Customer Reviews

Red Phoenix

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Red Phoenix" is the authority in the world of "What if's" as far as the Korean theater of operations is concerned. The "puzzle palace" was probably wondering how he figured all this out. I'd originally read this amazing story when it first came out and was just floored by the realism, the character interactions and the author's knowledge of military operations. A few years later I was scheduled to go to South Korea on tdy and picked it up to read again. It was amazing to be reading this book and seeing a lot of the areas he'd talked about in the book, in person. To see the river's and the rivetments on the banks, to see the tank barricades all around Seoul and all the bases north of Seoul and be reading this book again at the same time. Absolutely amazing! Thank you very much to Larry Bond for an excellent book.

A few months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Larry Bond and Patrick Larkin's first collaborative effort, Red Phoenix, became a New York Times bestselling novel.

In this novel, Bond (Tom Clancy's uncredited co-author of Red Storm Rising) uses his superb writing skills, experience as a former Navy intelligence expert and talents as a war game designer (he is the creator of Harpoon) to write a terrifying scenario for a second and even more destructive Korean War.

Red Phoenix is set in the early 1990s. North Korea's elderly Great Leader, Kim Il-Sung, is still alive but clearly frail. Day to day control of this isolated and paranoid Stalinist nation is now in the hands of Kim's ambitious son, Kim Jong-Il, the Dear Leader. Ruthless and mercurial, the younger Kim seeks to surpass his father and accomplish what the old man had failed to do in the 1950s: the reunification of the Communist North and the capitalist South.

At first, Kim's plans almost become undone when a team of South Korean and American soldiers discovers a tunnel dug under the DMZ by North Korean combat engineers. In it is a vast stockpile of weapons, ammunition, and even Soviet-made tanks, enough for a battalion of invaders. But events elsewhere, including the office of a Michigan Congressman and the Interior Ministry in Seoul, soon create a perfect convergence of events that enables North Korea's nefarious Dear Leader to mobilize his forces and launch a lightning invasion of South Korea.

Bond and Larkin's novel depicts units, weapons systems, and tactics which were state-of-the-art 14 years ago, and the political makeup of the world has changed since its publication. (Modern day readers might see as archaic Bond's references to the Soviet Union, East Germany, and other Warsaw Pact nations. In early 1989, these may have sided with North Korea, at least nominally. Today, of course, the USSR is no more, East Germany reunited with West Germany and is part of NATO, as is Poland.) However, considering the current and alarming situation as the real Kim Jong-Il races to build and openly deploy nuclear weapons, Red Phoenix is no longer a relic of Cold War-era popular fiction; it is a chilling vision of what a conventional conflict in the Korean Peninsula could have been like before North Korea upped the ante and developed weapons of mass destruction.

This is one of the better Cold War escalating conflict scenarios I have read. Sure it's dated; like much of this genre it relies heavily on the technology from the time it was written (for that matter most of the techno-thriller genre is dated by the time it hits the stores). But the techno stuff is only the superficial element of the story. Much of the action takes place at a level that could be set in WWII or present day with a few tweaks of the equipment.

The story begins on the DMZ between North and South Korea with a little action, that can easily fail to hook you, but keep reading. There is quite a bit of setup for the story before the action begins, but once it begins, the momentum will drag you through the rest of the book in no time. As far as accuracy, there are certain parts I have to accept on trust, however, having spent all of 1983 in Seoul, traveled around the country a little, done some little time as a ground pounder, in tanks and with artillery as well as some time as a remf; those aspects are fairly realistic.

The story thread hops between approximately 5-6 main characters (pilots, generals, politicians, civilians, and frontline troops) and a few one shot characters in a pretty successful effort at building and maintaining tension. This is a keeper for me; I'll no doubt read it again in a few years.

For other books in the genre, check-out Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy or for something on a more tactical scale try Team Yankee by Harold Coyle. P-)

A thundering, unsubtle, and hugely entertaining novel of a new Korean war, concentrating on a set of characters (a soldier, an F16 pilot, and the general in charge of the US armed forces) caught up in the turmoil. It isn't high art, but it's excellent at what it does - after a slow, ominous build-up (which takes up the first half of the novel) it's pretty much constant action from then on, on land, on sea, and in the air. The book's only real downside is the abrupt ending - after building the enemy up for 650 pages, they seem to collapse very quickly.

This was Larry Bond's debut novel, and it has some rough edges - Bond is more concerned with the ebb and flow of brigades than individual people, and personal crises (of the 'I'm scared', 'Pull yourself together', 'Okay - I'll try' level) are resolved in a few paragraphs. There's a stab at romance, too, something his subsequent novels steer clear of. Nonetheless, Bond's talent is fully-formed, and this is the best novel to start with (both 'Cauldron' and 'Vortex' are less immediate - South Africa seems less gripping, somehow, and 'Vortex' is set in a near future world which seems increasingly abstract).

As a footnote, it makes a fascinating companion-piece to the PC/Mac 'Falcon 4.0', a simulation of flying an F-16 over just such a conflict, with the same locations and technology.

Is it an unwritten rule that novels of this ilk always start off with an isolated commando raid?

Because North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il may STILL believe he can pull off an invasion of South Korea in a way similar to what is described in "Red Phoenix". This is a very enjoyable and readable military techno-thriller written by Larry Bond who collaborated with Tom Clancy in writing "Red Storm Rising" in the mid 1980s. This book mixes remarkably accurate details of military activity and combat planning in Korea to create a very plausible plot in 1989 for the start and action in a Second Korean War. Some of the details are now dated by the introduction of 'smart' technology but, speaking as the US Air Force veteran of Desert Storm that I am, this is what it was like in military culture towards the end of the Cold War. Larry Bond uses his knowledge of the geography and politics of the Koreas to create very plausible events and characters that make this book a real pageturner. He tries to get you into the minds of the 'Cult of Kim' so you can understand why North Korea acts in the belligerant, Stalinist way it still does to this day.

Time, so far, may not have proven this book accurate, but it will help you to understand about why Kim Jong Il and North Korea are still threats to Asia and America to this day. I have been told that "Red Phoenix" is still 'required reading' for many American military personnel who get assigned to posts in and around South Korea. Give it a try if you enjoy military thrillers and like to be up on world events.

This was my first Larry Bond novel and needless to say I was not disappointed. Not since The Hunt For Red October (Clancy) has there been a book that I could not put down. I read the book cover to cover in a weekend and then a couple of months later I read it again. The second time through was even better than the first because I knew the terminology a little better. My favorite scene in the book was when the scouts discovered the underground tunnel into the south from the north. The gun battle and the demolition of the tunnel are definatly attention grabbers and the action didn't stop from there on out. Another great scene to look for is the assault on the American embassy. Both are right at the beginning of the book. I actually logged on to Amazon.com for the purpose of finding other books by Bond and I was not disappointed. I plan to read every one I can get my hands on and then when done, I'll read them again...

This is just an incredible tale about a second Korean War.Contrary to other people i find refreshing the fact that Larry Bond does not comes up with all Clancy's "political know how" and page after page of boring reading. This book just goes to the point, you fill you are in the foxhole with the infantry or riding along with the F-16 fighter pilots. Great Read.

This novel is scarry in that its premise was among the most probable for years (not just believable but PROBABLE). Brilliantly researched, credible. It almost seems like I'm reading a transcript of CNN. Actually, in some cases in the novel, Bond want's you to think that.

What else can be said? Action sequences in the air, sea and on land are fast-paced and gripping.

The only shot that misses is the pointless love interest that Bond introduces between two of the story's characters - and there are many in this tale. It was unnecessary, and gummed up a large portion of the novel's considerable pages. But don't let that distract you. Red Phoenix is a classic of the techno thriller genre. It hasn't been topped since (and it was published TEN years ago!).

Read it, then watch that 38th parallel!

Questions? Email me

Written in 1989, this absorbing and extremely plausible tale of the second Korean War should be of interest not only to military history buffs, but also to those simply looking for a good technodrama. Dogfights, submarines, aircraft carriers, antisubmarine warfare, infantry tactics, the ROK army, the US Marine Corps, politics and politicians... are realistically and accurately portrayed. Many of the actions which occurred are reminiscent of those which marked the first Korean Conflict including not only the tactical war but also the operational state of the military. The one thing which I didn't care for was the plot involving Tony and Anne. It was superfluous. Its deletion would not have affected the story at all. Otherwise and interesting book worthy of reading! This book should be of special interest to military personnel on assignment to Korea.

THIS BOOK IS GREAT. As the people above have said. in the beginning iz a slow read. it takes a lot of time introducing the characters from many many views. then the book takes step to step up to the awaited climax,war. I currently live in seoul, and this is one book dat shows the truthful and different views of korea and iz people. I'm 14 and to be honest iz not a heavy read. the professional terms of the weapons are a bit confusing but the glossary on the back helps. there are political scenes that I consider boring. but the action is fun. the greatest thing about this book is the variety of perspectives the book has on a single war. it doesn't antagonize one side, even though we know the NK's are the "antagonists". Mr. Bond is truthful to views of the war. you will see the 2nd korean war in the eyes of the north koreans, kim jong il, an american general, a logistics officer, infantrymen, and south korean generals. A great book!