Customer Reviews

Pax Pacifica

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is the most dull and tedious book I've read in a long time.

The first five pages are exciting and intriguing. Don't be misled. That is the only real action in the entire book. The rest of it is convoluted dialog, both internal and external (and often inane), in which the protangonist is invariably left wondering what's really going on. The reader is left even more clue-less.

The best thing I can say about this novel is that I'm glad I'm done with it. Call me an idiot, but I actually did read it all. The worst is that I ever started.

Now I know why I've never enjoyed any of the books in which Pieczenik collaborates with Clancy half as much as a real Clancy novel.

Written in the spirit of Pieznik's works with Clancy, this book looks and reads more like an outline for the development of one of their joint efforts. Knowing a smidgen about Piecznik's background from the jacket cover, I understand Clancy's desire for his insights. However, if this book is an example of the contribution made by Piecznik to the Op Cneter books, maybe he should have refrained. Clancy's books, even with this co-author, are excellnet.

Pax Pacifica contains the same twisting plots and incessant introduction of new characters. These factors lead to the prevention of the true development of the characters and the lack of flushing out of the plots. One thing we do know about the main character, the Assistant Secretary of State, is that he wants and needs friends and friendship. Action in the Op-Center concerns itself with the ordering of pizza, with extra cheese, for his co-workers while out of no where the pacific rim is preparing for war. This crisis, the fear of World War III, disappears at the end of the chapter as an assistant goes to meet the pizza delivery man. Fortunately, all of the chapters are short, allowing them to be disoriented and apparently unfinished, without getting the reader too interested or too involved before the chapter fizzles.

Speaking of unfinished, I hope to complete this book today and pray that the end somehow ties it all together.

Though not an easy ready for the careless consumer, this book has incredible insight into Chinese national character, negotiations and the current political stand off between China and the U.S. Considering it was written four or five years ago, it accurately predicted the exact scenario that has evolved with respect to U.S. Chinese relationships especially related to commerce, espionage secrets in nuclear technology and the current failure of the Chinese economy.

This is a very fictional book! Granted all novels are based on make believe but this book was much more fictional than most works of fiction. The characters were all made up and the author made them go through a bunch of events that haven't really happened (I don't read the papers that much). Sometimes I wondered if the events in this book were real, but I realized that they were just too unreal to be real. In fact they were fictional and I didn't really believe them! I'm not sure that the Secretary of State ever goes dancing. I mean, who would want to be boogeying in between Madeline Albright and Warren Christopher. It'd be a pretty lame party!

There are only two questions in my mind:(1) Where (see page 295) is Shangha309i? And (2) why were so many trees cut down to print this "book"?