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Tiger Chair
When China invades America, guerrilla warfare explodes on the streets of Los Angeles in this provocative short story about the future of war from Max Brooks, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of World War Z.
China thought it would be a quick war, an easy war. But now, years later, as the insurgency on the streets of Los Angeles escalates but the propaganda never changes, a Chinese officer can’t keep silent any longer. Torn between loyalty to his country and loyalty to his troops, he writes a brutally honest—and possibly suicidal—letter home to unmask the truth.
Brooks combines his signature meticulous research with unforgettable characters in this landmark work of speculative fiction.
China thought it would be a quick war, an easy war. But now, years later, as the insurgency on the streets of Los Angeles escalates but the propaganda never changes, a Chinese officer can’t keep silent any longer. Torn between loyalty to his country and loyalty to his troops, he writes a brutally honest—and possibly suicidal—letter home to unmask the truth.
Brooks combines his signature meticulous research with unforgettable characters in this landmark work of speculative fiction.
49 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2024
3674 people are currently reading
3105 people want to read
About the author
Max Brooks
105 books7,762 followersMax Brooks is The New York Times bestselling author of The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. He has been called ”the Studs Terkel of zombie journalism.“
Brooks is the son of director Mel Brooks and the late actress Anne Bancroft. He is a 1994 graduate of Pitzer College. His wife, Michelle, is a screenwriter, and the couple have a son, Henry.
Brooks is the son of director Mel Brooks and the late actress Anne Bancroft. He is a 1994 graduate of Pitzer College. His wife, Michelle, is a screenwriter, and the couple have a son, Henry.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 618 reviews
June 11, 2024
“And that's how the High Command
Took my daddy from me”
~Pink Floyd
A sobering short story about the horrors of war. In the not-too-distant future, China has invaded the western United States and is facing strong resistance from those living in the occupied territory. The war, which was supposed to be a quick and decisive victory on the part of the Chinese, has been dragging on for years with no end in sight. Chinese troops are growing disillusioned, and Tiger Chair is one “patriotic” officer's attempt at exposing the truth of the conflict.
Although this tale revolves around a fictional future war, it's a story as old as time … or as old as the human race, anyway. If you slightly change the details concerning nationalities and the methods and machines of war, I daresay this “letter” could have been written about pretty much any current or historical conflict, as it focuses primarily on how the big wigs in charge make questionable decisions and people die, both soldiers and civilians.
This is a well-written piece that really brings home the awfulness of war. Although there's no major gore, it's probably not a great read for the squeamish. The plot delves slightly into science fiction, but not significantly so. While it's set in the future with some futuristic technology, it's all very realistic feeling.
With that said, there's really not a whole lot to this story. It's just a letter that one guy writes home. There's no climax and no characters to really get to know, and all of the action is being relayed after the fact. It's not an uninteresting piece and it certainly has merit, but it's absolutely not a traditional short story. It still mostly managed to hold my attention, but I did feel that it dragged a little in certain spots due to the above.
My overall rating: 3.45 stars, rounded down. If you enjoy war stories, you'll likely find this one worth the short amount of time that it takes to read it. It's certainly unique.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for providing me with a copy of this story to review. Its publication date was June 1, 2024.
Took my daddy from me”
~Pink Floyd
A sobering short story about the horrors of war. In the not-too-distant future, China has invaded the western United States and is facing strong resistance from those living in the occupied territory. The war, which was supposed to be a quick and decisive victory on the part of the Chinese, has been dragging on for years with no end in sight. Chinese troops are growing disillusioned, and Tiger Chair is one “patriotic” officer's attempt at exposing the truth of the conflict.
Although this tale revolves around a fictional future war, it's a story as old as time … or as old as the human race, anyway. If you slightly change the details concerning nationalities and the methods and machines of war, I daresay this “letter” could have been written about pretty much any current or historical conflict, as it focuses primarily on how the big wigs in charge make questionable decisions and people die, both soldiers and civilians.
This is a well-written piece that really brings home the awfulness of war. Although there's no major gore, it's probably not a great read for the squeamish. The plot delves slightly into science fiction, but not significantly so. While it's set in the future with some futuristic technology, it's all very realistic feeling.
With that said, there's really not a whole lot to this story. It's just a letter that one guy writes home. There's no climax and no characters to really get to know, and all of the action is being relayed after the fact. It's not an uninteresting piece and it certainly has merit, but it's absolutely not a traditional short story. It still mostly managed to hold my attention, but I did feel that it dragged a little in certain spots due to the above.
My overall rating: 3.45 stars, rounded down. If you enjoy war stories, you'll likely find this one worth the short amount of time that it takes to read it. It's certainly unique.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for providing me with a copy of this story to review. Its publication date was June 1, 2024.
June 2, 2024
This short story, set during WWIII in a Los Angeles occupied by the Chinese army, is presented as a letter from a desperate officer to his friend back home.
This story is very short, but very smartly written and with great subtlety. Each paragraph seems to reveal something more about how this war came to be, the fight of resistance, the horror of the situation, and the fear of your own government.
I found myself really involved and I recommend it.
This story is very short, but very smartly written and with great subtlety. Each paragraph seems to reveal something more about how this war came to be, the fight of resistance, the horror of the situation, and the fear of your own government.
I found myself really involved and I recommend it.
August 17, 2024
Not my usual pick, but this book about WWIII was pretty interesting. It dives deep into a possible future war, which isn't usually my thing, but I kept an open mind. The thing I liked the most is how the book is told in a letter to his friend.
June 22, 2024
Well, that was a tasty little nugget of literature. I took this novel on due to my interest in Max Brooks writings. It was well written. The concept of the whole story being narrated by one soldier is a change of pace. Good character development. Not a bad read.
June 21, 2024
My thanks to Amazon Original, Max Brooks and Netgalley.
This was a well written short story, and gosh only knows how much I love Max....but, I wanted more. As usual Mr. Brooks reeled me in, but this time I was left dangling. Damn it!
This was a well written short story, and gosh only knows how much I love Max....but, I wanted more. As usual Mr. Brooks reeled me in, but this time I was left dangling. Damn it!
May 2, 2024
Guerilla War in a Future LA
Review of the Amazon First Reads Kindle eBook edition (May 1, 2024), released in advance of the official publication by Amazon Original Stories in eBook format & by Audible Originals in audio format (June 1, 2024)
The hand and shoeprints of Mel Brooks on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Tiger Chair is a disillusioned Chinese platoon leader's letter back home to a childhood friend written as if from a future World War where the Chinese have invaded and occupied the west coast of the USA. They are bogged down in a guerilla war meeting resistance from all sorts of forces in America who, regardless of previous differences, are united in opposing the invaders.
This is basically the repeat story of past insurgencies the world over, only transposed into a future world with added future tech being utilized by both sides e.g. Artificial Intelligence merged with enhanced equipment capabilities. In that sense there wasn't much new to it.
The more interesting aspect was the real-world references that were inserted, such as the nod to author Max Brooks father, the comedian actor / director / playwright Mel Brooks shown above, from when the comedian wore an extra false finger when he had his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony.
There was also the rather weird story of wrestler / actor John Cena's forced apology to China.
When those sorts of mentions are the standout aspects to a story, I can't see going higher than a 2-star rating.
p.s. 台湾是一个国家
Trivia and Links
Max Brooks is a novelist who specializes in speculative fiction. His most popular novel is World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (2006) which was adapted into the same-named feature film (2013). His most recent novel is Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre (2020).
Amazon Prime First Reads advance reading copies (ARCs) are available to Amazon Prime subscribers. They offer advance reads of books in Kindle eBook format one month before the date of official release. The current month's selection is available here (Link goes to Amazon US, adjust for your own country or region).
Review of the Amazon First Reads Kindle eBook edition (May 1, 2024), released in advance of the official publication by Amazon Original Stories in eBook format & by Audible Originals in audio format (June 1, 2024)
It was what I saw at my feet: the prints of two Chinese actors. I remember seeing Zhao Wei’s and thinking, “Shame what happened to her,” and then seeing Huang Xiaoming’s and remembering how much I loved him in Winter’s Kiss. Then there was another name: Mel Brooks. I don’t know who he was, but he had six fingers on his left hand.
The hand and shoeprints of Mel Brooks on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Tiger Chair is a disillusioned Chinese platoon leader's letter back home to a childhood friend written as if from a future World War where the Chinese have invaded and occupied the west coast of the USA. They are bogged down in a guerilla war meeting resistance from all sorts of forces in America who, regardless of previous differences, are united in opposing the invaders.
This is basically the repeat story of past insurgencies the world over, only transposed into a future world with added future tech being utilized by both sides e.g. Artificial Intelligence merged with enhanced equipment capabilities. In that sense there wasn't much new to it.
The more interesting aspect was the real-world references that were inserted, such as the nod to author Max Brooks father, the comedian actor / director / playwright Mel Brooks shown above, from when the comedian wore an extra false finger when he had his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony.
There was also the rather weird story of wrestler / actor John Cena's forced apology to China.
Take that muscled megastar my mom used to tease my dad about running away with. Who can forget his groveling apology for blasphemously calling Taiwan a country? Surprisingly good Mandarin, accent and all. Why wouldn’t his psych profile predict a 98.54 percent accommodation score?
When those sorts of mentions are the standout aspects to a story, I can't see going higher than a 2-star rating.
p.s. 台湾是一个国家
Trivia and Links
Max Brooks is a novelist who specializes in speculative fiction. His most popular novel is World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (2006) which was adapted into the same-named feature film (2013). His most recent novel is Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre (2020).
Amazon Prime First Reads advance reading copies (ARCs) are available to Amazon Prime subscribers. They offer advance reads of books in Kindle eBook format one month before the date of official release. The current month's selection is available here (Link goes to Amazon US, adjust for your own country or region).
January 19, 2026
It was good but I can see why some people are only giving it 3 stars. To be honest, my mouse floated over that rating as well. But it was interesting and It kept me till the end. So I rounded to 4 stars.
“Simplicity over tech”
“Americans often worship technology, which can be a detriment in survival situations.”
“Simplicity over tech”
“Americans often worship technology, which can be a detriment in survival situations.”
September 4, 2024
In the not-too-distant future, China has waged war against, and conquered, several countries and have been waging war in the US for a few years. Unfortunately, things aren’t going well for the Chinese military and they’ve learned that the United States is more than they can handle, as American forces are winning. This story is in letter form from a commanding officer to his lifelong best friend. He writes about how dire the situation has become and is very depressed. Brooks gives a shout out to his father, the brilliant writer, director, and actor, Max Brooks, but take it with a grain of salt. It was the only humor in this short anti-war story.
May 9, 2024
Just got this from Amazon Prime reads in May - it is scheduled for release next month. This is a cool short story for Los Angeles-based readers because the author, Max Brooks, references tons of LA landmarks and geographies. It took me longer than I expected to figure out what was going on in the story, though: basically China has taken over LA in a futuristic WWIII type of story, and the LA people are fighting back using alternative techniques to fight China's tech superiority. Not my usual kind of book, but one can almost envision it happening. Thank goodness I probably won't live that long. Or I'll move to Iowa. 3-stars.
June 5, 2024
Max Brooks has a way of drawing you into the action right away. If you don’t know much about guerrilla warfare, you’ll certainly know a lot more after reading this short story. You can feel the desperation of the narrator and easily picture the horrific events that occur, so be warned that this contains a veritable boatload of violence. I’ll be interested to see if Brooks takes the story any further.
Props for the Princess Bride reference. 😉😄
Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the advance copy. All opinions are mine.
Props for the Princess Bride reference. 😉😄
Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the advance copy. All opinions are mine.
December 24, 2024
Loved this short story!! I was immediately intrigued from the first and onward. Loved the action and War happening. Was shocked by the secrets he told and experienced. I have to read more by this author as I'm hooked!!
May 22, 2024
Trump would love this - a patriotic fever dream set in the near future where a Chinese occupying army is mired in guerrilla warfare against an heroic American resistance. The short story takes the form of a letter from a Chinese military leader to his friend back home bemoaning his nation’s reliance on AI technology which is proving no match to the ingenuity and bravery of the American freedom fighters. This is complacent propaganda and I found it crass, ridiculously simplistic and dangerously partisan.
May 27, 2024
WWIII
Max Brooks put forth an interesting story told from the point of view of a soldier in the middle of a long war. That doesn’t sound unique until you realize that the soldier is Chinese and that he is in Hollywood fighting the insurgence of Americans that just won’t give up their country under siege.
This book was different and reasonably well written, but I can’t say that I liked it. To go into why would give away more of the plot and for someone who likes this stuff I wouldn’t want to ruin it for them. I will give it three and a half stars for creativity and writing and round it down with my opinion.
Max Brooks put forth an interesting story told from the point of view of a soldier in the middle of a long war. That doesn’t sound unique until you realize that the soldier is Chinese and that he is in Hollywood fighting the insurgence of Americans that just won’t give up their country under siege.
This book was different and reasonably well written, but I can’t say that I liked it. To go into why would give away more of the plot and for someone who likes this stuff I wouldn’t want to ruin it for them. I will give it three and a half stars for creativity and writing and round it down with my opinion.
May 1, 2024
Rating: 4.0/5
I found this short story from Max Brooks to be a surprisingly compelling read. "Tiger Chair" is a speculative vision of World War 3 and takes the form of a letter being written by a disenchanted Chinese officer, who is part of an army that has invaded the USA and become embroiled in a war of attrition.
In the world presented by Max Brooks, China has become the pre-eminent world force, both economically and technologically. It has also sought to extend its influence and territorial possession around the globe. However, no matter the degree to which countries have developed ever more sophisticated military might, it is still ultimately ordinary soldiers - ordinary people - who have to fight the battles and lose their lives in satisfying the whims of the political powers that be.
The author makes a number of references to previous well-known conflicts throughout history, essentially highlighting the fact that, in spite of technological advancements, nothing about the act of war really changes. Underpinning the the story is the fundamental question: "Which serves our country more? Fighting its war, or fighting to stop it?"
I found this short story from Max Brooks to be a surprisingly compelling read. "Tiger Chair" is a speculative vision of World War 3 and takes the form of a letter being written by a disenchanted Chinese officer, who is part of an army that has invaded the USA and become embroiled in a war of attrition.
In the world presented by Max Brooks, China has become the pre-eminent world force, both economically and technologically. It has also sought to extend its influence and territorial possession around the globe. However, no matter the degree to which countries have developed ever more sophisticated military might, it is still ultimately ordinary soldiers - ordinary people - who have to fight the battles and lose their lives in satisfying the whims of the political powers that be.
The author makes a number of references to previous well-known conflicts throughout history, essentially highlighting the fact that, in spite of technological advancements, nothing about the act of war really changes. Underpinning the the story is the fundamental question: "Which serves our country more? Fighting its war, or fighting to stop it?"
November 19, 2024
3.5 Stars for Tiger Chair (audiobook) by Max Brooks read by Greg Chun.
In this short story we’re thrown into the middle of a war where China has invaded America. Americans and banding together and fighting back. China thought that it would be an easy takeover but years later it’s still raging.
In this short story we’re thrown into the middle of a war where China has invaded America. Americans and banding together and fighting back. China thought that it would be an easy takeover but years later it’s still raging.
June 5, 2024
Cleverlly written, so much happened in these few pages.
June 11, 2024
This short story is a letter written by a soldier. And it’s everything you can imagine. Being in that mindset was very hard and extremely sad. He has lost all hope. And even thought I knew this coming in I hoped there was some ending. Maybe if we got a back and forth correspondence or even an ending. It was so open ended it felt incomplete. It was very sad and even though I understand it for what it is I wish it gave me hope or just finished me off. This never ending WWIII is just a very long purgatory for the soldiers waiting to go somewhere. It was depressing and I don’t do good with depressed characters or stories.
July 19, 2024
I got this for free via Amazon’s First Reads a couple months ago. I love that feature of the Prime membership and I like how they started to include an extra short story in the monthly offering.
As for the story…
It’s not bad, but not overly creative. I feel that I could have written it and while I’m undeniably amazing I’m not an award winning author.
As for the story…
It’s not bad, but not overly creative. I feel that I could have written it and while I’m undeniably amazing I’m not an award winning author.
May 1, 2024
The story is a letter from a Chinese soldier (stationed in California after invading the US) to his wealthy friend back home (rich enough to avoid combat). I enjoyed the story when it focused on the human angle, what war does to people and how it changes people. At times it got bogged down by military jargon and the specifics of war, not parts that I found interesting to read.
May 6, 2024
Amazon First Reads book. Not my usual genre.
May 26, 2024
Never been into science fiction but this was interesting. The free flow thoughts of the main character in what he was seeing and going through in the story was an engaging story telling method. The topic wasn’t exactly something one would find realistic unless you have some tin foil hat tendencies. But, unique and well written!
May 13, 2024
Not really my kind of story, but others might like it
May 4, 2024
This was a quick short story - an Amazon original offering - from the writer of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. The setting is a future where China has invaded the US and might not be winning the war as handily as they are telling people. I would read a whole novel about this - I want to know what happened before and after the letter the narrator was writing.
May 11, 2024
I hate not finishing a book I've started, especially if I get past 50% but I think I can be forgiven as this is a short story, and doesn't really "go anywhere". Full of American patriotic crap: "the insurgents [Americans] never kill kids" - well, there's a big fat lie; a complete revision of history when it comes to Hong Kong and Taiwan, glossing over the barbaric way the Chinese were treated there when the *regions* were colonised by Europeans; and the list goes on. I love the people of America, but its foreign policy stinks, yet writers gloss over the bloody coups the nutters who run the country back.
June 3, 2024
I've always been a big fan of Max Brooks, from the beginning and with one exception, and again, in this novella that spares no one, the author has proven himself a great interpreter of current reality. Let's hope he is not also prescient.
Sono sempre stata una grande fan di Max Brooks, dall'inizio e con un'unica eccezione e anche stavolta, in questa novella che non risparmia nessuno, l'autore si é dimostrato un grandissimo interprete della realtá attuale. Speriamo che non sia anche un preveggente.
I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.
Sono sempre stata una grande fan di Max Brooks, dall'inizio e con un'unica eccezione e anche stavolta, in questa novella che non risparmia nessuno, l'autore si é dimostrato un grandissimo interprete della realtá attuale. Speriamo che non sia anche un preveggente.
I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.
June 9, 2024
Short and strange!
July 30, 2024
Thought provoking, uncomfortable and an interesting imagining of a future war
May 3, 2024
A captivating short story
This was a really good short story for 50 pages, it had a good narrative about a terrifying future of war with China invading America, WW3. I really felt like I was inside the story. My only complaint is, I wish the story was longer. I'll definitely read World War Z.
This was a really good short story for 50 pages, it had a good narrative about a terrifying future of war with China invading America, WW3. I really felt like I was inside the story. My only complaint is, I wish the story was longer. I'll definitely read World War Z.
August 2, 2024
Great short read. I enjoyed it.
May 13, 2024
Despite what any negative review says.. IF you enjoyed the style of World War Z then you will enjoy this short story. Free on Amazon First Reads for May 2023. Cute nod in the story to his father too.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 618 reviews