Brian Nelson is a former Fulbright Scholar who holds degrees in international relations, economics and creative writing (fiction).  His first book “The Silence and the Scorpion: The Coup against Chávez and the Making of Modern Venezuela” was named one of the Best Books of 2009 by the Economist.  His work has appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Christian Science Monitor and the Southern Humanities Review, among others. “The Last Sword Maker” is his second book and an action packed thriller about a high-tech arms race between the United States and China as they both strive to create the next-generation of weapons using a mixture of artificial intelligence, genetic engineering and nanotechnology.

“The Last Sword Maker” takes place in the not-too-distant future, between January 2025 and May 2026 as each chapter is given a time and place. The action begins with a prologue titled The Letter which informs of a letter written by Nobel laureate and biochemist Bill Eastman after he hosts a conference at the Millennium Institute in San Francisco in August 2018 for some of the greatest minds in science.  The letter is modeled after Albert Einstein’s 1939 letter warning President Roosevelt about the possibility of an atomic bomb, but this one warns the current president of the possible dangers from emerging technology and is signed by Eastman and twenty-seven other leading scientists. The novel is divided into three parts: Part One: The Ends of Peace, Part Two: The Race and Part Three: Red Dragon Rising. Part One begins seven years after that infamous letter and has Admiral James Curtiss being called to the Pentagon for an emergency meeting about a massive genocide taking place in the high mountains of Tibet.  This is not a disease, but a weapons test.  Chinese scientists have developed a way to kill based on a person’s genetic traits. The real danger will come if they achieve “Replication” – the breakthrough that will tip the global balance of power. To try and beat the Chinese, Admiral James Curtiss assembles the nation’s top scientists, which include a promising young graduate student named Eric Hill, who could provide the missing piece to the replication puzzle.  Sensing that the Americans have a leg up, the Chinese will stop at nothing, including kidnapping Eric, to force him to help them win this arms race.

Part techno-thriller, part political suspense novel, “The Last Sword Maker” is a thrill ride of a story. It starts off slow, but thankfully the action in the second half takes off and rewards readers for their persistence.  The history of the conflict between the Chinese and Tibetan people is eye-opening and serves as back story for Sonam Paljor, a member of the Tibetan resistance who is kidnapped, fed propaganda and converted into an elite solider for the Chinese. The language is descriptive “From here, they could see the top floors of other tech giants—silver-and-glass towers jutting above the trees like Mayan temples above the rain forest” and the deep character building is impressive which makes them relatable. Sometimes the torture scenes can get too graphic and violent but luckily there are not too many of them. Standout moments include ‘Chapter 17: Replication’ during the artificial intelligence final test and replication testing: “They worked silently, like peasant farmers tending to row after row of computer code” and when Eric, Bryan Ying and Mei finally escape the Chinese facility. The programming drama should appeal to programmers who understand the satisfaction of successful programming.  Hopefully, since it is advertised as the Course of Empire Series, Book 1, the Inventor, a cryptic ‘observer’ who seems to be a powerful and immortal being, comes back in subsequent books. There is something for everyone, from science, to politics, history and romance and that makes “The Last Sword Maker” a must-read page turner to rival the best from Tom Clancy and David Baldacci.

“You can’t know what it’s like until you’ve felt it. That was what he’d tell them. Bill, Jane, the admiral. When it was all over, he’d make them understand why he did it.  Why he had helped the enemy.”

*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.