adventure story with slight undertones to events that could actually happen.

Upon losing several military aircraft to puzzling explosions, the U.S. president assigns a deep cover troubleshooting team to investigate the losses. As evidence mounts and answers are revealed, the U.S. government learns of a new weapon system possessed by China that has frightening potential. Compounding problems already at hand, China demonstrates its power in a military play for Taiwan while simultaneously wresting control of the strategic Panama Canal. Forcing America to divide its military assets to control both conflicts, escalating tensions push inexorably toward a nuclear showdown.

Dancing With The Dragon is an entertaining read from start to finish and delivers the goods for those looking for an action packed and well written novel.

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: 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.