Larry Bond's Red Dragon Rising: Shadows of War: Red Dragon, Book 1

The climate stuff reads like an outdated Al Gore prediction . But, the story is excellent, well written, and exciting. Highly recommend the book.

I have been a fan of Larry Bond's writing since his collaboration with Tom Clancy in Red Storm Rising and his debut novel Red Phoenix. I enjoyed his books immensely up until Day of Wrath, where he really started to focus on the micro level of war. In Red Dragon Rising: Shadows of War, Bond returns to form in a book that starts out slowly, but quickly picks up the pace.Geopolitically, the story may take a bit of a suspension of belief (a key part of the plot is climate change affecting China and Vietnam), depending on where you stand on the issue. However the storytelling here is solid, with the characters fleshed out quite well. The battle scenes shine, and this has always been Bond's strength in his writing. The book deals with a Chinese invasion of Vietnam, the first step of the Chinese Premier's plan for China's domination of Asia and beyond. This is the first book in a series, and the action will certainly shift to other theatres of operation.All in all, if you enjoy Bond's writing, or the techno-thriller genre in general, you will likely enjoy this book. It is nice to see a direction away from the constant counter-terrorism scenarios that have been prevalent in the genre the last decade, and a shift back to a more classic "force on force" type scenario.

The global warning scenario is a bit much. DeFelice always adds a dark, hopeless edge which I don't like much. These are about third tier books for me. Only read after the books on the two top tiers are finished. But the story is good. I didn't find it compelling though.

This is a must read series in my book. I was Hooked from the first book and was glad when each book came out. The characters and story line were laid out with great care.i would recommened this series to all who are into military thrillers!

The book is a little slow to get moving, but picks up and holds your interest as the drama and action builds. Moving on to the 2nd book now that I finished this one!

A wonderful read. Love this author. Have read all of his books and have enjoyed every one of them. Well written and fast paced. Does not drag in the meddle as so many do. Highly recommended for action lovers.

It was well written, and the electronic edition was well produced. It seems that a number of authors in this genre believe that a Chinese invasion of Viet Nan in the near future is inevitable. This book gives it a bit of extra plausibility over the usual "Ancient Enemy" theme.

The story was good, but it took a long time for a lot of the action to take place. This may be from DeFelice because Bond's books seem to move at a much faster pace. DeFelice writes with Coonts as well and these move at about this same pace. Overall the story keeps your interest but it is clearly setup for a series of books. I will read the next one in the series and see how the story progresses.So my review is at three stars because of the pace, seems that the story could have been shorter by fifty or more pages, but the premise is good and I want to see what happens next some my interest is there otherwise it would be at two stars.

Das Buch hat mir gut gefallen, bin gespannt auf die weiteren Bände. Gut, die Geschichte kommt etwas langsam in die Gänge. Da ist vielleicht spannungstechnisch noch ein bisschen Luft nach noben, aber das kann ja noch werden. Lesenswert!

著者は某クランシーさんの影になって目立たないが、似てるところ：章立てが極めて短いー映画のカット風ー、近未来軍事小説、もあるが、less愛国的で、妙に話がドラマチックでないというシブいところは評価したい。オタクならではの武器の仕様書みたいな能書きも少ない。　本作は中国が国内の苦境を打開するため、隣国ベトナムに攻め入る。本作の書かれた2009年段階では中華帝国の野望は現実味が無かったのか、架空の地球的気候変動を背景に設定したが、現在2014年から見るとその必要はなし！それはともかく、開戦と巻き込まれた人物たちのたった数日の出来事を作者は延々と627ページまで読ませるのでご立派！！しかし、これだけかよーの読後感も否定できないので星一つ減。次作をまんまと読まされるので少し悔しい！某クランシーさんなら一冊である程度スッキリなのに。

I'm a fan of both Larry Bond and Jim DeFelice. I first came across Bond when he, anonymously, co-authored  Red Storm Rising  with Tom Clancy back in the eighties. His solo follow-up's to that novel, Vortex  and  Red Phoenix , although dated by events now, were arguably even better. Jim DeFelice I encountered for the first time when he co-authored  Larry Bond's First Team (Bond, Larry) , with Bond and have since read and enjoyed several of his solo efforts, including  Threat Level Black .Based on this past experience of both author's work, and their very successful pairing on the enjoyable First Team series, I was looking forward to their latest collaboration, Red Dragon Rising. Based on what I could glean about the novel, this would represent a return to the 'future war' genre that Bond had mastered back in the late 80s and early 90's, combined with some of realistic close up combat and espionage elements of the First Team novels. If done right it promised to be a great mix.Its a pity therefore, that the resulting book is such a hit and miss affair. Set in a possible near-future where climate change and economic turmoil has significantly changed the current geo-political balance, it has China on the brink of famine and economic collapse poised to invade Vietnam as a first stage of an attempt to dominate SE Asia by force. Pitched into this turbulent world are a disparate group of characters, from a Lieutenant in the Chinese Commandos to an American scientist on the run in Northern Vietnam to a female CIA officer to a US Special Forces officer. It is through their eyes, as well as those of the US President, some senior Generals in China, the US & Vietnam and the Chinese Premier, that we see the conflict unfold.As such it very much follows the model laid down in Bond' earlier novels, Vortex, Red Pheonix and  Cauldron , but with a significant twist. Whereas those dealt with comparatively limited conflicts in the space of one book, and were primarily focused on military engagements, Red Dragon Rising is intended to be the first in series dealing with China's ongoing attempts to conquer SE Asia and places far more importance on diplomatic efforts and espionage that actual combat between oposing forces.On the face of it these differences may not seem that important, but they have a big impact on the success of the book. For a start by making this the first of a series the book is robbed of some of its impetus. The narrative is allowed to drift, with time being taken to bring all the main characters properly into play. The CIA agent, Mara, for example spends half the novel stooging around Vietnam to no real effect, accomplishing little apart from being shot down. The only plot strand that starts with and maintains any real sense of urgency is that involving the scientist Josh; although he spends a great deal of time just wandering around lost in the jungle.This is indicative of the problem with deciding to bring espionage and diplomacy to the fore at the expense of military action. Fundamentally neither the espionage plot or the diplomatic angle are terribly interesting or action packed for much of the length. There's only so much of Josh wandering around the jungle, Mara traipsing around Vietnam in general and various US military types discussing how they can help Vietnam diplomatically before things become tedious, which they begin to at times. As if realising the danger of this happening Bond and DeFelice include action packed sequences where the Chinese Commandos defend a bridge at night and assault a Vietnamese airbase, between stints of hunting for Josh. Its at these times that the book really comes alive and makes you even more sorry when they are over and you're back to Josh complaining about his fate or Mara doing not very much.Things do perk up in the final third of the book as all the various disparate strands begin to pull together into a single plot thread, but this just brings it home even more forcefully how the lack of focus and action had harmed the earlier stages. Had the characters been more compelling then the meandering nature of the book's first two thirds might not have been as much of a problem, but they aren't. Bond and DeFelice try to inject them with some depth and complexity, avoiding the usual cliches of having Mara be drop dead gorgeous, Josh be ridiculously capable or Jing Yo, the lead Chinese Commando, be a moustache twirling personification of evil, but they never become fully rounded human beings who we care about. They also make the fatal mistake of telegraphing Josh's eventual fate early on, robbing his predicament of much of its tension and danger.So overall Red Dragon Rising; Shadows of War, feels like a missed opportunity to create a punchy, compelling opening to a new series of novels. By the end there are signs of promise, now that the various characters have been introduced and the conflict is hotting up, suggesting that the next volume in the series could be a vast improvement. For that to be the case however, Bond and DeFelice really need to tighten up the plotting and focus on what made so many of their previous works so enjoyable. Red Storm RisingVortexRed PhoenixLarry Bond's First Team (Bond, Larry)Threat Level BlackCauldron

This is my third Bond book. I liked the previous books so I decided to try this book as well and I enjoyed the start.The time is the near future and the framework of a conflict driven by climate change is an interesting concept. It sets out with an intriguing storyline with China as the global power seeking to increase its influence sphere. It is quite believeable but it should have been more focused on the political side then the focus on one individual American trying to save the day.I do not want to give too much away, but it was a bit of a let down. There were it could have been a Red Storm Rising kind of book it is a story that skips the interesting aspects and focuses on a few people making up for this by implying they will avoid the conflict if they survive.Nice read, but a bit too light ... could have been more intriguing