American War
"An audacious and powerful debut novel: a second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle--a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself. Sarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, and that unmanned drones fill the sky. When her father is killed and her family is forced into Camp Patience for displaced persons, she begins to grow up shaped by her particular time and place. But not everyone at Camp Patience is who they claim to be. Eventually Sarat is befriended by a mysterious functionary, under whose influence she is turned into a deadly instrument of war. The decisions that she makes will have tremendous consequences not just for Sarat but for her family and her country, rippling through generations of strangers and kin alike"
Stats for nerds
4recommend
5mentions
4people
2018–2021years
100% recommend
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I find it interesting that write realistic near-future sci-fi with social commentary — the kind we had so much of during the 1960s and 1970s, with John Brunner, Philip K. Dick, Thomas Disch, and so on — is so rare these days. Off the top of my head, I can't think of many: Margaret Atwood, William Gibson, Omar El Akkad, any others?
I recently read an NPR article [1] about the best sci-fi and fantasy of the past decade. With one exception (El Akkad's American War), it's pretty much all space opera or similar. I guess Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven isn't, but I haven't read it.
[1] https://www.npr.org/2021/08/18/1027159166/best-books-science...
- > I was introduced to sci-fi last year and pretty much stuck to it throughout 2018.
If you're looking for additional science fiction suggestions:
1. American War by Omar El Akkad
2. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
3. Artemis by Andy Weir
4. Daemon by Daniel Suarez
5. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
6. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
7. Red Rising series by Pierce Brown
- American War by Omar El Akkad. Incredible post-apocalyptic civil war story.
- American War by Omar El-Akkad, read by Dion Graham. Not many characters but a riveting story about a plausible second American Civil War.
The Power of the Dog and The Cartel by Don Winslow, read by Rob Porter. A must read just for the vast characters Porter plays, many of whom are Hispanic. An amazing feat that tells a riveting story.
- The Ted Chiang anthology is sooo good. Every story's premise was so unique - it blows my mind that one person can come up with so many out there ideas.
I know OP wasn't looking for dystopias, but if you like Parable of the Sower, I recently read two excellent new scifi/dystopia books: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and American War by Omar El Akkad. American War was really cool - it's by a journalist who covered military trials at Guantanamo Bay and the Arab Spring, who transposes the stories/atrocities he witnessed as a reporter onto the future US.
