A prescient and gripping novel of a second American civil war, and the children caught in the conflict, forced to fight. When the president of the United States is impeached, but refuses to leave office, the country erupts into civil war. 10-year-old Hannah Miller, an orphan living in besieged Indianapolis, has joined a citizen's militia. She had nowhere else to go. And after seeing the firsthand horrors of war, she's determined to fight with the Free Women militia. Hannah's older brother, Alex, is a soldier too. But he's loyal to the other side. After being separated from Hannah, he finds a home in a group calling themselves The Liberty Tree militia. When a UNICEF worker and a reporter discover that both sides are using child soldiers, they set out to shine a light on something they thought could never happen in the United States. But it may be too late because even the most gentle children can find that they're capable of horrific acts.
Publication Year: 2019
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"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.
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