This book was absolutely amazing.In an odd backstory of how the book came to me, it was sent to my mom to then give to me, sent by a friend of a woman she knew only through phone calls and email correspondence, as they were employed by the same company, my mom in California, her friend/co-worker in Texas. My mom had mentioned that I am a writer, and the friend of a friend thought I would enjoy this book. He mailed it to my mom. Then, sadly, he died.In my mind I imagine it to be one of the last things he did before he passed.I began reading the book, but wasn't ready for it.Author Ralph Peters is referred to as the Tolstoy of military fiction; I can see why. His writing is so nuanced and detailed that it is seamless in its description and advancement of the action. This style also makes for a 600+-page book. Personally, I like long books, especially when they're well written, as this one so powerfully is. Like Stephen King says, he likes to write books in the 400-page rage, books "the reader can get happily lost in." About a month ago, I grabbed THE WAR IN 2020 off my shelf. It had been nagging me for about the past 4 or 5 years, considering the circumstances under which it came to me.Given that I'm working on a YA/UF/Paranormal teen adventure series with military adventure elements, combined with that nagging feeling, I picked up TWI2020 again. This time it captured me and wouldn't let go. It's been awhile since I read a book which so grabbed my attention that pretty much all I did for 4 days was read it. TWI2020 did that. I couldn't put it down. When I had to put it down, like to drive, I was still thinking about it. Ralph Peters' writing is SO vivid and detailed that it was like I was there, on the mission with the men in uniform. It made me understand what it must have been like for Seal Team 6 when they went into Pakistan and got Bin Laden (fucker). Ralph Peters was an U.S. Army Foreign Area Officer and speaks 4 or 5 languages, including Russian. Clearly he understands the mindsets of many of the various cultures in Asia. His commentary on these cultures is more applicable today than when he wrote his book (1991). His insights into the mindset of the people we are aiding/fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq are scary.If you want a riveting read that can be enjoyed by anyone, not just fans of military fiction, give TWI2020 a shot. It's more about people than fast-paced adventure which only skims the surface of the human experience, a complaint often voiced by those not fans of the genre.Highly recommend this book.
So, I read this back sometime in the mid-1990s, in 1994 I think. I had picked up a tattered mass-market paperback copy at a yard sale or Salvation Army, and I really loved it. As bad thriller books go, this one was well-done. Oh, it was a bit anachronistic - set in 2020 but written in 1991, it made reference to Desert Shield but not Desert Storm, and the Soviet Union plays a major role in 2020. Anyway, I loved this book, but my copy literally fell apart, pages scattering in the wind. I tried to get a new copy, but it was out of print. I found a copy at Savers yesterday (4/25/08) for less than $3. Hardcover. So I'm happy.
What do You think about The War In 2020 (1992)?
I picked this book up on vacation in Amsterdam at age 13. I got it from a flea market at the price €.5. While half a Euro was not a great dent in my vacation spending money, I was unfortunately not yet in the habit of recognizing and putting away terrible books. For years later, The War In 2020 made a decent, if somewhat clumsy, improvised flyswatter. I consider a half euro fly swatter to be fair value, but the time spent reading the book was certainly wasted.The book is racist, nationalist garbage. But even if you like that kind of thing, I urge you to look elsewhere for your injection of unironic "America-Fuck-Yeah" raging military hard-on literature. Because none of those things bothered me when I read this book as a kid, and yet I could still tell how awful it was. The characters, when they're not simply lazy stereotypes, feature all the depth of action-movie cardboard cutouts. Finally, the dramatic finale makes no damn sense. I won't spoil it here, but it must surely go down as one of the most contrived, nonsense ideas to have ever been put on paper.If you're still considering reading this, just go re-read some Tom Clancy. I guarantee you'll be happier in the end.
—Rune
This book is horrible. It has it all: flimsy plot, racist stereotypes, hackneyed dialogue, flag-waving jingoism, gaping plot holes, and flat characterization. I'm forgetting something. Oh yeah, dumbassery. There is a whole lot of dumbassery in this book.I know what you're doing right now. You are looking from this review to the number of stars I gave the book and back again. "How in tarnation can he give this pap a three star rating if it's such a terrible book?" you're saying as you stroke your chin.If you're not stroking your chin at this point, it would be a good time to start.Anyway, to answer the question that you asked in the paragraph previous to the paragraph above, I can give this pap a three star rating because for some stupid reason I enjoyed it. There, I said it. I enjoyed this racist chest-thumping nationalistic excuse for a book.Other bad things that I enjoy:- Pizza pockets (generic brand).- Steven Seagal movies. Really? Yes. Really.- Chad Kroeger's beard.- The music of Maxi Priest.- Microwaved hot dogs.- Roast pheasant . . . oh wait, how'd that get on the list? *laughs snootily*Anyway, this book sucks and I like it.
—Johnny D
I personally found this book to be very boring and uninteresting. When I read the back flap and the first couple chapters and it seemed to be pretty good and very descriptive. But after awhile the story line got stale and very hard to comprehend. Like one character that was described in a chapter was completely forgotten and never mentioned for another seven or eight chapters. Finally, I dropped the book out of shear boredom. As for a recommendation for this book, I would not recommend this book to people because it was incredibly hard to follow.
—Ben V
