Red Storm Rising is basically a story about a fictional World War III. The story focuses not so much on the human aspect of war as it does the strategic aspect. There’s lots of talk about planes, carriers, destroyers, helicopters, tanks, missiles of all kinds, and the tactics used to deploy them. It’s a credit to Clancy’s writing ability that he could make that interesting to the layman while weaving a compelling narrative around it, but he did.

Although there are lots of characters and moving pieces, it’s not a character driven story for the most part. You get to know a few of them a little bit, but most of the characters exist to serve a specific function in the narrative, and after that, they’re gone. It’s a very mechanical story in that sense. When it’s finished, you’re not left wanting to know more about them since none of them were the focal point of the story in the first place.

There’s a lot of talk about 1980s technology and how it was used in the military. Things like cassette recorders and video cameras on fighter jets are talked about like they’re mind-blowing tech, which I’m sure was true in 1986, but by today’s standards made me chuckle. As the reader, you get the point: the U.S. military and her allies are on top of it when it comes to protecting us from our enemies.

While I enjoyed Red Storm Rising, I’ve found Clancy’s writing to be somewhat tedious to read because of all the military jargon and the ridiculous amount of military acronyms that he used in his stories. He expected the reader to automatically know what they all mean, and he used them so often, if you don’t know at least some of them, you’ll be lost. I found myself having to look a lot of them up on the internet. I had to do this with The Hunt For Red October as well to the point that I made an acronym reference list in my notes on my e-reader. I added to that list when I read Red Storm Rising as well, and now it’s very long. I can’t imagine anyone who’s in the military would even know the meaning of half the acronyms in Red Storm Rising.

Clancy was a student of the U.S. military and the tools they use to protect our country. He was very good at immersing the reader in that world in his novels. If you don’t mind wading through all the military jargon, and want a wartime thriller seen though a 1980s Cold War lense – almost a time capsule in a sense – Red Storm Rising is a good read.