Wake of War author Zac Topping is a veteran, and it shows. In Topping’s debut novel, war is not treated as a glorious thing, but rather as an absurd cancer, or a toxin. The reader leaves with the distinct feeling that any sort of violence damages everyone involved. Somehow, despite the gravity of the subject, Topping wrote an entertaining book. He has a knack for simultaneously shoving the reader into the chaos of a firefight, while also slowing things down to more closely inspect the dread and confusion of battle. 
Wake of War is set in the near future United States. It’s kind of a less funny Idiocracy. The U.S. is more or less in the middle of another civil war, with the heart of the rebellion located firmly in Utah. There are two main point of view characters – first, a young U.S. soldier named Trent, who only enlisted for free college. On the rebel side is Sam Cross, a teenage sniper who naturally drifted into the rebellion after her parents were killed years before. Both are looking for purpose and therefore are sucked into the violent promise of meaning in war. There’s a third mercenary character, but I think plot-wise he was more of a literary device to tie the story together than a fully fleshed-out character.
I appreciated that Topping infused both of his primary characters with humanity, but also plenty of flaws. Trent is unsure of himself, untrusting of his girlfriend back home, not really sure of what he stands for. Cross is perhaps too sure of what she stands for, but also confused by typical teenage things like romance. She’s a great example of the difficulty in breaking the causal chain of violence.
I recommend this book to folks who enjoy “Dad TV” shows like and movies like anything Tom Clancy, Lee Child (Jack Reacher), or Jack Carr (Terminal List). If that’s your jam, this will hold a lot of appeal for you. I doubt others would be as interested.
