Oh definitely.
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Edited. Too political. I’ll just say that my teenage hero, Jack Ryan, is a hero to me no more. I have zero desire to reread any of that stuff.
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Your edit sums up my feelings on the matter nicely…
I’ve never been much of a reader but for some reason I felt compelled to revisit a book I was forced to read in childhood: Hatchet
An easy read, though the author’s stylistic repetition was sometimes annoying, and the ending felt very rushed.
But on to the next, I picked up Al Murray’s new book on the Battle of Arnhem:
I took a brief look at the introductory timeline but haven’t started proper reading yet. It’s a thicc book.
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Have I ever talked to you about my opinions on Kevin Miller’s books?
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I just re-read Red Storm Rising, and there was a lot of stuff I also found myself skipping over for probably the same reasons.
I’ll tell you this: if you ask in a few places what older Navy types thought of Tom Clancy, you’re in for a lot of very entertaining answers.
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Have you had a chance to read any of this one yet? Was looking to pick it up, but seems (at least here in the states) it’s not available on e reader yet.
Funny I’m so used to being able to instantly get anything that it took a long time to get it through my head that ‘no, you can’t just press a button and have this’. Kept restarting the kindle, went to my computer and couldn’t figure out why all the prices were in pounds, finally the light clicked.
Currently reading this for the first time, can’t put it down-
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I haven’t. Al Murray’s book is my first foray into historical books like this.
I enjoyed Raven One at the time I read it, but I couldn’t get through more than a couple chapters into Declared Hostile.
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I second the Guns of August.
I read Raven One, Declared Hostile and Fight Fight. I enjoyed reading Raven One - even though the writing was IMO clunky and some of the plot points like Saint’s suicide at the end of the book seemed either there purely as a tribute to something that really happened or a really trite way to tie up a storyline. I also didn’t like how a single one of the female characters were written.
I thought the way the characters moved through their careers in the two sequels was an interesting way to approach it, but I feel like the actual stories were way too Dale Brown (if you’re familiar with his work).
I’d only recommend Raven One, and then only to people who are actually interested in Naval Aviation and have gone through all my other recommendations like CS Forester’s works (more for surface warfare, of course) and actual histories like for example Sharkey Ward’s books.
I’ve also read The Silver Waterfall, Miller’s dramatisation of the battle of Midway. It seemed a competent dramatisation, but I didn’t enjoy it - none of the characters were easy to identify with, and the interpersonal drama seemed trite and forced.
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Interpersonal drama is something I hate with just about all entertainment, and particularly with historical dramatizations. I honestly don’t identify with the mass public’s obsession with interpersonal relations, and find it a really cheap way to capture interest when the actual events as they happened are exciting enough.
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I understand where you’re coming from, but I just want to point out that I do enjoy well done novelisations of historical events (of which the drama between the players is an important part - the movie Patton for an easily accessible example) and The Silver Waterfall didn’t land with me.
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Different strokes I guess. I really enjoyed Fight Fight and thought it the most RSR like book that I had read in years. I’ve read it twice more since release and haven’t changed my opinion. There are two scenes that I thought exceptional.
The female ensign’s actions after her boat gets slimed and the E-2 trying to recover in bad weather under EMCON.
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Very enjoyable!
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His agenda was very clear, unsubtle, and reminded of some of the worst leadership cultures I saw during my time in- especially in Declared Hostile (and the review I left on Amazon reflected that).
Fight Fight I mostly enjoyed- just had to skip through large chunks of kinda cringe-worthy dialogue. And I wish we’d gotten more submarine/ surface combat, aside from “being an assist for the valiant aviators to do all the real fighting.”
But hey, there’s a reason there’s the old joke about knowing how there’s a fighter pilot at your party. 
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LOL! I kinda imagined it. 
But please do go on! 
Well, the author was a fighter pilot, but on the subject of their ethos and bravado, I play pickleball with an ex Eagle pilot (AFA grad) who works as a civilian contractor for the USAF. He swears that there is a movement now to bring back some of the old school attitude and self-initiative. Bring the Robin Olds types back. He says that the risk aversion and over-calculating mentality has permeated the Force at the cost of mission effectiveness.
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There should always be the push and pull of these competing outlooks to find a good balance, but the USAF lost 334 F-105s in combat.
The risk-averse attitude didn’t come out of nowhere!
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“A culture of risk aversion? Where?” - CV-22 crew, probably 
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I like 'em too. Different ways of viewing the world, I guess, which is fine. Plus I can enjoy fiction featuring characters whose views I don’t agree with, especially if they’re well-written. Not that the Raven One is the epitome of classic writing, but it’s enjoyable for .mil/aviation nerds. Tom Clancy is just the OG; I shudder to think what he’d say about the world we live in today. Certainly he’d have plenty of material for his work, with the current international state of things.
Teeth of the Tiger and Bear and the Dragon are two of my favorites lately. Creative what-if situations that are fun to read, and sad that they’re completely impossible today.
Truer words are rarely spoken!
That had far more to do with politics driving military decision-making than it did risk-aversion, unfortunately.
It’s really fascinating to listen to Sharkey’s Sea Harrier over the Falklands (self-read audiobook, even) and then Rowland White’s Harrier 809 back to back. They both tell the same story with completely different conclusions based on their respective experiences. And I have no doubt they’re both telling the truth.
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