For the past 1 and a half years I’ve been reading *all* of Tom Clancy’s novel, and I’ve enjoyed all of it! (Until we reach Teeth of the Tiger). But I thought it would only be fair to end my Tom Clancy reading bonanza on a high, so I read what is considered one of his best novels and by some as something of a Nostradamus to how certain things would unfold in a war between east and west technology.
The book doesn’t shy away from war crimes, the justification for war is >! To assassinate a group of young children (I believe they were called young octoberists) by having a KGB sleeper agent place bombs in a kremlin building!< and don’t get me wrong the book doesn’t condone the actions, characters often try to kill their conscience about the matter or find themselves questioning their ideals. It’s a realistic depiction of what WW3 would look like in the 80s if it stayed conventional.
That brings me on to another thing I love about the book, the lack of nukes. Most WW3 novels run the nuclear path because it incites the most interest and the most tension, but this isn’t present in the book as it runs contrary to the USSRs strategic objectives in a perfectly plausible way as in reality, the WW3 in RSR is really a resource war.
This isn’t a spoiler by the way it happens in the first pages, the soviets lose a lot of oil extraction capability so need to get NATO out of the way to invade the Persian gulf.
I did mention how the book was something of Nostradamus, and I’ll elaborate here with something of a list.
>! 1. NATO anti tank weapons tear through Russian armour, we are seeing this in Ukraine now days 2. NATO becomes divided, some members not joining a ‘German-Russian dispute’. Now days we see this with disagreement through the allocation of weapons and resources 3. Russians overestimate their capabilities, expecting a fast war with breakthroughs on there first day. This is just Ukraine. 4. American air superiority. Americas Air Force is lethal, and the air force dominated a military closely aligned and based of the Russian military, being the 1991 Operation Desert Storm. 5. NATO targets Command and Control units. Once again seen in Ukraine, the Russian army is huge so Ukraine, which has received tactics and weapons training from NATO aligned nations, goes for strategic targets, that being commanders of units !<
Also on a completely unrelated note I love how the Russians used a ABC system to designate their military in the book, idk it just enhanced the story.
That’s not to say the book is devoid of critiques, >! 1. The relationship between Edward’s and Vigdis is a little unsettling to me, I understand this can happen in real life and probably has but it feels odd to me. I’m not sure if I can say what Halle ed to Vigdis to make me feel uncomfortable on reddit 2. This was probably done purposefully but I’m not a fan of how the fate of Russia is left vague at the end of the book 3. I haven’t looked into this to much and I know the soviets have a reputation of incompetence but surely they didn’t rely on a single oil complex that could be taken over and destroyed, BY 3 MEN. !<
There is a lot more to the book than is in this review but I recommend this book to whoever asks and it’s a proud addition to my Tom Clancy collection, thank you for your work Tom Clancy may you rest in peace.
by J360222