White Sun War

The Campaign for Taiwan

By: Mick Ryan

Narrated by: Joshua Saxon

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

After decades of poising on the brink, the United States and China finally go to war when China invades the island of Taiwan. Deploying their most futuristic technologies in this grand strategic competition of the twenty-first century, the stakes could not be higher. Not only the future of the Taiwanese people but the fate of the world lies in the balance.

In an era when humans no longer just use machines, but partner with them in all aspects of military operations, this fictional account views this future war through the eyes of the American, Chinese, and Taiwanese caught up in the maelstrom, revealing the heartbreak, courage, leadership, and despair of high-tech warfare played out on land, at sea, in space, and in cyberspace.

White Sun War asks listeners to ponder anew an essential question for the future of security in western Pacific and the entire Indo-Pacific region: is a war for Taiwan winnable?

©2023 Mick Ryan (P)2023 Tantor

Engaging

While I appreciate a dry tactical tome, this was much more savoury! The parts that detailed modern warfighting were particularly salient.

Believable, terrifying, brilliant

What Mick Ryan thinks should always be at the forefront of discussion about future warfare, and this sublime history-written-in-the-future of an eerily believable war over Taiwan sets a new standard for present day commentary and considering the range of possibilities ahead of us all.

Meh

The narration is robot-like. Very hard to stick with. Could only listen to a little at a time

Thoughtful take on one scenario

Great read! Like watching a war game.
Really enjoyed it as a way to visualize the Chinese combat force in action.

Must read!

What a great story! I was not a fan of the narration. He spoke to fast and did not take natural pauses. I had to slow the speed down and as a Marine. I didnt like his pronunciation of specific US Marine Corps units, terms and acronyms. I did like the change in tone and delivery base on which character he was speaking from though.

I would still recommend this book and the audiobook.

The 21st Century’s Red Storm Rising

Very enjoyable read!! Tons of deep thought and research about the near future of great power conflict were put into this novel. I have followed Mick Ryan on Twitter/X for a while now and he has always produced quality analysis of military situations like the Russo-Ukraine War. He rolled those skills straight into this book, which provides a similar wargame-style thought process to the Taiwan Strait as Clancy provided to the North Atlantic in Red Storm Rising. But he also brought in more of the humanity to his combatants, such as Shaara has done in his American Civil War novels. I really liked this blend of the two styles, and highly recommend this book!!

Superior to Ghost Fleet and 2034

This is significantly better than Ghost Fleet and 2034. I say that as a huge fan of all of Ackerman’s other writing and as an antibody to the military’s obsession with Singer’s book. This work is grounded in a closer truth to geopolitical and technological realities in our competition with the PRC and CCP.

Outstanding!!

A must read for of those interested in the future of warfare and the possibilities of how future wars will be fought.

just top notch

once started couldnt put it down. one great read. so well done. Great story and charcter devlopment. the reserach and tech specs that went into this. A+

Interesting, but no “Red Storm Rising”

This is the first near future view on the Taiwan conflict that I’ve read and had some interesting projections of how space, cyber, and drone technology will integrate with war fighting.

However it fell short on 3 key aspects which prevent it from getting a top rating.

1 - The most influential events happened completely off-screen. The failed landings, the massive naval battle which set the Chinese behind on maintaining access to the island and the surprise fighter strike operation using he 6th-gen fighters would have made excellent centerpieces and I felt the book really suffered without them. Look to “the dance of the vampires” for a well-done example of a scene like that.

2 - While there were several POV characters who had names and backgrounds the author didn’t do enough to establish them and make us care about them. This meant that even when a character was injured or potentially killed I didn’t feel a significant amount of tension or emotional response.

3 - The characters didn’t have flaws or make mistakes. It felt like each character was the perfect person for their situation and really could have been replaced with anyone else in the same shoes. Captain Lee was the closest thing to a protagonist we got but even she was relatively poorly developed.

Given the interesting near future fiction approach to addressing current problems I’d be willing to give the author another chance but this book can only get 3-stars from me.