American War, Omar El Akkad
1.0 Stars
2-20-2021

A competently written book, however it it is focused on themes that I'm not particularly interested in & it has poor world building/is not really concerned with the consistency of its world. The basic idea is that the book explores the current violence, imperial and otherwise, in the Middle East through the lens of a Civil War in the America of 2074. So you have civil war, terrorism, insurgency and counter-insurgency, religious violence, refugee camps, meddling foreign powers, all those fun elements. However, enough of the technology & world building & material circumstance fell flat that I wasn't able to suspend disbelief & become really invested in his story (civil war in 2074? Really? That's optimistic. Also the civil war is over restrictions on carbon use, which I feel like will be mostly resolved one way or another by then). In the absence of a world and plot and characters that I was invested in, the writing/ideas weren't good enough to pull me along Anyway, the book wasn't particularly enjoyable or moving or well written & it did not teach me anything, so I can't recommend it.