Customer Reviews

Tom Clancy's EndWar

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

"David Michaels" gives us a book very different from its predecessors—which, given the source material, is perhaps to be expected.

As the tagline on the stepback suggests, this is intended to be a novel of a near-future (2020) World War III. The book starts with the war having already begun; this is not the tale of the war, but rather one event set against its backdrop.

It's told in traditional Clancy style, unlike the Splinter Cell novels by this pseudonym; that is, this is a wide-ranging tale, seen from multiple viewpoints ranging from the President of the United States down to the boots on the ground. Unlike recent books by Clancy himself, it doesn't spend overlong indulging on the technology the combatants are using; it's accepted as fait accompli, giving the book a much faster pace than seen in Clancy's own works.

Perhaps the only fault is that self-same pace; there's not much time to explore the large cast of characters in much detail. But even though we don't necessarily see every facet of there character here, there's still a sense that there's more to them beyond what's on the page; that sense certainly helps give them depth.

If you're a fan of Clancy's early works, I'd suggest going ahead and giving EndWar a try. It offers the scope of his later works without the bloat, giving you exactly what it says on the tin: a fast-paced Clancy-like story set during World War III.

David Michaels creates a gripping narrative in EndWar dragging the reader along for a tumultuous ride. Each page drips with action that you can scarcely put it down.

The diverse points of view give the reader a glimpse into the scope of the massive conflict Michaels' manipulates. Each character shows little hints of emotion. The multitude of narratives works in the novels favor truly allowing Michaels to create the tensions a global conflict would
elicit from the armed forces.

Military technology plays a critical role in the war of the future, and moments where Michaels has the opportunity to explore the weapons are a true delight for any reader. The writing around these future weapons gives them a sense of reality.

EndWar presents the future of war with pages of intense action and characters full of emotion and resolve. For any fan of Clancy or futuristic warmongering, EndWar is an absolute must and a true delight.

This was my first David Michaels (Clancy) novel and it worked for me. It was a fast paced story that involved many characters, some that were not well developed (but some died quick and did not need a lot of development). In fact, it was so interesting that I found myself skimming over the titles and names being more interested in the core characters.

Reading the book as a story rather than looking for a lot of character development presented me with my "first Clancy" and a taste for more!!! Just the first line on the novel's back panel had me heading to the front of Borders, "In a devastating nuclear exchange, Saudi Arabia and Iran have destroyed each other"; I had to see what happened next!

I was pleased to find that the author presented females with great respect; the most core character is female and I was pulling for her the entire read. I'm not sure the Canadian leadership would be stand-offish to engage the enemy, that alone seems to be a point that would rile the masses.

Not having read any other Clancy novels, I've got nothing to compare EndWar with, I enjoyed the book and will watch for subsequent reads that might lend more information to "What is Operation 2659? Who is Snegurochka?"; and to whether the operation has even started.

All-in-all, a nice read that I'm still thinking about. IT COULD HAPPEN!!!

Tom Clancy's newly-developed series ENDWAR we gave a 3.5 star rating, and is the best and biggest case scenario thus far. Definately author David Michaels's best written novel to date.

My wife and I have read everything concerning novels pertaining to WWIII scenarios, and although ENDWAR isn't the best, it is by far not the worst. If anything, it is a breath of fresh air in this genre.

As readers probably have already read in other reviews, the somewhat weak points in this new series is character development. With only 400 pages to cover this, and with such a vast array of characters, it does well enough. But descriptions of so many characters were scarce, so a couple of them 'looked' and 'sounded' the same. That was a problem that needs to be addressed in future volumes.

But overall, ENDWAR is never boring, and has a couple of memorable bad guys, one a secret agent Russian woman, the other, her past lover, Colonel Doletskaya, who is eccentric and makes a wonderful bad guy to the very end. Good stuff, that!

They mystique of the novel is its strength, and some of the action sequences are pretty solid, even though we've read better. But David Michael's action sequences are varied, from submarines, to ground warfare, to air battles. (The submarines we found the most boring.) The aerial battles with the cool Major Stephanie Halverson were excellent.

The novel is fresh and fast-paced. We will definately come back for the sequel. After having tried several of Tom Clacy's books, followed by daid Michaels, we are glad that it was Michaels that penned this new one.

If you like futuristic military action/adventure, then ENDWAR should fill your reading needs nicely.

I enjoyed the book, it was a well writen story. The characters came to life really well for me. As always Clancy sets a good scene. My one small drawback was the parts of the story using the "future technology". I would have liked a little more highlight on those items.. how they worked and perhaps how they were better than what our present day warriors have.
Overall though still a very good read.

Great novel.

There is NO boring part in this novel. Every single page is filled with excitements and great details of the battlefield.

Also, the story line and the plot of the novel is tremendously brilliant.

Just love it.

EndWar is a decent page turner with a good background story. The problem is that the book suffers from bad writing at spots where it becomes difficult to understand what is going on. The beginning and middle of the book is very methodical and drawn out, but the last parts of the book seem a little rushed and too concise. There's also a few grammatical errors that are pretty obvious, and it makes you wonder if anyone proof read this book at all.

Regardless, it's still a decent book that will no doubt spawn several more behind it. Worth a read.

I was waiting for this book to come out ever since i seen it on the inside of one of Splinter Cell Books. I also loved that it was written by David Michaels, His splinter cell books were amazing to me. I loved this book. It was great to read all the different things going on during this war. The only thing that wasn't my favorite thing in the book was the ending. It left off and you know theres gotta be a sequel... Now I can't wait for the sequel to come out. And I can't wait for that second book. I deffinitly would reccomend this book to Tom Clancy fans.

The book had significantly fewer typos (0-2 max) than David Michaels most recent books. The action was for the most part highly scattered over a wide character base. Scenes would jump in the Clancy-esque style but often in the middle of the action, making it difficult to develop characters or even follow a character's involvement in the story. I suppose that was necessary to convey the image of a massive all-out war between 3 superpowers. There was no problem understanding what was happening in the scenes though. The writing paints a vivid picture of several front lines, describes futuristic technology quite well, and puts the reader in the action through massive amounts of dialogue. Overall this book would be excellent for a light yet fun reading for those who enjoy war video games and futuristic battle.

This was an OK book. I read it on my daily commute and it served the purpose of helping that go a bit faster, but I'm not going to sing its praises. I felt like it bounced around too much, especially early on. There is very little back story to provide you any kind of context on events. It's kind like jumping into the middle of a larger story. If you crave action, you definitely won't be disappointed. There's plenty of death and mayhem.