Dragon Fire: The Realistic and Gripping Novel of the Next War

Nine years after this book was first written, the fictional confrontation between the China and India is more believable than ever. Just recently, the Indian government will be allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Tawang in spite of the objections coming from Beijing. India has been making a series of critical errors in just about everything it has done, while the growing gap between China and India in almost all areas has emboldened Beijing to humiliate New Delhi every chance it can. The fictional war described in the book turned out very badly for the Indians. The recent revelation of the lack of a credible Indian nuclear deterent given its falsified thermonuclear test and failed missiles only increases the risk of such a conflict.

This book is very well researched and written however it falls short of creating a plausible conflict scenario in south asia. There are way to many improbabilities in the plot like the American non involvemebt, renegade indian units, and nuclear trigger happy heads of state. If this is potrait of a worse case scenario (where every one has gone off their rocker) then its understandable otherwise it is highly likely that cooler heads will prevail before the situation ends in the way the book describes it.

1. Dragonfire is a book written by Humphery Hawksley, a BBC correspondent in Asia and China in 1999. Though this is a work of fiction, it is based on events that have happened in past (prior to writing this book), author's knowledge of the region and its geopolitics and information available mostly in public domain (and some not in public domain). This book therefore is uncomfortably realistic for a fiction. 2. In a superbly constructed story line about a nuclear war taking place between India and China and the consequences thereof, the author has been able to draw attention of the readers to a region, which is known to hold the key to 21 century (now current). Asia is going to be the happening place in the world with two mammoth economics vying for space in same geopolitical region. Both sharing identical sphere of influences, identical aspirations and above all similar scientific and military capabilities. Only difference being that China is a Communist country and India a democracy. 3. While western world remains focused in other regions, the book has been able to make readers take note of a scenario that could be very serious and the place of its occurrence is not the usual spots of Middle East or Latin America but heart of Asia. In event of the stand off between India and China with Pakistan on margins (all three being nuclear states with all three having different form of governments) it is difficult to say as to how closely such standoff may follow story line of this book, but it is certain that it would have a large element of what is depicted in this book in some or the other form, irrespective of the end result being different. 4. The story line is constructed well to hold reader's attention. It grips the reader as the events that unfold in the story appear very close to reality and make one take note of the fact that such standoff is easily possible. It also makes one think that it is high time so called superpower (s) pay attention to Asia which is commensurate to the importance this region has in current geopolitics rather than behaving and pretending that the region is unimportant. 5. A well researched and written book which forces readers to read through and take note.

This novel is one of the best pieces of semi-contrived fiction I have read in a while. It is a fast paced and easy read. A rather chilling scenario for nuclear war in Asia in the near future emerges from the pages that haunts and makes one wonder.

I bought this book after I read an article in some Indian newspaper regarding the threat China and Pakistan nexus poses to India. The article mentioned this book for fictionalizing the very possible scenario of nuclear conflict due to conflicting ideology and foreign policy- Islamic Fundamentalist and Communist Regime against the democratic nation. The book is little weak on developing Indian characters but overall this is a great read. Even former house speaker, Mr. Newt Gingrich, recommended this book in his book list. I hope Mr. Hawksley comes back and write another one in this genre with similar conflict.