American War by Omar El Akkad
When the Second American Civil War begins in 2074, Louisiana-born Sarat Chestnut, who is just six years old, is a child. But even she is aware that oil is forbidden, Louisiana is partially submerged, and unmanned drones are commonplace. She starts to grow up shaped by her specific time and location after her father is slain and her family is forcibly relocated to Camp Patience. Yet, not everyone at Camp Patience lives up to their claims. Sarat eventually makes an acquaintance with a mystery functionary, who turns her into a lethal weapon of war. The choices she takes will have profound effects on generations of relatives and strangers in addition to Sarat, her family, and her country.
American War by Omar El Akkad
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A deeply divided America is depicted in Omar El Akkad’s dystopian novel AMERICAN WAR, which is set fifty to one hundred years in the future. The novel describes a plague that nearly wiped out the nation, a civil war that lasted twenty years, as well as the devastating effects of climate change and natural disasters. Cities have been destroyed, along with coastlines. The capital was moved from Washington, D.C., to Columbus. Florida, New Orleans, a portion of Texas, and parts of California are submerged and gone. Natives of those coastal regions who are still alive have fled the interior, becoming undesired refugees in a nation ravaged by conflict between Red (South) and Blue (North). Sarat, a strong young woman who was orphaned by the war and recruited by the Reds from a refugee camp to be a sort of sniper who might bring death to an enemy, serves as the story’s protagonist.
On a desolate atoll near what was formerly Florida’s southernmost point, the Blues run a POW prison. Waterboarding and other horrifying interrogation techniques are used there. The southern skies are filled with rogue drones that are still carrying bombs but their servers have long since been destroyed. Or to put it another way, a lot is happening. Also, despite the fact that the story itself is really captivating and even a little terrifying due to its foresight and similarities to much of what is occurring in this country right now.
