The Sum of All Fears

Executive Summary: After how much I enjoyed [b:Clear and Present Danger 32669 Clear and Present Danger (Jack Ryan Universe, #6) Tom Clancy https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1291440438s/32669.jpg 5054704] this one was a pretty big letdown. It dragged a lot in places, but the ending helped make up for it a little. 2.5 Stars.Audiobook: Scott Brick does his usual fine job. He does a few accents (in particular Russian) to add a little something extra. For the most he just reads in his normal voice though. Doing the audio for this book both helped and hurt. There were times when I was bored that I might have put the text down and the audio just kept going so I was able to get through it. I will admit my attention probably drifted a bit more than normal when listening to an audiobook and I eventually decided to do 1.25 speed (something I almost NEVER do) just to finish the book sooner. It was really long at nearly 40 hours.Full ReviewThese days I primarily read fantasy. I especially love epic fantasy. Tom Clancy seems to write epic political thrillers. I don't know how else to describe it. Just like epic fantasy spends a bunch of time on the details of the world (or in some series describing the clothes and the food in far too much detail), this book gets into the details of just about everything rather than simply telling a spy/political thriller.I imagine just like the fact that I love epic fantasy, when many others do not, there are people who like this kind of detail. I don't however. I'm much more willing to accept some of the ridiculous plot details that drive this story than I am to be excited listening to details about how certain procedures or the technical specs of military equipment. There were parts where I just wanted the story to get on with things.I had no idea just how long this book was when I picked it up. I was looking for something “quick” to fill some time waiting for a hold from the library to come in and I ended up having to speed up the audio just to get through it fast enough.I know I've seen the movie with the same title, but my recollection was that was a reboot of sorts since they switched from Harrison Ford to a much younger Ben Affleck, but beyond that I don't remember that much. I do recall it was my least favorite of the Jack Ryan movies.My main issue with the book however isn't it's length or somewhat ridiculous plot points, but that “the villains” are just downright awful. There are a lot of antagonists to Jack Ryan, but the worst is basically the only female character whose not simply a supporting role. She's awful. Terribly written. I can't really get into why without Clancy's disdain for liberals is probably more apparent in this book than any other of his I've read so far.I've talked about my dislike of Jack Ryan in some of my reviews for previous Ryan books, but the conflict in this one was almost too much. A fight between two people I don't really like. Jack was a lot better in this one than in some of the earlier books, but at times I just wanted to put the book down as a result.I was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying the end of this book after struggling through much of the early parts, which is why I rounded up to 3 stars instead of down to 2. I'll probably continue on with the series (there are a few others I still want to read for some reason) at some point, but I figure I'll take a break until much later this year if not next year before doing so.I'd like to add in more thrillers (especially political thrillers) but so far I've not found the books to be nearly enjoyable as I recall the movies being, which is typically not the case for me at all.