William DeForest Halsted IV's 3 favorite reads in 2024

• 2024
• 2025

I really got to know the characters. The book confronted you with the brutal reality of Iwo Jima.

I loved this book! Some of my favorite parts were the action scenes describing the flight of airplanes, the excitement and suspense of a play-by-play tense moment. I also particularly enjoyed the banter of the servicemen. Most of the book moves a lot slower via description and dialogue in the halls of government, but it was super interesting. The author develops a wide array of characters, and the plot, the incident with Iran, is super well done. I don't know if it's based on any specific historical incident. The whole thing came across as incredibly realistic, like it could have actually happened, and was worked out to incredible levels of detail. At the end, the author explains the story from an omniscient perspective, showing us what actually happened versus how each participant in the story perceived what happened.

There's a full-blown history lesson in the book as well, which for the most part doesn't get in the way of the story, but contributes to and enhances it. It's also incredibly obvious that the author knows what he is talking about, for the story is chock full of information about the government and acronyms and history and technology and whatnot, which makes it very authentic. There is a glossary and footnotes to help with these, but for the most part the narrative explains itself, and keeping track of who's whom is not difficult.

My only complaint with the book is that the characters, their interactions, and the government in general seem goody-goody overly polite and friendly, and most everyone is an upstanding individual and they're all gushy polite to each other. It's not too bad, but it comes across as borderline flattery that leaves a bad taste in my mouth (because it takes itself so seriously) and strikes me as unrealistic. The president is rather idealistic, too. Despite this, though, the book is still excellent, and these are minor issues. I highly recommend it.

This was a fabulous a story that was super interesting. It read kinda like a history text/novel, something in between, an effect I really loved. The story was well-developed, with scientific and technical detail and specific stories used appropriately to develop the story, along with broader overviews. The characters were all interesting. The plots, schemes, and machinations are really good. The battles ranged from thrilling to very depressing.

Overall I thought the book was very realistic and made a lot of sense. The author thought through what would happen in an adultless world. I like how he captured that while kids are often seen as innocent and virtuous, take the adults away and they have not yet learned to appreciate the value of life, etc. It really gives you a lot of food for thought about human nature and especially children.

My main criticism of the book is how China is portrayed. The author does a really good job capturing the hegemonic/imperial ambitions of the new child governments, especially the US and UK, and the playful violence of various child nations. But China? Her flaw is laziness and apathy. Meanwhile the Chinese leaders are these virtuous philosophers who no ulterior motives or desire to screw over the other nations. I mean, how about the whole China-Taiwan thing? Taiwan isn't even in the book. I get that the author is Chinese, and for all I know, given the Chinese autocracy, he has to be very careful what he writes, and anyway it's a minor issue.