A very strong 4 stars. This book is such a welcome challenge to my American comfort with war. Set in the second American civil war, beginning in 2074, war is no longer something that happens in distant countries. It's right here, startlingly amongst us, on a country literally losing ground to rising coastal waters. Populations have been displaced, political rifts have terribly escalated, and fossil fuels have become the wedge to possibly end America. 
 On a smaller scale, American War is about the personal tragedies during wartime that can leave us irreparably damaged. About the ways a loving, curious young girl might become a radicalized instrument of destruction... I could see myself someday enjoying a conversation comparing Sarat Chestnut and Katniss Everdeen, whose ravages-of-war arc remains one of my most compelling contemporary (YA) tragedies. 
 I read this novel in a bit of a rush so that I could finish before seeing El Akkad at a book chat with Emily St. John Mandel. However, the wonderful allegories laced throughout American War really forced me to slow down and ruminate in moments. It's as wonderfully written as it is provoking and demanding.