What are we reading?

[Crossroads]

While we're at Cold War gone hot subject, I read Harvey Black's The Red / Black / Blue Effect trilogy a couple of months ago. I especially liked the first book, as it was mostly about SOF action in East Germany, reconnoitring the closed military areas there for Soviet build up.

I had no idea the Cold War East Germany was not a closed country, but open to WW2 Allied lands per the three other occupation areas. Only some military areas were allowed to be locked up, and that's where the first book spends it time.



The second and third books are then about the massive modern tank battles, second book is OKish especially as it for a change constantly depicts the western forces operating without air cover. The subplots come up one after another though, making the third book especially quite a chore to read.

[BanzaiCat]

Then again I am a fool for any protagonists shouting LOAD SABOT! UP! so there's that.

Pretty sure Brant has yelled that a time or thousand out on the range.

Red Army was a pretty decent read. I read it shortly after I read RSR the first time and remember how jarring it was to be told just from the Soviet side, and from down in the trenches to boot (I don't actually recall if it actually tells much story from a perspective higher than tactical level - I'll have to read it again sooner or later).

[Airborne Rifles]

Then again I am a fool for any protagonists shouting LOAD SABOT! UP! so there's that.

Pretty sure Brant has yelled that a time or thousand out on the range.

Red Army was a pretty decent read. I read it shortly after I read RSR the first time and remember how jarring it was to be told just from the Soviet side, and from down in the trenches to boot (I don't actually recall if it actually tells much story from a perspective higher than tactical level - I'll have to read it again sooner or later).

I really liked Red Army. It does give you some strategic perspective, which I thought was pretty eye-opening as well.

[Crossroads]

Then again I am a fool for any protagonists shouting LOAD SABOT! UP! so there's that.

Pretty sure Brant has yelled that a time or thousand out on the range.

Red Army was a pretty decent read. I read it shortly after I read RSR the first time and remember how jarring it was to be told just from the Soviet side, and from down in the trenches to boot (I don't actually recall if it actually tells much story from a perspective higher than tactical level - I'll have to read it again sooner or later).

I really liked Red Army. It does give you some strategic perspective, which I thought was pretty eye-opening as well.

Red Army has protagonists at all level, including Kremlin, while most time is spent at tactical levels. It is a good read, and in that aspect quite on a different level to Team Yankee, whom which it is often quoted as a definitive pioneering 80's WWIII book

General Hacket's Thirld World War is another one, I have started it a good few times but still haven't finished it in one go.

[BanzaiCat]

I read The Third World War back in middle school, I think. It was a slog, but then again I was 12 or so and thought it was such a cool concept at the time.

[mirth]

Third World War is a slog. Very dry material.

[Crossroads]

I read The Third World War back in middle school, I think. It was a slog, but then again I was 12 or so and thought it was such a cool concept at the time.

Third World War is a slog. Very dry material.

So it's not just me then...

[JasonPratt]

I didn't think it compared to Clancy's earlier spy-thrillers like Cardinal of the Kremlin, Patriot Games, or Clear and Present Danger. Red Rabbit was remarkably dull for a Clancy story.

Greatly enjoyed Cardinal and Patriot Games.  Clear and Present Danger needed to be cut by 25%.

Huh, I'm almost the opposite. I still regard PGames as dull, but CaPD as my favorite of the Ryan series. (Admittedly nothing beats RSR.)

I was okay with B&D, but I never even tried Red Rabbit, although I own a copy given at Christmas (I didn't realize it was a prequel to PG until it arrived, and worried it would break canon too much trying to be relevant to the overarching story). And I haven't read the Ryan Jr novels at all.

[mirth]

I was okay with B&D, but I never even tried Red Rabbit, although I own a copy given at Christmas (I didn't realize it was a prequel to PG until it arrived, and worried it would break canon too much trying to be relevant to the overarching story).

Was Red Rabbit a prequel to PG? I think it's set between PG and Red October.

[JasonPratt]

...um, yes, you're right. I had to look up to be sure, but in RedRab Ryan is in England working for the CIA, while in PGames he accepts the job offer from the CIA.

[JasonPratt]

Meanwhile, at brunch I finished reading the analysis of the German side of the Market-Garden operation, It Never Snows in September. Well worth the investment.  O0

Next up, finishing my thematic trilogy of the major West Euro operations from the German side, is... um... ....well, I've got it already, but I've forgotten the title. Bulge of course.

Edited to add: oh, yeah, it's Merriam's Dark December.  :clap:


(I'm also still marching through the seven current volumes of Horowitz's collected political essays, speeches, and articles. I'm somewhere in Volume 5, "Culture Wars".)

[Gusington]

Just began Only the Dead Know Brooklyn by Chris Vola.

[bbmike]

Finished The Final Reflection by John M. Ford. One of the best Star Trek books ever written and the way Klingons should have been.

[mirth]

Finished The Final Reflection by John M. Ford. One of the best Star Trek books ever written and the way Klingons should have been.

This should make you happy:

The novel was one source of inspiration for the depiction of the Klingons in Star Trek: Discovery, including an adaption of the game klin zha. Actor Kenneth Mitchell also read the novel as part of preparing for his role.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/The_Final_Reflection

[bbmike]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the 'Klingons' in Star Trek Discovery will be nothing like John M. Ford's Klingons.