White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan (Casemate Fiction) Paperback – May 4, 2023

Good insight into the current and future capabilties of warefare, with a fun fictional side that truly gets you invested into each character.

The development and implementation of advanced AI and autonomous weapon platforms was most interesting. How they changed battle tactics for both sides was intriguing. The command structure of CPT Lee's cavalry squadron was odd. It seemed to be more British ARMY than U.S. Army. I also got the impression that CPT Lee's Sergeant Major got killed twice. Really?

Don't look here if you're looking for a great war classic with well developed and flawed characters. Don't look here if you're looking for details on current and projected military technology. Don't look here if you're looking for a realistic description of how this potential war may end.However, if you want to read a simple short book on how China, Taiwan, and the U.S. may fight if the Chinese Communist Party attempts to take Taiwan by force, this book is a good introduction to how the protagonists may employ operations on land, sea, air, cyber, and space, as well as the impact of information operations on the conflict. This is a good explanation of how man-robot teaming could significantly change the character of warfare in the very near future.If you don't mind the political correctness (every hero in this book is a heroine), and you want to gain a basic understanding of how the military will fight in the future this book is worthy of your intention.

A very interesting read

Mick Ryan has attempted something novel with this book by blending speculative fiction with a military white paper.The books techinical approch to future warfare, as well as the considerations and possible outcomes on a war with China are faultless. There is some eye rasing questions asked, like Western Australia possbily ceeding from Australia. However for the most part the book is an intresting look from an expert in his field.The fiction element is less refined, it would have been nice to the book to spend a little more time in the reeds, namely the large air and sea battle that gets mentioned in the novel. However it soilders on well enough to provide the glue for Major General Ryan's points on what we need to look out for in the future of warfare. To put it anouther way, Ryan isn't quite throwing down prose with the likes of peak Tom Clancy in something like Red Storm Rising, but there is potential there and hopefully he takes the time to develop it.If you have any intrest in the future of land warfare or a possible war with China, pick up the book. I can see it popping up on quite a few miltary reading lists in the future.

I loved this book so much that I read it all in a weekend. It was a riveting account of a future war in Taiwan and included realistic plotlines and followed a colorful cast of characters throughout. If you are interested in this topic, this title is a must get.

Truly insightful into the evolution of warfare employing unmanned vehicles and autonomous machines to incorporate AI and technology into the modern battlefield. The author provides a great story that intertwines his expertise and knowledge of the employment of technology on the battlefield while relating political movements that allow the military action of adversaries. A must-read for today's military officers and enlisted to develop an understanding of the employment of technology in future campaigns.

I would recommend this to people interested in the Taiwan Strait hotspot, military hardware or futuristic conflicts.Mick Ryan clearly knows what he’s talking about being a retired Major General in the Australian Army. But his writing is a little wordy and hard to follow at times. The book tells the story of a war between China and Taiwan in 2028 with the perspectives of multiple characters. The focus is strongly on the military technology of the future. Which seems a bit too advanced for being just a few years away. But it is fiction after all.If you’re into those sorts of things, this book is for you. It’s also an important subject that more people should be aware of.

I judge these books about realistic hypothetical conflicts by the standard of Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising. I look for a combination of enjoyable read and educational value.Mick Ryan’s White Sun War is good and includes some useful ideas, like how a war for Taiwan could bog down into a ground war stalemate like in Ukraine. But this book needs way more detail and illuminating explanation of the kind that Red Storm Rising had.Far too often Mick uses a terrible plot device where the narrative dramatically stops and then picks up at a later point with rearview explanation of what happens after the stop. You see this device where ever a chapter ends with “…and then everything went dark.” 2034 used the same plot device repeatedly and I think it’s annoying and lazy writing.Another weakness of Mick’s book is that parts that could have featured amazing explanatory description and educational narrative, like a major Chinese-US naval battle, are only mentioned in passing.Overall this book is almost as good as Ghost Fleet but better than 2034 (which was a terrible and useless book. Like, almost mind-boggling in how junk it was.)I’m still waiting for somebody to write a book on a China conflict that comes close to being as good as Red Storm Rising.

Riveting reading from the first page in. Blends history, sci-fi and the current military situation seamlessly. If interested in geopolitics and the current Sino-American tussle, do yourself a favor and read this book.

Die derzeitige Kommentierung des Ukraine Krieges und jetzt auch des bevorstehenden Krieges in Gaza lassen erhebliche Defizite der Medien bei der Beschäftigung mit modernen Kriegsformen erkennen. Dies mag in Teilen daran liegen, dass neue Technologien und deren Unterstützung im Krieg für viele böhmische Dörfer sind und bleiben. Beginnend mit Tom Clancy haben sich einige Autoren wie Peter W. Singer (Ghost Fleet) oder auch Admiral a.D. Stavridis (2034) entschieden, mögliche künftige Auseinandersetzungen in Form einer fiktiven, aber realistischen Erzählung verständlich zu machen.In diese Form fällt auch das vorliegende Buch „White Sun War“. Der Autor ist Stratege und pensionierter Generalmajor der Armee Australiens. Seine Kenntnisse der Region, des Südchinesischen Meeres, handelnder Akteure und neuer Technologien wie KI fließen in seine Erzählstränge ein und machen deutlich, wie eine militärische Auseinandersetzung in nicht allzu ferner Zukunft aussehen könnte. USA und die VR China setzen dabei ihre futuristischen Entwicklungen ein. Dabei kommt es auch zur Frage, ob schnell lernende autonome Systeme den Soldaten überlegen sein werden. Ryan lässt Erfahrungen des Ukraine Krieges und dem bewunderndswerten Verteidigungswillen der dortigen Bevölkerung einfließen in eine heute noch dringend notwendige Stärkung des Bewusstseins der Taiwanesischen Bevölkerung. Der Krieg findet an Land, auf See, im Weltraum und Cyberraum statt. Und über allem taucht die grundsätzliche Frage auf: ist im Indo-pazifischen Raum ein Krieg um Taiwan gegen eine hochgerüstete chinesische Armee zu gewinnen?Die dargestellten möglichen Verluste an Mensch und Material erscheinen sehr plausibel. Der beschriebene konventionelle Krieg würde für alle Kriegsparteien zu ökonomischen und ökologischen Folgen führen, der die Akteure um Jahrzehnte in ihren Entwicklungen zurück schmeißen würde.Dieses Buch kann allen besonders empfohlen werden, die sich politisch, ökonomisch und militärisch mit künftigen Kriegsverläufen beschäftigen müssen. Nur so kann eine mögliche Überraschung Handelnder zumindest eingegrenzt werden. Für Europäer wird spätestens jetzt deutlich, dass ihr Handeln auf der Basis einer regelbasierten Ordnung der Vergangenheit angehört. Ein Krieg um Taiwan mag zwar weit weg erscheinen, dürfte aber auch die Europäer schneller als von Einigen erhofft zu Beteiligten werden lassen.

Very interesting read about a plausible Taiwan/PRC scenario in the not too distant future.

A realistic look at one possible near-term future. Ryan provides an wholistic and well integrated view of modern conflict across multiple social, economic, political and military dimensions.