I had downloaded the eBook a long time ago and somehow couldn't get on with reading it. Almost a year ago, I read a few pages and left it there. Now, having finished it, I can say that it is good. That doesn't mean that I agree with the author's views. I enjoyed it as a fast paced action story set in a dystopian world. The end seemed a bit too cinematic though... ( )

A good quick read with a fast paced storyline. I found the subject relevant to recent current events. I enjoyed the setting since I have German heritage. I am a sucker for science fiction/fantasy/alternative and specultaive history. So for me I enjoyed the book. ( )

This one is a very disturbing novel. It paints a very bleak picture of society where one group of extremists pushes the other one and they end up in vicious circle of violence and retributions.

As something that may come around as a cliche we have Caliphate huge Islamic area covering almost entire Europe (except Switzerland, Balkans (heh :)) and Russia) and of course Middle East, Turkey, Northern Africa etc. This area is governed by religious fanatics who enforce the religious laws and enslave all the non-muslims - either by using them as slaves or conscripting them into their armed services and thus converting them.

On the other side you have Empire of Northern America - totalitarian state that rose up from ashes of the republic (brought down by terrorist acts from the would-be-caliphate) and one that does not hesitate to use what ever necessary (including religious zealots on their own side) to fight the Caliphate. Story settings corresponds to what is currently being voiced by both left and right parties across the globe.

I agree with author on some of the points - especially "white man is plague" talk - I mean come on, do you think that all those indigenous people where so bloody peaceful? Just think a little bit about Mayans, Aztecs, Mongols and other ancient nations - they all had slaves, right? they all fought pretty viciously against all the other nations and weren't beyond the killing. So more advanced tribe came in and took their country and kicked them out - so what? In this way we can go even further into past and never get out of it because there is always some nation kicking some other nations during migrations and expansion. Also demographics play pivotal role - although number crunching is not always correct.European nations are aware of all the demographic changes believe me.

One thing I do not agree with the author is the way he depicts the Europe - you may say it is because I am European by birth but there is more to this. USA may be a lot of things (open to everybody etc) but they have a very bad habit when it comes to external politics - they enter areas of interest, mess around with it and then (after they get bored or after achieving their goals) they just move out and leave everything to crumble - and this is done constantly (again, this all goes along the Moore's ideal state [let others fight for you] and proves that morals and politics do not go hand in hand).

Giving picture of Europeans as docile people who like to lay down cozily and not think about future is also a lot of bullocks if you ask me - so what if there is universal social/medical security for Europeans, as far as I remember worker strikes and fight for the workers rights did originate in USA but alas they are not celebrated there - they are celebrated in Europe and rest of the world. What differs the USA and Europe is that Europe is still made of centralized governments (for how long we will see) instead of groups with direct financial interests - therefore we are talking about very different mindsets [and I am very much entertained by the looks of i-am-so-sorry-for-you that Americans give to Europeans when medical care is mentioned :)]. You pay your life insurances [that have tendency to decrease their offer when they see that some options are used more regularly] we pay for the medical security again from our own money. Did we earn it, you bet yourself we did. Basically you call it X we call it Y - only difference may be for how long can we keep level of service at the quality level and available to everybody.

Also on note of Europeans not having many kids - I agree but please look at the basically entire highly developer world - how many kids do they have? In my experience only people having kids in highly developed countries (N. America included) are immigrants - locals enjoy have cats and dogs and [maybe, just maybe] participating in adopting children from far away countries (very rarely local children mind you) or giving money to the funds. But not in having kids themselves. So this has nothing to do with Europe itself but with the way modern culture treats parenthood and children - it is brought to absurdity.

All in all this is difficult book by author that may have a little bit conservative (or right) view of the world but nevertheless it is good book to read [although be careful, some scenes may be a little difficult to stomach]. ( )

Interesting concept, but poor execution, as the story is basically passed through a Quisanart of multiple settings, people, and even time periods, that makes it feel more like a diary written by a committee (kind of like watching a show with a commercial break every 2 minutes). The pace only starts to pick up as the various plot points finally converge by Part II (pg 179), but by then the story goes into autopilot, feeling like an episode of The A Team. I really wish this was written better, as again the concept is interesting, though maybe offensive to some. Instead it feels like a heavy handed morality tale with a dose of "I told you so" to it. ( )