Kobani

By: FX Holden

Narrated by: Gary Bennett

Kobani is an "action-packed thrill ride", exploring what impact new military technologies will have on the men and women who serve. From the author of the Future War series, best-selling winner of Readers' Favorite 2020 Political Thriller of the year, and a Publishers' Weekly Star.

Backed by Russian airpower, Syria has begun an operation to push Turkish troops out of Northern Syria. Despite US efforts not to get dragged into the conflict, the US 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines "Lava Dogs", find their hilltop combat outpost encircled and their Kurdish allies under siege. Further west, a Syrian armored advance across the border into Turkey pivots, threatening US troops at the Turkish and NATO airbase of Incirlik. But will Syria be satisfied with reclaiming its northern border region, or is the operation just the first move in a bolder plan to regain lost territories?

Inside Kobani, Kurdish Women's Protection Unit sniper, Daryan Al-Kobani, is fighting for her people, her city, and her mother and sister, hunting a Russian sniper who shoots to grievously wound his victims, not to kill.

At Combat Outpost Myer on the top of Mishte-nur Hill, Lava Dog Gunner James Jensen is field-testing the latest in autonomous ground weapons systems, the Legged Squad Support System 'Hunter'. And finding the weapons system's AI has more than a few potentially lethal bugs.

At Incirlik Air Base, laser air defense Tactical Control Assistant, Sergeant Alessa Barruzzi, struggles to keep her battery operational against an enemy who attacks with both cyber, electronic, and unconventional weapons.

Coalition allies, pilots Karen "Bunny" O'Hare and "Meany" Papastopolous, find themselves fighting for survival in the air over Turkey when Russia decides to unleash its newest stealth fighter on the battlefield, the Su-57 "Felon", and change the rules of engagement.

And in Istanbul, cyber-warfare analysts Shimi Kahane of Israel's Unit 8200, and Carl Williams, of the US NSA, put together the pieces of an intelligence puzzle codenamed "Operation Butterfly" that could signal Russia is planning the biggest test of US strategic resolve since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

©2021 FX Holden (P)2021 FX Holden

Luv it but a little loose

Great future AI tech in war. Sierra v Turkey and the Kurds. Which I really USA v Russia. Lots of action but it borders on too much tech

This book was written in 2020 and it shows.

A gripping story that thanks to current events has been made completely antiquated. Just goes to show that sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. But regardless of how incompetently bad Russia is, and the fact that Assad's Syria is gone, there are still adversaries out there for WW3 authors to overhype so that America can have a credible struggle for survival.

great technical read

yes it's very detailed and technical, but if you want an understanding of what war in the near future will be like, the authors vision is well laid out.

great characters

I really enjoyed the story in general and how it progressed as well as the reading of it

Good, but…

Good book that raises some interesting thoughts on the future of warfare and potentially the cost of getting too much information on the battlefield. With that said, the book should have been part of a series. It was not. The ending just didn’t match the tone or tempo of the first 98% of the book. It was just, well, weird. It was almost as if the author got tired of the story he created and decided to put little thought into the ending. I would recommend this book, but I would warn of the ending.