Customer Reviews

Shadow Command

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I'm glad I didn't read the other reviews before I read this. I have to agree there is some cheesy sex parts in it that could have been left out. I'm not a prude or anything it just doesn't go so well with the flow of the book.

Other than that I did like it pretty well though. I like to use these kind of books as a bit of an escape from reality. On that front it does deliver big time. One person said that he hopes the officers in the military aren't like McLanahan. Personal opinion if we had stuff like is in the book and an officer like him in real life the conflict in Iran would have been solved a long time ago.

It is a bit over the top but still a good read if you are a fan of his writing. Maybe wait for it in paperback, but I don't regret the hard bound copy either.

Silly characters aside, you can always count on Dale Brown to put you in the cockpit. Until now. Gone are intense and lengthy action sequences of flight. Instead we receive mundane politics set in a predictable mideast upheaval. I can't wait for his next novel. He must be rested and ready to get us all back into flightworthy action. There wasn't any here.

Dale Brown is remarkably inconsistent: I prefaced my review of "Strike Force", the predecessor to "Shadow Command", with similar words and went on to give it a glowing review.

This time out, "Shadow Command" picks up where the earlier novel left off - and immediately falls flat on its face. Characters that we've grown familiar with, like General Patrick McLanahan, are now totally in orbit. Literally. The gadgetry and science and flying, always a part of Brown's novels are still there, but this time the descriptions are stretched beyond even science fiction.

The other characters are simply not believable. There's Captain Hunter "Boomer" Noble who is virtually a cartoon. Ace pilot, engineer, womanizer and never, ever makes a mistake. Navy Lt. Commander Lisette "Frenchy" Moulain is worse than a parody. She's the nominal commander of the fictional Spacebird. Brown has long had dueling instincts. He tries to integrate women into military and scientific roles in his novels - while, at the same time, making them sex objects. This time, the combination is disastrous in an utterly gratuitous, ridiculous sex scene early in the book. It is, unfortunately, only one of several throughout the book.

The other characters are no better. A scheming American-educated Russian President, Leonid Zevitin, belongs in a Marx Brothers movie along with the feckless American President, Joseph Gardner. Just about every character in this novel seems well suited to wearing a red clown nose and wig.

The plot grows both confusing and wearisome within the first hundred pages. There are others who may read "Shadow Command" and enjoy it: I don't want to ruin it for them, so I won't get into a lot of detail.

The Iranian revolution that began in "Strike Force" continues, with Russia and America influencing and being influence by events. Russian President Zevitin cunningly exploits American President Gardner - and guess who saves the day - but only after being (once again) unfairly treated.

"Strike Force" was good adventure. "Shadow Command", in my opinion, is not.

Jerry

I don't think I have ever read any other books by this author, and I'll make sure not to do so in the future. I have slogged through the first 120 pages of this "novel", mostly because I kept hoping that it couldn't possibly stay *this* bad. And then it has gotten worse.

The characters are horrible, the dialog is stilted, the info dump is horribly managed. Out of the 120 pages mentioned above, perhaps 15 contain actual story. The rest is a list of names of people and tech with detailed capability explanations that would probably work better in a manual, and made my mind go blank every time I had to deal with one.

The whole situation with Boomer and Frenchy made me roll my eyes and stare at the pages with disbelief.

Do yourself a favor, and stay far far away.

I had to give up after the first chapter because of numerous violations of the laws of Physics. I love to read science fiction but it has to be plausible at some level. This book has no grounding in reality and therefore no believability.

There is one great flight scene, where we (the good guys) engage two MiG fighters. It is a terrific scene, early in the book; after that, just put the book down. What follows are absurd - and unnecessary - numbers of double entendres and sexual innuendo; trysts galore; a fairly weak plot; & little character development. Who wrote this? Is simply can't be the man who wrote "Day Of The Cheetah," because the character development, plot, writing, and flight scenes are superb. I've read all of Dale Brown's books, and I was very disappointed with this one.

An I want my money back! What a total waste of my time- Good General disobeys Evil President. World is saved, general gets props.

I am not sure what Dale Brown is trying to accomplish here. This novel is pure trash. Brown turns his previously honorable characters into murderous traitors because they think the NCA is wimpy. Brown glorifies what any sane person would recognize as a nightmare scenario.

To paraphrase Elliott Ness in The Untouchables, his heroes have forsworn themselves; have broken every law they have sworn to uphold; have become what they beheld; and are content that they have done right.

In Shadow Command, Dale Brown successfully mixes two genres: bad military fiction and bad science fiction.

This is my second Dan Brown novel that I have read in the recent years. I would love to say that this was a great book full of action and adventure and the technical gadgetry of the last book that I read. However, this book is just horrible. My biggest problem is with the ending of the book. I won't give away the ending, but Dan Brown asks the readers to imagine the last 5-6 chapters of the book without going into specific detail on how the ending came to be. Literally, you read the 3rd to last chapter and the next chapter you read skips ahead about 5 chapters. You have no idea what is happening or why. Either the editor cut this out or Dan Brown didn't want to finish this one. Either way save your money, there are better books.