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bookish_brain_rot's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Heartbreaking.
banjax451's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is an exceptionally challenging novel. It is not an easy read. And yet, it manages to discuss some difficult subject manner in a relatively unbiased and moving way. This book will sit with me for a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Child death, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Xenophobia
lauraonatrain17's review against another edition
4.0
A timely, well-written book that had me hooked. Scarily accurate to our current state of affairs in America.
lisawreading's review against another edition
5.0
Where to even start describing this powerful and upsetting book? It feels all too real, as an increasingly factionalized and radicalized America is plunged into a brutal civil war. Sides are drawn -- and armed. It's deadly serious, and as is sadly the norm in armed conflicts, children are the ones who are caught in the middle, starving, orphaned, witnessing death and brutality that no child should have to see,
Hannah is one of several POV characters; others include a hard-charging journalist pursuing her next great story, an inexperienced but determined UNICEF representative, the militia leader who takes in Hannah's bother Alex, and Alex himself. Each shares their unique viewpoint on the war and its impact, and through each, we see the futility of the armed conflict and the seeming hopelessness of any attempt to find a resolution.
The political situation in Our War is, honestly, not so far different from our own current situation. It's scarily easy to imagine these events evolving from where we stand today.
At first, I found it confusing to keep track of which side was which, but I think that's part of the point. After all, your view of whether someone is a patriot or a rebel may depend very much on which side of the line you yourself are standing on.
The writing here is raw and shocking and immediate, and makes for a completely gripping read. Above all, the children caught in the middle are the ultimate victims here, and seeing the war through Hannah's eyes is truly gut-wrenching.
Hannah is one of several POV characters; others include a hard-charging journalist pursuing her next great story, an inexperienced but determined UNICEF representative, the militia leader who takes in Hannah's bother Alex, and Alex himself. Each shares their unique viewpoint on the war and its impact, and through each, we see the futility of the armed conflict and the seeming hopelessness of any attempt to find a resolution.
The political situation in Our War is, honestly, not so far different from our own current situation. It's scarily easy to imagine these events evolving from where we stand today.
As a reporter, Aubrey had always been shocked by the right wing's war on facts. They regularly vilified anybody in fact-based professions, from scientists to doctors. They generated and consumed propaganda and called anything else fake. For them, reality wasn't as interesting as a good simple narrative that had them righteously and perpetually enraged.
At first, I found it confusing to keep track of which side was which, but I think that's part of the point. After all, your view of whether someone is a patriot or a rebel may depend very much on which side of the line you yourself are standing on.
The writing here is raw and shocking and immediate, and makes for a completely gripping read. Above all, the children caught in the middle are the ultimate victims here, and seeing the war through Hannah's eyes is truly gut-wrenching.
nerd_dan's review against another edition
5.0
I started reading this on inauguration day in 2020. This book was too real for me after the attack on the capital. That said, it was such an amazing book that really pinpoints how fragile the US democracy is. I highly recommend this book.
david_agranoff's review against another edition
4.0
Our War By Craig DiLouie
One of my favorite genres of novels is the warning novel. 1984 and Alas Babylon are taught in schools because of what they say about authoritarianism and nuclear war. Not every novel written as a dire warning is taught in schools but I personally love sci-fi that does this. Speculative fiction as a genre has many tricks up its sleeves but the ability to look at an oncoming disaster and dramatize it is the very best reason to write it. We can debate that point, it is subjective but I think the argument is strong to almost be objective truth. Warning novels are important. So like Sinclair Lewis It Can’t Happen here felt like a well-timed warning 90 years after it was published.
With Our War, Craig DiLouie was put in an uncomfortable place as the author of a warning novel that appeared to be coming true on January 6th, 2021. When right-wing seditionists tried to start the very conflict, he warned about it. I told you so’s from an author safely north of the border don’t make for the most natural book promotion but if the target audience is me – sold. I can relate to DiLouie’s situation as I am the author of a climate change warning novel (Ring of Fire) about wildfires I have had to debate often if I should hold my tongue or look callous promoting it.
That was not the only reason why I jumped on this book as it was also set 53 miles from my hometown in Indianapolis. It is a city I have spent lots of time in so the idea of a Second American civil war novel that was about the battle of Indianapolis had me curious. I will say I had to divorce some of my knowledge of Indy while reading this book but that is not the author's fault and should not affect most readers.
Our War released in 2019, probably written directly in the middle of the Trump years is a solid warning novel. It is about a President who after he is impeached refuses to leave office. I know it sounds familiar. Many of the events mirror reality, President Marsh’s followers in the book get a little further and many blue cities in red states become battlegrounds.
Like many great war novels, Our War follows many different POVs. The narrative is structured in a smart way to balance parallels in the storytelling. Hannah is what I would consider the most important character, she is a ten-year girl left homeless after her parents are killed and she is separated from her brother Alex. She ends joining the Free Women a group of leftist resistance fighters, and of course, Alex ends up fighting with the right-wing militia. They were too young to have ideals before the war started and Dilouie uses these characters to highlight how both sides form their ranks. It is a trope of civil war fiction the family is torn apart and facing off in the war, but in this case, it is important and done well.
The adult characters have plenty of meaningful parallels as well. Including Abigail whose ex-husband fights for the other side. Gabrielle is a French-Canadian worker for UNICEF looking for evidence of child soldiers in Indianapolis. She befriends a local reporter a black journalist named Audrey. On the right side of the conflict, we have Mitch who believes he is on the right side of history, despite my feelings as a leftist myself I was glad he was not painted as mustache-twirling and given his logic for his actions. In many senses, he had more regrets than the liberals about who was fighting on his behalf.
In hindsight, Our War might not seem prophetic but honestly how many of us thought we would see the supporters of a sitting president under his direction storm the capital and try to stop the transfer of power. Well apparently, this Canadian Journalist turned author primarily known for writing horror novels did. He will join fellow Canadian Journalist turned author of The American War Omar El Akkad who wrote disturbing American Civil War novels.
Two very different books, Our War goes less into the future, and Akkad was trying to reflect the madness our country caused in the middle east by reflecting it back. Our War is about the bi-partisan conflict here and now. It is easy to point the finger exactly to the roots.
“Social media had promised to bring people together but only helped polarize them along new tribes isolated in separate echo chambers.”
It can seem dehumanizing and like a video game when it is a battle of names and profile avatars but Our War seeks to explore this conflict spilling into the streets. To take the rhetoric that nebulous when written in comments on Facebook and Twitter and put the conflict into the real world. The narrative is helped by Indianapolis losing power and being cut off from the rest of the country. Otherwise, the conflict probably would have been live-streamed and posted all over. That is one aspect DiLouie missed, the nut bags live streaming putting their feet up on the speaker’s desk and recording for the FBI their acts of sedition is so modern treason but that is the reality. I can see why Dilouie chooses not to focus on that. It wasn’t the point.
As for the role of Indianapolis. I had to divorce my knowledge of Indiana a little bit. It is clear that Dilouie did his research…
“Indy was a blue city, in a sea of Red. At the start of the war, the militias had gained control of the countryside easy enough. They’d roll into town, find out who was in local government, make some changes. None of it was planned. It just happened, a nationwide protest that snowballed into a revolution.”
There is a difference between reading, researching, or even visiting a place and knowing it. Why is Indianapolis a blue city in a sea of red? A couple of reasons, and while there are some progressive artist types on the north that is not the main reason. A huge aspect of Indianapolis overlooked here is the large African-American population. I know from organizing a little in the city that the community is somewhat dubious of young white progressives. That should not bother readers, not from Indiana. That said the black community being underrepresented in the story is the one and only real knock against this novel for me.
I think this novel should be read because it is warning about violent partisanship. That message is more important than the details of the story.
The Brother and Sister's storyline is at the heart of this novel. It is the emotional core as much as it drives a huge chunk of the story. Hannah and Alex were relatable characters who represent a very important class of Americans. Not everyone feels perfectly represented by Democrats and Republicans, but our stupid system only lets citizens choose between Coke and Pepsi. You can’t escape it.
That seems to be the warning of Our War. It is where all the hatred and partisanship go if left to fester. The woman shot storming the capital was Q conspiracy nutbag but she was from our neighborhood in San Diego. The local news interviewed her mourning family. Her grandfather who didn’t share her views lost a loved one to the crazy partisanship as much as the bullet that tore through her.
This is where the novel addresses that issue, I think is not getting enough attention right now. Can we forgive the president and party who caused this because Trump and Ted Cruz were not shy about stoking these flames? Hannah a ten-year-old in the book brings it up. “Sabrina said they should be punished. She said there’s no going back after this, no living with them again. Not after what they have done.”
“I can see her point they declared war on reality and elected a maniac who almost broke the country. When he failed, they rose up and broke it themselves. You can’t reason with them, and they hate our guts.”
They declared war on reality. Can anyone really argue this didn’t actually happen? In the case of Our War the ultimate result is open warfare, and don’t assume because Trump lost this time that this novel won't be relevant again someday. This is a great warning novel, worthy of your eyeballs and attention.
Spoilers…
I did want to comment on something that I consider spoilers.
“This is no place for a child.”
“I’m not forcing her to do anything,” The woman said “I don’t like it either. But after what she has suffered, she can make her own choices.”
“You see a child,”Rafael said. In some ways, she is as old as you.”
And later this results in the most powerful moment of the book.
Hannah Miller knelt on the debris-strewn floor amid shredded bodies, staring into space and hugging her brother’s body.
Something inside Mitch broke.
Mitch has a chance at this point to kill Hannah. She blew up a squad of his men and with it her brother. Mitch points his rifle and can’t do it. She is just a child who is already suffering because she killed her brother. This is the moment of ultimate partisanship taken to its most awful extremes. I enjoyed the fact that while DiLouie appears sympathetic to the left throughout the book at this moment he gives logic and strength of character to Mitch. Alex has a chance to kill his sister and can’t. Hannah is the one who ends up killing her brother and is wracked with guilt. Mitch sees the horror of all this at that moment. Powerful stuff. Excited to talk to Craig about these scenes when I interview him for my podcast so stay tuned for that…
One of my favorite genres of novels is the warning novel. 1984 and Alas Babylon are taught in schools because of what they say about authoritarianism and nuclear war. Not every novel written as a dire warning is taught in schools but I personally love sci-fi that does this. Speculative fiction as a genre has many tricks up its sleeves but the ability to look at an oncoming disaster and dramatize it is the very best reason to write it. We can debate that point, it is subjective but I think the argument is strong to almost be objective truth. Warning novels are important. So like Sinclair Lewis It Can’t Happen here felt like a well-timed warning 90 years after it was published.
With Our War, Craig DiLouie was put in an uncomfortable place as the author of a warning novel that appeared to be coming true on January 6th, 2021. When right-wing seditionists tried to start the very conflict, he warned about it. I told you so’s from an author safely north of the border don’t make for the most natural book promotion but if the target audience is me – sold. I can relate to DiLouie’s situation as I am the author of a climate change warning novel (Ring of Fire) about wildfires I have had to debate often if I should hold my tongue or look callous promoting it.
That was not the only reason why I jumped on this book as it was also set 53 miles from my hometown in Indianapolis. It is a city I have spent lots of time in so the idea of a Second American civil war novel that was about the battle of Indianapolis had me curious. I will say I had to divorce some of my knowledge of Indy while reading this book but that is not the author's fault and should not affect most readers.
Our War released in 2019, probably written directly in the middle of the Trump years is a solid warning novel. It is about a President who after he is impeached refuses to leave office. I know it sounds familiar. Many of the events mirror reality, President Marsh’s followers in the book get a little further and many blue cities in red states become battlegrounds.
Like many great war novels, Our War follows many different POVs. The narrative is structured in a smart way to balance parallels in the storytelling. Hannah is what I would consider the most important character, she is a ten-year girl left homeless after her parents are killed and she is separated from her brother Alex. She ends joining the Free Women a group of leftist resistance fighters, and of course, Alex ends up fighting with the right-wing militia. They were too young to have ideals before the war started and Dilouie uses these characters to highlight how both sides form their ranks. It is a trope of civil war fiction the family is torn apart and facing off in the war, but in this case, it is important and done well.
The adult characters have plenty of meaningful parallels as well. Including Abigail whose ex-husband fights for the other side. Gabrielle is a French-Canadian worker for UNICEF looking for evidence of child soldiers in Indianapolis. She befriends a local reporter a black journalist named Audrey. On the right side of the conflict, we have Mitch who believes he is on the right side of history, despite my feelings as a leftist myself I was glad he was not painted as mustache-twirling and given his logic for his actions. In many senses, he had more regrets than the liberals about who was fighting on his behalf.
In hindsight, Our War might not seem prophetic but honestly how many of us thought we would see the supporters of a sitting president under his direction storm the capital and try to stop the transfer of power. Well apparently, this Canadian Journalist turned author primarily known for writing horror novels did. He will join fellow Canadian Journalist turned author of The American War Omar El Akkad who wrote disturbing American Civil War novels.
Two very different books, Our War goes less into the future, and Akkad was trying to reflect the madness our country caused in the middle east by reflecting it back. Our War is about the bi-partisan conflict here and now. It is easy to point the finger exactly to the roots.
“Social media had promised to bring people together but only helped polarize them along new tribes isolated in separate echo chambers.”
It can seem dehumanizing and like a video game when it is a battle of names and profile avatars but Our War seeks to explore this conflict spilling into the streets. To take the rhetoric that nebulous when written in comments on Facebook and Twitter and put the conflict into the real world. The narrative is helped by Indianapolis losing power and being cut off from the rest of the country. Otherwise, the conflict probably would have been live-streamed and posted all over. That is one aspect DiLouie missed, the nut bags live streaming putting their feet up on the speaker’s desk and recording for the FBI their acts of sedition is so modern treason but that is the reality. I can see why Dilouie chooses not to focus on that. It wasn’t the point.
As for the role of Indianapolis. I had to divorce my knowledge of Indiana a little bit. It is clear that Dilouie did his research…
“Indy was a blue city, in a sea of Red. At the start of the war, the militias had gained control of the countryside easy enough. They’d roll into town, find out who was in local government, make some changes. None of it was planned. It just happened, a nationwide protest that snowballed into a revolution.”
There is a difference between reading, researching, or even visiting a place and knowing it. Why is Indianapolis a blue city in a sea of red? A couple of reasons, and while there are some progressive artist types on the north that is not the main reason. A huge aspect of Indianapolis overlooked here is the large African-American population. I know from organizing a little in the city that the community is somewhat dubious of young white progressives. That should not bother readers, not from Indiana. That said the black community being underrepresented in the story is the one and only real knock against this novel for me.
I think this novel should be read because it is warning about violent partisanship. That message is more important than the details of the story.
The Brother and Sister's storyline is at the heart of this novel. It is the emotional core as much as it drives a huge chunk of the story. Hannah and Alex were relatable characters who represent a very important class of Americans. Not everyone feels perfectly represented by Democrats and Republicans, but our stupid system only lets citizens choose between Coke and Pepsi. You can’t escape it.
That seems to be the warning of Our War. It is where all the hatred and partisanship go if left to fester. The woman shot storming the capital was Q conspiracy nutbag but she was from our neighborhood in San Diego. The local news interviewed her mourning family. Her grandfather who didn’t share her views lost a loved one to the crazy partisanship as much as the bullet that tore through her.
This is where the novel addresses that issue, I think is not getting enough attention right now. Can we forgive the president and party who caused this because Trump and Ted Cruz were not shy about stoking these flames? Hannah a ten-year-old in the book brings it up. “Sabrina said they should be punished. She said there’s no going back after this, no living with them again. Not after what they have done.”
“I can see her point they declared war on reality and elected a maniac who almost broke the country. When he failed, they rose up and broke it themselves. You can’t reason with them, and they hate our guts.”
They declared war on reality. Can anyone really argue this didn’t actually happen? In the case of Our War the ultimate result is open warfare, and don’t assume because Trump lost this time that this novel won't be relevant again someday. This is a great warning novel, worthy of your eyeballs and attention.
Spoilers…
I did want to comment on something that I consider spoilers.
“This is no place for a child.”
“I’m not forcing her to do anything,” The woman said “I don’t like it either. But after what she has suffered, she can make her own choices.”
“You see a child,”Rafael said. In some ways, she is as old as you.”
And later this results in the most powerful moment of the book.
Hannah Miller knelt on the debris-strewn floor amid shredded bodies, staring into space and hugging her brother’s body.
Something inside Mitch broke.
Mitch has a chance at this point to kill Hannah. She blew up a squad of his men and with it her brother. Mitch points his rifle and can’t do it. She is just a child who is already suffering because she killed her brother. This is the moment of ultimate partisanship taken to its most awful extremes. I enjoyed the fact that while DiLouie appears sympathetic to the left throughout the book at this moment he gives logic and strength of character to Mitch. Alex has a chance to kill his sister and can’t. Hannah is the one who ends up killing her brother and is wracked with guilt. Mitch sees the horror of all this at that moment. Powerful stuff. Excited to talk to Craig about these scenes when I interview him for my podcast so stay tuned for that…
derrickmitchell's review against another edition
5.0
Really enjoyed this book. The author wrote One of Us, one of my favourite books I read last year (kind of To Kill A Mockingbird meets Xmen). This book written a few years ago follows the civil war in the US, when a president is impeached but refuses to leave office, it starts a conflict that eventually slides into civil war. It follows a number of characters but mainly a brother and sister who wind up being child soldiers on either side of the conflict. Pretty gut wrenching and though provoking.
Plus I found out the author lives in my city.
Plus I found out the author lives in my city.
bookdrag0n's review against another edition
4.0
Trigger Warning: Adult language and content as well as graphic images/violence
In this dystopian America, eerily similar to our own present time of 2019, a civil war is raging between the liberals and conservatives. The President was convicted of crimes and the Senate attempted to remove him from office; Marsh had different plans, however. He refused to leave his presidency, and the country exploded into kill or be killed. Now, there are hundreds if not thousands of individual militias, barely held together around either the Senate or the President’s cause and fighting for their belief. Hannah Miller, a 10-year-old girl stuck in the middle of Indy with no one to help her must find a way to survive this war. She finds help with the Free Woman, a militia fighting on the liberal side. Unfortunately, her older brother Alex is fighting on the opposite side, due to unfortunate circumstances. Will they ever meet in battle? If they do, will their individual sides rip them apart or can they make peace with each other, and thus with the other side?
The world building of this novel is absolutely stunning. From the get-go there is so much description of this new America, so much so that I barely recognize the country I know as home. No longer is America a land full of opportunity and safety–No, this America is full of mortars, snipers, and hidden IEDs. This America is dangerous. This America has spiraled back down into an almost third-world category. People are calorie counting now, not to lose weight, but to hopefully stretch their rations to last the week before they starve. Cell phones and computers have become obsolete, Americans instead using their one-hour of electricity to cook food or heat up their measly living quarters. Parks are littered with tents, sentries posted throughout as so many militias set up base in the middle of the city. America is a war zone.
Going along with this, Craig DiLouie shocks us with violence seemingly on every page. There is no standing still in Indy or taking your time; to do such is to die. Snipers could be on any roof, bombs could explode anywhere. The enemy could be watching you. DiLouie does an amazing job building up this suspense that the characters feel living in Indy, always on high alert, always expecting something horrible to happen at any moment. In fact, we readers become so accustomed to the blood and death that our characters experience, that we become almost desensitized to it. It becomes our new normal for this new America. And I think that this is exactly what DiLouie was going for. Because for the characters, this is their new normal, this is what they get to live through every day. It is a sad fact that we can adapt to something so tragic, so easily.
On the same par with world building, the character building is also phenomenal, especially with the character who holds my heart: Hannah. We first see her as this innocent and naive little girl, someone we wouldn’t believe could survive on her own. She is such a child, depicted through her thoughts, actions, and even words. But as the novel progresses, we see her grow up. In just a few short days/weeks, this small 10-year-old becomes an adult. I am still marveling at her transformation from the beginning of the novel to the end. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just leave it at that, but as you read, keep track of how Hannah thinks and acts! You’ll be stunned as well. Fighting in a war can really age a person, especially a child.
The writing style of the novel itself was interesting. At times it seemed a little slow and monotonous with too much dawdling in seemingly trivial matters. There are multiple POVs–between Hannah, Alex, the UN agent Gabrielle, and the reporter Aubrey–and each looks into its individual character, as well as the various political factors circulating their life. It was interesting to see the government from a much more direct perspective through the UN and the reporter than how Hannah and Alex see the troubles. It definitely helped me to keep up with the politics of what exactly was going on at what times, and how the civil war was actually affecting America and its government/police forces. However, the bits with Aubrey and Gabrielle were also slightly slow. They tended to be more of an info dump, and less emotionally triggering than when I saw through the eyes of Hannah and Alex. Perhaps this is what made the novel a bit too slow for me–I wanted more action, more of Hannah and Alex’s plights. Or perhaps it was simply the fact that there were soooooo many chapters! They were very short and thus plentiful, and I think that tripped me up a bit. It would have made the novel go faster if the chapters had been longer, at least for me.
I also was a bit underwhelmed with the ending. It seemed to really just peter out, and I was much more of a passive bystander than actually within the novel, as I had been for most of the rest of the novel. It also seemed to go a bit too long and wrapped up the novel a bit too nicely. But perhaps that’s just me, because I enjoy stretching my own imagination as to what happens after the ending.
Overall, I thought this novel was phenomenal. It was a bit scary how many parallels I could draw from this dystopia and our own real America, but that definitely added to the suspense and emotion of the story. The character building and world building were amazing, the multiple POVs gave us further insight into the world and its characters, and I was emotionally invested in the story itself. I had just a few issues with the technical part of the novel, but otherwise, it was a great read! I would definitely recommend it! Hopefully those who read it may gain enlightenment about our own political climate in America right now.
In this dystopian America, eerily similar to our own present time of 2019, a civil war is raging between the liberals and conservatives. The President was convicted of crimes and the Senate attempted to remove him from office; Marsh had different plans, however. He refused to leave his presidency, and the country exploded into kill or be killed. Now, there are hundreds if not thousands of individual militias, barely held together around either the Senate or the President’s cause and fighting for their belief. Hannah Miller, a 10-year-old girl stuck in the middle of Indy with no one to help her must find a way to survive this war. She finds help with the Free Woman, a militia fighting on the liberal side. Unfortunately, her older brother Alex is fighting on the opposite side, due to unfortunate circumstances. Will they ever meet in battle? If they do, will their individual sides rip them apart or can they make peace with each other, and thus with the other side?
The world building of this novel is absolutely stunning. From the get-go there is so much description of this new America, so much so that I barely recognize the country I know as home. No longer is America a land full of opportunity and safety–No, this America is full of mortars, snipers, and hidden IEDs. This America is dangerous. This America has spiraled back down into an almost third-world category. People are calorie counting now, not to lose weight, but to hopefully stretch their rations to last the week before they starve. Cell phones and computers have become obsolete, Americans instead using their one-hour of electricity to cook food or heat up their measly living quarters. Parks are littered with tents, sentries posted throughout as so many militias set up base in the middle of the city. America is a war zone.
Going along with this, Craig DiLouie shocks us with violence seemingly on every page. There is no standing still in Indy or taking your time; to do such is to die. Snipers could be on any roof, bombs could explode anywhere. The enemy could be watching you. DiLouie does an amazing job building up this suspense that the characters feel living in Indy, always on high alert, always expecting something horrible to happen at any moment. In fact, we readers become so accustomed to the blood and death that our characters experience, that we become almost desensitized to it. It becomes our new normal for this new America. And I think that this is exactly what DiLouie was going for. Because for the characters, this is their new normal, this is what they get to live through every day. It is a sad fact that we can adapt to something so tragic, so easily.
On the same par with world building, the character building is also phenomenal, especially with the character who holds my heart: Hannah. We first see her as this innocent and naive little girl, someone we wouldn’t believe could survive on her own. She is such a child, depicted through her thoughts, actions, and even words. But as the novel progresses, we see her grow up. In just a few short days/weeks, this small 10-year-old becomes an adult. I am still marveling at her transformation from the beginning of the novel to the end. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just leave it at that, but as you read, keep track of how Hannah thinks and acts! You’ll be stunned as well. Fighting in a war can really age a person, especially a child.
The writing style of the novel itself was interesting. At times it seemed a little slow and monotonous with too much dawdling in seemingly trivial matters. There are multiple POVs–between Hannah, Alex, the UN agent Gabrielle, and the reporter Aubrey–and each looks into its individual character, as well as the various political factors circulating their life. It was interesting to see the government from a much more direct perspective through the UN and the reporter than how Hannah and Alex see the troubles. It definitely helped me to keep up with the politics of what exactly was going on at what times, and how the civil war was actually affecting America and its government/police forces. However, the bits with Aubrey and Gabrielle were also slightly slow. They tended to be more of an info dump, and less emotionally triggering than when I saw through the eyes of Hannah and Alex. Perhaps this is what made the novel a bit too slow for me–I wanted more action, more of Hannah and Alex’s plights. Or perhaps it was simply the fact that there were soooooo many chapters! They were very short and thus plentiful, and I think that tripped me up a bit. It would have made the novel go faster if the chapters had been longer, at least for me.
I also was a bit underwhelmed with the ending. It seemed to really just peter out, and I was much more of a passive bystander than actually within the novel, as I had been for most of the rest of the novel. It also seemed to go a bit too long and wrapped up the novel a bit too nicely. But perhaps that’s just me, because I enjoy stretching my own imagination as to what happens after the ending.
Overall, I thought this novel was phenomenal. It was a bit scary how many parallels I could draw from this dystopia and our own real America, but that definitely added to the suspense and emotion of the story. The character building and world building were amazing, the multiple POVs gave us further insight into the world and its characters, and I was emotionally invested in the story itself. I had just a few issues with the technical part of the novel, but otherwise, it was a great read! I would definitely recommend it! Hopefully those who read it may gain enlightenment about our own political climate in America right now.
alex_ellermann's review against another edition
3.0
"Our War" posits a near-future American civil war, seen through the lense of a cast of characters navigating either side of the Battle of Indianapolis. The President's been impeached, he's refused to leave office, and all hell has broken loose. Will the journalist live to tell her story? Will the UNICEF worker live long enough to get aid flowing to the city? What will come of the child soldiers on either side of the conflict?
Craig DiLouie tells this story well, with believable characters and scenarios playing out much as one might imagine. If I have a problem with the novel, it's that the story reads very much as the work of a Leftie. With the exception of one grudgingly halfway-decent character, the Right is populated with rapists, drug pushers, wife-beaters, and murderous religious fanatics. With the exception of one faceless, nameless gang, the Left is populated with noble people fighting for truth, justice, and the American way.
Don't get me wrong - it's ok for a novelist to have a point of view. However, the one-sidedness of the presentation misses the kinds of opportunities for juicy nuance that take a novel from forgettable page-turner to unforgettable must-read.
Still, I enjoyed "Our War." I think my hippie friends would enjoy it, too.
Craig DiLouie tells this story well, with believable characters and scenarios playing out much as one might imagine. If I have a problem with the novel, it's that the story reads very much as the work of a Leftie. With the exception of one grudgingly halfway-decent character, the Right is populated with rapists, drug pushers, wife-beaters, and murderous religious fanatics. With the exception of one faceless, nameless gang, the Left is populated with noble people fighting for truth, justice, and the American way.
Don't get me wrong - it's ok for a novelist to have a point of view. However, the one-sidedness of the presentation misses the kinds of opportunities for juicy nuance that take a novel from forgettable page-turner to unforgettable must-read.
Still, I enjoyed "Our War." I think my hippie friends would enjoy it, too.
tyrshand's review against another edition
4.0
This is a chilling exploration of where the world's fractured politics could take us -- particularly in the U.S. It's heartbreaking to follow a family torn apart by The U.S.'s second civil war and to realize that this doesn't seem as speculative as you'd think at first glance. It's also less on any political side than you'd think.