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City on Fire
Walter Jon Williams
Hugo Nomination 1997

Machiavellian war story in a fascinating, psychic future. Lots of riveting excitement and adventure but somewhat uni-dimensional - almost exclusively power struggle, manipulation, and fighting.

The kind of book military-types would love but I would recommend Sun Tzu's classic, The Art of War for something more practical. Still, many interesting military tactical discussions and philosophy:

"All neutralities are imaginary. When a third party to a war chooses neutrality as a policy, in reality the neutrality always favors one side or the other."

"In my experience, a person will listen to anybody, provided he has the message one wants to hear."

"But to give up power - that is dangerous, too, because to surrender power is to surrender the ability to create change."

An easy book to read but don't expect to come away with much to think about. It's like having desert instead of dinner.

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