Our War by Craig DiLouie
Released: August 20, 2019 | Genre: Alternate History, War
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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.
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Our War was partly inspired by a a Save the Children video depicting a fictional civil war in the United Kingdom through the eyes of a young girl. The video showed ordinary childhood moments gradually being swallowed by escalating conflict, eventually forcing the girl to flee her home.
REVIEW
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ☆ ☆
Lower-end mediocrity… until I realized what it actually was. 😲
For most of the book, I felt let down. I went in expecting a gripping, action-driven revolution story and found myself disappointed, much like I was with The Hunger Games; how it focused so much on the spectacle of the revolution rather than the actual revolution.
I kept waiting for the revolution to start, for the action to kick in, but it never really does. Instead, we get a slow-burn exploration of fractured politics, war-weary civilians, and a journalist chasing a story. The various factions feel directionless, or at least their motivations are never made clear. In many ways, it mirrors the reality of modern warfare, where the reasons for fighting often get lost in the fog.
It wasn’t until I was nearly 90% through the book that the real purpose of the story clicked for me: this isn’t about a revolution at all (if it is, it’s a very bad one). It’s about Hannah, a child soldier, and her personal journey through the horrors of a modern American civil war.
From the moment she loses her mother in the opening chapter, to joining The Free Women, to… well, events I won’t spoil here, her story becomes the emotional core of the book. It’s a character study, not a war epic. And once I saw it through that lens, the entire book took on new meaning. Had I known this going in, I think I would’ve appreciated it far more.
So, to anyone considering Our War: don’t expect Red Dawn, Homefront, or a thrilling tale of resistance. This isn’t about America fighting back, it’s about a young girl trying to survive when her country tears itself apart.
