World War III began years ago, and the American government didn't even know it.For years, while Iran and North Korea kept Western diplomats busy, China and Russia have been quietly seeding the US with spies and soldiers.
Now a silent army of occupation lurks inside US borders, and for America, it is already too late.
On Christmas Eve, the assault begins.
Mongol Moon is Mark Sibley’s acclaimed debut novel about the individual impact of a global war for survival that looks increasingly plausible with each passing day.
Mark Sibley is a corporate crisis manager and war gamer. He’s developed and facilitated over a hundred war games for various organizations over the years and managed as many real-world crises for those organizations. This experience, along with a life-long dream of writing a novel, provided him fertile ground for pulling together all the aspects of this story and developing them into what became Mongol Moon. If you tell a war gamer that a particular bad thing can’t happen, that war gamer will come up with a plausible scenario to prove you wrong...eventually.
He is a life-long Virginian and lives in the Commonwealth with his wife, three kids, and current pack of female terriers, two Boston Terriers, Izzy (the Alpha) and Dobby (the one without a brain), and the ever-ferocious Chewie the Wookie, a five-pound Yorkshire Terrier with one fang. At any given time, there is also a foster dog at the house, rounding out their pack.
So the Chinese, Russians, Iranians, and North Koreans decide to jointly attack the United States with nuclear weapons, and the troops that they insert into the country spend the majority of their time attacking a suburban civilian house in Virginia.
Enjoyable for its uniqueness in giving a modern take on WWIII. Unfortunately, the characters did not lead well enough in engaging me and I mostly finished to see if the war aspect made me want to get book 2. It didn't.
This story line just moved to slow. It just did not hold my attention. I struggled to keep going as it progressed at the speed of Snail. For me the minutiae seemed more important to the Author than the meat and potatoes. The writer stated he was a slow writer(but that doesn’t mean the story has to drag). I mean no malice toward the person. But I can and do try to hang in there hoping the book improves. Not this time. I will not continue on with this series. And I would not recommend it to anyone.
It’s quite amazing that after all the books published by a group called Wargate this is the first non-sci-fi/fantasy by them an also one set in a ww3 setting. The story showed a real lack of sea combat I noticed exude the submarines there weren’t any ship battles strange has I would expect at some ships would’ve been at sea during all this.
A smart and beautifully constructed novel for this current moment. Excitement, adventure, intrigue, even some humor. Much more readable and thought-provoking than anything I have read since Crichton's 'State of Fear'. Mark Sibley has created a book you won't put down. I can't wait to read the sequel!
I thought this was going to be a lemon but after a rather strange start it really took off and was pretty engrossing. I immediately bought the next volume after finishing this one. The writing is fluent and there's a lot of humour and even Marines get hurt or killed - so it must be authentic right?
I was going to give this 4 stars, Why? There are so many books exploring this topic, being published, today, and, I've been reading many of them. I would not call my reaction a fatigue, for, in large part I feel that the authors are responding to our species being on the precipice of, yet, another global war. Not the "Brush fires", and, "Police Actions", and proxy wars we've been engaged in since the Korean war, but, an actual, "Peer-to-Peer" conflict which threatens to drag us into a war fought with nukes, drones, and advanced artillery.
Already there is a war raging within the confines of Europe, in which, so many people have died, and, there seems to be no true end in sight, other than, the magnification of that conflict, possibly to our own shores, or the triggering of major conflicts from Asia to India to, the Middle East, and, beyond.
Mark Sibley's writing is solid. Was it my "favorite" scenario for a war involving the U.S. and China... No. But, only because my own, personal, uninformed view is that such a conflict will occur differently.
That's it. That's my bias.
The scenario Mark paints here, is as likely as any other, until it happens, and, then, We know.
What we do know, at this time, is that, war is inevitable. I am not speaking of a World War between the current global actors, for who knows how long peace, or, the illusion, of peace, will endure.
No, I mean, war in general.
Europe is composed of the remnants of great empires. America (North and South and Central) is filled with the rubble, ruins, and buried remains, of empires of long, long ago. And, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and, the Indian Sub Continent... all the same. Australia?
Maybe.
But, there is always war. There is always another nation vying to be the next great empire.
So, war is inevitable, it is just the seats at the table which change, and, whether we use rocks and pointy sticks, or, bullets and,
I found much of the story plausible and quite exciting. The writer seems to have a good grasp of military technology, customs, and writes in way that isn’t just for the career-military/historian types.
The story is put together like a jigsaw puzzle, but almost chronologically. A lot of moving parts, step by step, leading up to D-day, and I couldn’t put it down.
What stopped me from giving the book 5 stars was the coincidences. TOO many. In a world of 7 billion people, it’s seems that many of the characters had run-ins with their nemesis, their long lost relative, etc. and NO ONE ELSE. I mean the world is ending and, the astronaut’s story is just, almost unbelievable. And clowns? The world is ending yes, but gangs of clowns on day 1? Some of these scenarios seemed too rushed and, I found myself saying a couple of times “oh he just showed up?”
Plausible story. Pretty well-written. Good book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I was a little disappointed in this book after reading so many positive reviews. Yes, the premise for the story is a good one: a sneak attack against the USA by multiple enemy nations and utilizing sleeper agents. However, the author spent way too much time on subplots that had more to do with relationships and other personal drama. At times the invasion seemed almost an afterthought. I hope the sequel sticks more to action and geopolitics.
Could be shorter, too much (irrelevant) schmoozy family gossip. The apocalyptic techno stuff made it up for that in spades... I hope that it's not case of J. W. GOETHE's observation that "Great Events Cast Shadows ahead of them" {paraphrased}
The Marines boiled water and poured it over the grounds through the strainer.. The army boils the grounds in the water and sifts it through the strainer. 🫵🏼🤣 Work Smarter not harder. "Marines" is capitalize 😂
Fantastic book! Great plot, excellent character development and nothing outlandish or unbelievable. Quite a chilling scenario. I enjoyed this book very much and could not stop reading.
I wanted to like this but at 50 pages out of about 320, it was still building up to the inciting incident and i just couldn't bring myself to care to finish it.
After reading 57% of the book the main character is revealed as a gay Navy Seal. Seriously! Tell us in the beginning of the book if it involves this crap!
A very scary good book! Mark Sibley’s writing is top notch in this WWIII thriller. The stories flow and pacing is extraordinary, and keeps you anticipating what is coming up next. The characters are not only believable, but written in a way that makes them relatable. The scariest part is that our countries enemies could very well use this book as a how to guide. Time to stock up on tacos.
There's very few WWIII books that actually capture just how devastating it is going to be for the United States and the world at large.
For years, I only had two that I recommended to people - Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy and Ghost Fleet by P. W. Singer and August Cole. No other one stood up to them.
I now have a third: Mongol Moon.
It's technically accurate, gripping, and full of a cast of characters that just leap off of the page. Ghost Fleet I read in an afternoon and evening while at Space 200, Mongol Moon the same - I don't think it took me more than 24 hours. And, even worse, the scenario described by Sibley looks more plausible with every new day's headlines.
The best book I've read in 2024 and a must-buy for Tom Clancy fans!