The Philosopher's War
Books | Fiction / Fantasy / Historical
4.5
Tom Miller
The “propulsive follow-up to emergency physician Miller’s imaginative debut, The Philosopher’s Flight” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) finds Robert Canderelli Weekes as a rookie Rescue and Evacuation flier on the front lines of World War I in France. He came to save lives, but has no idea how far he’ll have to go to win the war. Thanks to a stunning flying performance and a harrowing shootout in the streets of Boston, Robert Canderelli Weekes’s lifelong dream has come true: he’s the first male allowed to join the US Sigilry Corps’s Rescue and Evacuation service, an elite, all-woman team of flying medics. But as he deploys to France during the waning days of the Great War, Sigilwoman Third-Class Canderelli learns that carrying the injured from the front lines to the field hospital is not the grand adventure he imagined. His division, full of misfits and renegades, is stretched to the breaking point and has no patience for a man striving to prove himself. Slowly, Robert wins their trust and discovers his comrades are plotting to end the Great War by outlawed philosophical means. Robert becomes caught up in their conspiracy, running raids in enemy territory and uncovering vital intelligence. Friends old and new will need his help with a dangerous scheme that just might win the war overnight and save a few million lives. But the German smokecarvers have plans of their own: a devastating all-out attack that threatens to destroy the Corps and France itself. Naturally, Robert is trapped right in the thick of it. The Philosopher’s War is the electrifying next chapter in Robert Weekes’s story, filled with heroic, unconventional women, thrilling covert missions, romance, and, of course, plenty of aerial adventures. The second book in a series “that grabs readers from its opening lines and doesn’t loosen its grip or lessen its hold all the way through” (Associated Press), Tom Miller again brings Robert’s world to life with unrivaled imagination, ambition, and wit.
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Author
Tom Miller
Pages
416
Publisher
Simon and Schuster
Published Date
2019-07-16
ISBN
1476778205 9781476778204
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"I’m going to admit a little secret that’s not so secret: I don’t tend to read books written by straight white cis men. There are a lot of reasons for this, some justified and some maybe not, but as someone who takes care to be inclusive in their reading choices, it doesn’t always mesh that I knowingly avoid books by certain authors. I know why I do it; I don’t see the representation I so desperately want to see in the publishing industry, and it’s my way of prioritizing the voices I want to here. But I realize that sometimes it causes me not read books that are very good and I would like, just because I’m trying to make a point. <br/><br/>I know this about myself, which is why I’m in books clubs that force me to break out of the stubborn patterns I get in. But I’m not joking when I say this is one of a handful of books that I’ve read on my own this year that defies my usual resistance to that category, and I’m very happy I did. It helps that it’s a fairly feminist premise and the author is careful to write from his own perspective and not try to take over the voices of the women in the story. And perhaps the most compelling part of it is that it’s really just stripped down to being a soldier or a rescuer. <br/><br/>This author is an emergency room doctor, which I have a lot of respect for because my parents both work in medicine and also because I am the last person who should ever be called upon in an emergency. I lose my head entirely, and it’s amazing to read a fictional account by someone who has been trained not lose their head, and understands the cost of doing so. It’s one of the many reason I flew (philosophy pun!) through this book, and why I am desperately waiting for more in the series. <br/><br/>So thank you Tom Miller for changing the narrative and making me think in more ways than one!"
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Allie Peduto