2034

A Novel of the Next World War

By: Elliot Ackerman, Admiral James Stavridis USN

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, P.J. Ochlan, Vikas Adam, Dion Graham, Feodor Chin

From two former military officers and award-winning authors, a chillingly authentic geopolitical thriller that imagines a naval clash between the US and China in the South China Sea in 2034--and the path from there to a nightmarish global conflagration.

On March 12, 2034, US Navy Commodore Sarah Hunt is on the bridge of her flagship, the guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones, conducting a routine freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea when her ship detects an unflagged trawler in clear distress, smoke billowing from its bridge. On that same day, US Marine aviator Major Chris "Wedge" Mitchell is flying an F35E Lightning over the Strait of Hormuz, testing a new stealth technology as he flirts with Iranian airspace. By the end of that day, Wedge will be an Iranian prisoner, and Sarah Hunt's destroyer will lie at the bottom of the sea, sunk by the Chinese Navy. Iran and China have clearly coordinated their moves, which involve the use of powerful new forms of cyber weaponry that render US ships and planes defenseless. In a single day, America's faith in its military's strategic pre-eminence is in tatters. A new, terrifying era is at hand.

So begins a disturbingly plausible work of speculative fiction, co-authored by an award-winning novelist and decorated Marine veteran and the former commander of NATO, a legendary admiral who has spent much of his career strategically outmaneuvering America's most tenacious adversaries. Written with a powerful blend of geopolitical sophistication and human empathy, 2034 takes us inside the minds of a global cast of characters--Americans, Chinese, Iranians, Russians, Indians--as a series of arrogant miscalculations on all sides leads the world into an intensifying international storm. In the end, China and the United States will have paid a staggering cost, one that forever alters the global balance of power.

Everything in 2034 is an imaginative extrapolation from present-day facts on the ground combined with the authors' years working at the highest and most classified levels of national security. Sometimes it takes a brilliant work of fiction to illuminate the most dire of warnings: 2034 is all too close at hand, and this cautionary tale presents the reader a dark yet possible future that we must do all we can to avoid.

* This audiobook edition includes an exclusive interview with co-author Admiral James Stavridis.

Meh....

This book started off pretty well, a plausible scenario for a future conflict between two superpowers. However, the book quickly devolves into ill-explained science fiction cyber weapons that can completely shut down enemy technology and render systems defenseless. The only solution is for one side to attack the other with WWII technology and rely on the superior cunning of its service members. If you're into that sort of story, this is a good book for you. However, if you're looking for a Tom Clancy-style techno-thriller with accurate depictions of military technology, I'd pass on this one.

Interesting Gripping Read

I listened to this in one day. A very compelling read. I don't think in an actual real life situation things would pan out as portrayed in the novel.

I kept wondering what was happening in places like North Korea, and South America. Was there a resistance movement in Taiwan? What was Israel"s response to the war? Also missing was the state of the Sino Empire after hostilities ceased.

Despite certain omissions it's still one hell of a military thriller and an amazing cautionary tale.

Food for thought.

A nightmare of fiction. We can only hope that nukes never play a roll in global disagreements. The story is rambling but as one imagines the hell created it becomes a simple plea. Avoid WW III.

Sobering yet enthralling

The book harkens back to my love of Tom Clancy novels. In Tom Clancy’s novel, Debt of Honor, the author of the novel had the audacious imagination to imagine someone flying a jumbo jet into the US Capitol. This was 7 years before 9-11. The point is, we have to have imaginations that will envision a future that is frightening and unthinkable. That is what this book does. It is about a world war where the unthinkable happens. If we can wrap our brains around what the implications of this 2034, maybe we can start making the difficult decisions now of how to avoid a global conflict with a peer-adversary like China.

I have heard much better narrators. One good narrator could have done all of the voices in this book well. But instead they employed several narrators. This did not make the story more immersive. Still. The voices grew on me, and as I became attached to the character, the narrator’s voice was part of that.

Very highly recommended!

Disappointing

I expected more from a military author, especially a Naval one. Example - A ships Captain and her Commodore are the first to notice another ship on the horizon? The Commodore loses her flotilla and is not held accountable but instead is promoted? Hard to continue reading this one.