Found this in the local charity shop for $2. I’m so far out of the zeitgeist that I recognized the author as the 25th Hour guy, and only after I bought the book did I realize he’s also the Game of Thrones and upcoming Three Body Problem guy. He’s good, that’s what he is. He’s good, that’s what he is. The setup on this novel was so good that I actually was sure there was some truth to the story (there isn’t).

Bonus: This interview is full of little easter eggs. Turns out Benioff was also the screenwriter of The Kite Runner and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. And the last question/answer combination is too good to spoil. Read to the end.

Anyway! In the abstract this book is a cliche checklist: a guy asks his grandfather about the war, and the grandfather starts a shaggy-dog story about an unlikely duo on a dangerous mission.

But it’s executed flawlessly. It’s funny, suspenseful, sad, beautiful, and brilliantly written. The characters are memorable and real – finding humour and absurdity in starvation and certain death, bonding over trauma and tragedy, determined to make it despite overwhelming adversity.

It’s as good as any war novel I’ve read.

Turns out it’s also an inspiration for the video game The Last of Us, we’ll see if it finds its way into the series. It’d be a weird little bit of trivia.