(Part 2) Best war fiction books according to redditors
We found 890 Reddit comments discussing the best war fiction books. We ranked the 328 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
Brian's book is just one of the novels in the Orbit Cyber Monday sale. All are $2.99 and a list of the fantasy titles is provided here:
Title|Author|Book #|Series|Rating | # Ratings
:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:
The Fifth Season | N.K. Jemisin | 1 | Broken Earth | 4.31 | 34,271
The Black Prism | Brent Weeks | 1 | Lightbringer | 4.24 | 68,494
The Last Wish | Andrzej Sapkowski | 1 | Introducing the Witcher | 4.20 | 58,433
Blood of Elves | Andrzej Sapkowski | 1 | The Witcher | 4.23 | 32,039
The Shadow of What Was Lost | James Islington | 1 | Licanius Trilogy | 4.16 | 9,656
Sins of Empire | Brian McClellan | 1 | Gods of Blood and Powder | 4.47 | 3,727
Promise of Blood | Brian McClellan | 1 | Powder Mage| 4.16| 26,245
The Blade Itself | Joe Abercrombie | 1 | First Law | 4.14| 111,811
Theft of Swords^1 | Michael J. Sullivan | 1 | Riyria Revelations | 4.21 | 38,525
The City Stained Red | Sam Sykes | 1 | Bring Down Heaven | 3.68 | 1,088
The Red Knight | Miles Cameron | 1 | Traitor Son Cycle | 4.12 | 10,607
Skyborn | David Dalglish | 1 | Seraphim | 3.92 | 1,010
--------
^1 In full disclosure - this is a book that I wrote.
A Thousand Splendid Suns got a little hard to read through the tears. Amazing writer, Khaled Hosseini.
I loved that book so much I tried following it back to some of its roots...there's really nothing else out there like it, But there are a few other books in the "surreality/absurdity of war tradition"
Slaughterhouse V-for absurdity and surreality it's pretty hard to beat Vonnegut.
Journey to the End of The Night -Heller freely admitted he got the form of Catch 22 from this novel. Though if you are going to read this mentally prepare yourself for one of the bitterest, angriest, misanthropic diatribes in literary history.
Good Soldier Svejk -a absurd psuedo-comedy about an drunk who half-asses his way through the war. For some reason Ignatius J Reilly reminded me of Svejk
Going After Cacciato-A lesser known, and IMO, better novel by the Things They Carried author, this one follows a vietnam squad as they attempt to track down an AWOL soldier...who tries to escape Vietnam by foot...and makes it. The whole book is written in a surreal style that made we wonder if the whole thing was a dream or not.
A Case of Exploding Mangos - Amazon:On August 17, 1988, Pak One, the airplane carrying Pakistani dictator General Zia and several top generals, crashed, killing all on board --and despite continued investigation, a smoking gun--mechanical or conspiratorial--has yet to be found. Mohammed Hanif's outrageous debut novel, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, tracks at least two (and as many as a half-dozen) assassination vectors to their convergence in the plane crash, incorporating elements as diverse as venom-tipped sabers, poison gas, the curses of a scorned First Lady, and a crow impaired by an overindulgence of ripe mangoes.
Taylor Anderson's Destroyermen series is about a US Destroyer ship in Indonesia during WWII that gets spun through a vortex into an alternative Earth where humans never evolved. Anderson has now written 8 books in the series, and he's not done.
He comes from a military background. His characters are 2-dimensional heroes and villains, his writing style is very basic, there are lots of military cliches, and sometimes I have to actively skim through the banal dialog. I just wouldn't ordinarily read books like this. But the initial plot setup in the first book was surprisingly compelling, and I can't stop from buying each new book when it comes out, because I have to know what's happening.
Amazon has them in kindle format Not Kindle Unlimited, though.
Curse of the Mistwraith is $2.17 for me (link). My region is kinda undefined when it comes to Amazon, so I have no idea if it's also on sale in the US, UK, or anywhere else, but it was a nice find.
Either way, I grabbed that.
The book this is a cover to is amazing.
http://www.amazon.com/Age-Ra-James-Lovegrove/dp/184416747X
The "Age of ... " series by Lovegrove is great.
I think it's the one by John Birmingham. I'm looking on Amazon Weapons of Choice (Axis of Time, Book 1): A Novel of the Axis of Time https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC1QBK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_RYZmzbS4S93DR
It seems like what he was talking about.
The Anglo-American / Nazi War, which was later cleaned up and published as Festung Europa.
Someone write some code for weaver ant behavior, and lets take over the world!
I'm a guy and I'm cheap. Keep this in mind.
Don't buy the crap on that page. Just don't. I realize it IS cheap, but in the long term, it will cost you in terms of having to replace some of it when it does break (all except the life straw).
Go ahead and spend some time reading, comparing and asking more questions.
Go to Pinterest and search Bugoutbag ( BOB ), Gethomebag GHB , SCAREbag, etc. You'll spend hours and hours. Instagram has a lot also. I've recently quit FB, so no help from me there.
Make a list of the things you see the most.. These will be the BASIC items you need:
Now, think about whether you are really going to bug out ? Or do you need this to Get Home ?
If you are bugging out, or getting home, figure out how far it's going to be. Can you walk that far?? How long do you think it will take?? Add a day or more. What is the climate? Are you down South like me where we had 2 days of 33 temps this year? The bag will change depending on time of year.
Read this series while it has some info, it lets you see what someone might* face while doing what you are planning for (no relation to Author, I just enjoyed the series).
You need to edit this comment ASAP with a link to purchase :-)
Edit
hardcover
paperback
kindle
Kill Decision Great sci-fi on the subject, very scary too.
I would recommend--
Fiction:
Non-fiction:
Going after cacciato by Tim O'Brien
this novel tells the story of a young soldier who one day lays down his rifle and sets off on a quixotic journey from the jungles of Indochina to the streets of Paris. I
i mean, i say give the books another shot because i can't imagine enjoying the movies but not the books. but to each their own. if you don't want to go down that road, what do you mean things that might interest you? do you mean in the harry potter universe? if so, the other stuff is fun but the original seven are her magnum opus IMO and to get my fix, i had to go outside the Harry Potter universe.
some books that I just inhaled and read in one sitting will sound super corny, but...
If you just want some good fantasy that isn't just Lord of the Rings rip offs, these are the ones I like.
Devil Said Bang (Sandman Slim) - Richard Kadrey: Excellent. I really enjoyed the story.
The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer) - Brent Weeks: Fucking awesome. I just couldn't put the book down. I loved the first one and this installment definitely did not disappoint. I cannot wait to check out the third book. Hopefully now that the main character is past his "troubling decision" that was causing all of his flip-flopping, the annoying part of the story will go away.
Shadow Ops: Control Point - Myke Cole: Just OK. I agree with some of the reviewers that the main character is too wishy washy and it really got annoying at times. I very much liked the idea of the book though and I'll be checking out the next one in January of 2013.
Two Ravens and One Crow (Iron Druid) - Kevin Hearne: A nice little taste of Atticus while waiting for the next full book.
Immortal - Gene Doucette: I actually read this one in August but it is worth a mention. It follows the adventures of a man who is immortal. That's not to say he's impervious to injury, he just doesn't age or get sick - but he can certainly get injured. He also cannot use magic of any kind so it is a really interesting take on immortality.
I say give the sample a read on Amazon (even if you aren't planning to get it in Kindle format). The sample size isn't excessively long, but skimming through it just now, it is pretty typical of Janny's style in anything I've read of hers.
See if it interests you and go from there. :)
You should read Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien!
This is a pretty great Alternate History book about what might have happened if the Nazis had lasted until the 1950s.
It's great if you like terrifying overkill (the Allies end up preparing for naval landings with multi-day barrages of automatic 8" naval artillery from battle lines of as many as fifty cruisers, followed by aerial bombardment with tens of thousands of gallons of napalm and fuel-air bombs), awesome team-ups (Viet Minh fighting Nazis alongside the USMC in fascist France), and some of the greatest set piece battles that never were (four armies fight on the land, air and underground over a two square mile bunker fortress).
Forever peace by Joe Haldeman
There's Crash Course chemistry (YT channel). Great way to start in my opinion. I'd say watch that before moving to Khan academy. Then, if you're really serious: https://www.amazon.ca/Chemistry-Raymond-Chang/dp/0073402680 .
I learned with this book, turned out good.
I have mostly nonfiction recommendations, but hope the following are of some use to you! I used these in my classroom in the past year with much success.
I can edit and add more fiction later when I get home, and look over my bookshelf as well.
World War II
"In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin" by Erik Larsen - highly recommend, especially if you are familiar with Larsen's previous book, The Devil in White City
"The Monuments Men" by Robert M. Edsel - highly recommended, especially if you are interested in the juxtaposition of art, war, and espionage.
"Unbroken" - by Laura Hillenbrand, highly recommended. Hillenbrand's command of the language and prose coupled with the true story of Louis makes this a compelling read. Even my most reluctant readers couldn't put this done.
Vietnam War
"The Things They Carried" and "If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up, and Ship Me Home" by Tim O'Brien are quintessential war canon. Must reads.
Iraq/Afghanistan/Modern Military Operations:
"The Yellow Birds" by Kevin Powers was called "the modern AQOTWF" by Tom Wolfe. Pretty poignant book. Absolute MUST READ.
Speaking of fictional, I have fond memories of home room periods reading Charlie Mike.
Frontlines series by Marko Kloos is on sale on Amazon (and then all audiobooks with excellent Luke Daniels narration are very cheap for owners of the Kindle version : )
Please double check prices before buying anything
Amazon Title |amaz| Audible Title |whisper
---------------|------|---------------|-------
Terms of Enlistment|$0.99|Terms of Enlistment|$1.99
Lines of Departure|$0.99|Lines of Departure|$1.99
Angles of Attack|$0.99|Angles of Attack|$1.99
Chains of Command|$1.99|Chains of Command|$1.99
Fields of Fire|$1.99|Fields of Fire|$1.99
Devices and Desires by K.J. Parker? It's the first book in "The Engineer" trilogy, and the Orbit edition has a dark grey cover with a padlock & key on it...
I can only think of one that hasn't already been mentioned:
The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati.
He's more on the absurdist side (Camus, Kafka) than on the magical realism side, but it's really good and definitely underappreciated.
Also, don't forget Italo Calvino, although he's one who obviously got the credit he deserved.
Hi Darlings!! My old nickname on everything was bibliophile123. But my ex-husband found me on reddit so I made up PaganPirate on the fly even though I'm neither a true pagan nor a true pirate. Just a little side story.
I'm reading The Nerdist Way by Chris Hardwick and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.
And hello everyone!
fuck, I'm drunk and just remembered one more author:
K.J. Parker
Her books border the line between fantasy and reality by setting them in fictional worlds but having so much of the content and actions be based on real-world science and lifestyles.
She has a bunch of books and several in series, I would recommend starting with her books The Engineer Trilogy
. The first two books in that series are two of my favorite books ever and can stand up against anything else I have recommended, for me at least. If you like that series, then commence reading every other thing she has written. Her newer stand-alone novels have been excellent.
Tuf Voyaging by George RR Martin.
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis.
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison.
Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson.
Read the "Look Inside" previews to see if any of these is right for you.
First book in the Destroyermen series: Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson.
I love the setting and characters. Unfortunately the beginning of the first book drags a bit but I get a real kick out of alternate universes and stuck it out. I was not disappointed and recently finished the 8th in the series last month.
While all the anime/manga relations I can think of have already been mentioned, I can think of a number of Novels.
1) 1632 (aka The Ring Of Fire) Series.
Consists of roughly 40 books, with branching timelines. All the Timelines start with 1632 and 1633.
TLDR: The small american town of grantzvile and everything in a 2 mile circle is dumped in Germany during the middle of the cluster fuck that was the 30 years war.
[Summary of the first Novel.](/s "First thing they do is intervene in the pillaging of a nearby farm, second thing they do is rofl stomp a formation of ~600 french cavalry thanks to a nam vet and his M60 he had taken home with him , along about half the town arming themselves with bolt action hunting rifles and a few AR's. They then go on to form an alliance with Sweden, teaching them how to build and manufacture weapons that Sweden is realistically capable of mass producing like early 1800's era muzzle loading rifled muskets and breach loading cannons")
And they don't just go rofl stomping everything like the JSDF does, (Remember while gunpowder in the 15th century was still in it's early stages and melee combat was still the norm, it is still perfectly capable of killing someone) Such as when [Spoilers for 1633 & 1634: The Bavarian Crisis](/s "the spanish armada shows up, they manage to repel them with rocket artillery and napalm put together in the high school science lab, but they lose one of the 2 Fighter bombers they had built (Imagine a hellcat built with the Wood & Canvas materials of a WW1 Bi-plane and a Toyota Camry engine) and The only water craft that had come through with them, a speed boat with a jury-rigged knock off Katyusha launcher bolted to the deck. (Crew was almost all killed by 4 frigits broadsiding the speedboat with grape shot until they got lucky, then the only survivor Kamikazed the sinking boat into one of said frigits")
2) The Axis Of Time Trilogy
Consists of 3 books (In order); Weapon of choice, Designated Targets, and Final Impact. The first two books are available online in PDF format (Just ask and you'll get some dank links fam), the third book is paperback only as far as I can tell.
(W.I.P)
The first book is Control Point.
Here's a blurb:
>Army Officer. Fugitive. Sorcerer. Across the country and in every nation, people are waking up with magical talents. Untrained and panicked, they summon storms, raise the dead, and set everything they touch ablaze.
Army officer Oscar Britton sees the worst of it. A lieutenant attached to the military's Supernatural Operations Corps, his mission is to bring order to a world gone mad. Then he abruptly manifests a rare and prohibited magical power, transforming him overnight from government agent to public enemy number one. The SOC knows how to handle this kind of situation: hunt him down--and take him out. Driven into an underground shadow world, Britton is about to learn that magic has changed all the rules he's ever known, and that his life isn't the only thing he's fighting for.
Here's the amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ERIJ2U?btkr=1
IMO it's a really great series with an interesting setting. Definitely something of a refresher if you've been reading a lot of classic medieval style fantasy and want a change of pace within the genre.
I mentioned this another thread, but this should fulfill your desires nicely.
You might want to read This
Book as well though you had better be ready for a dark read, it is honestly the most depressing war fiction book I have read but it was a really great read.
Julian Gracq's gorgeous, gorgeous novel. Yes, I'm re-reading now just to study it because it's just... so... beautiful!
There are two books that I shall mention that I think would be of interest to genre readers, even though they are not nominally genre books.
SMILE AS THEY BOW is a beautiful, sad tale of an aging transvestite spirit dancer in Burma, and it's lovely and amazing and a whole different way of thinking about POV from a non-Western writer. http://www.amazon.com/Smile-as-they-Bow-Nu/dp/1401303374/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407256044&sr=8-1&keywords=smile+as+the+bow I strongly recommend it to everyone in the world.
Recommended to me by Larry Nolen, there is an amazing book translated from the Italian that I think genre readers would love. The Tartar Steppe is a beautiful allegory and warning chime to everyone in pursuit of glory: http://www.amazon.com/The-Tartar-Steppe-Dino-Buzzati/dp/1567923046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407256202&sr=8-1&keywords=the+tartar+steppe
Also, recently, I read Gina Ochsner's latest short story collection, and it is whimsical and beautiful and heartbreaking. In the opening story, a middle-aged Eastern European couple is haunted by the ghosts of the children they didn't have. Later on, people place their broken hearts on trebuchets and cast them into a field. http://www.amazon.com/People-I-Wanted-Be-Stories/dp/0618563725/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407256400&sr=8-1&keywords=gina+ochsner+people
Lately, one of my favorite recent reads came out from Small Beer Press, and explores the fascinating figure of Jonathan Edwards. Spider in a Tree by Susan Stinson is an amazing, and beautiful book, exploring the life and times of a fascinating figure from American History. http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2013/10/01/spider-in-a-tree/
I'll recommend one book that isn't out, yet, but I want everyone of you to go and get it. Jenn Brissett's debut novel, Elysium, is coming from Aquaduct, and it's a complex and amazing story about what remains of us. It's powerful and complex and full of amazing imagery. I know I intend to write a full review when the time comes for such things. http://www.aqueductpress.com/forthcoming-pubs.php
Any of the three books by Khaled Hosseini would be an excellent choice. Each tells the story of a different person/life/dilemma in Afghanistan. They're very, very well-written and poetic and have in-depth, intriguing stories. A Thousand Splendid Suns is my favorite of the three, although the other two (The Kite Runner and And the Mountains Echoed) are quite good as well.
If you're okay with ornate prose, Janny Wurts's Wars of Light and Shadow epic fantasy series is exactly what you're looking for. Layered, complex story, huge (interplanetary!) scale, not excessively dark, with richly detailed and carefully thought out worldbuilding--I did a post here a while back where I talked in more detail about what I've enjoyed in the series, if that's helpful.
Nine books out of the planned 11 are currently available, 10th releasing very soon, and final novel in progress. First book is Curse of the Mistwraith.
Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson. He's a sailor, and his naval tech is extremely well researched. The characters are a bit flat, but he has great plots, and I keep buying the latest books. His writing improves and the plot really evolves as the series progresses.
This sounds very similar to the plot on Daniel Suarez's book Kill Decision: Link
Which I HIGHLY recommend.
Along with his other books Daemon and Freedom.
They are AMAZING on audible...
Sounds a bit like the opening of Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez.
Sounds like a Turtledove novel: https://www.amazon.com/Balance-Worldwar-Book-One-ebook/dp/B000FBFOQY
Start here.
https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Mike-Leonard-B-Scott-ebook/dp/B005ACDXWK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Or here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Yankee
Or any other works from these two authors
I finally finished Solaris and I'm starting Terms of Enlistment. A recommended book that popped up on my feed sounded interesting but it was a later book in the series so I'm going in from the first one.
Update: Finished Terms of Enlistment a few days ago and moved onto the second book in the Frontlines series Lines of Departure. I'm 60% through it at the moment and really digging the series so far. I'll probably finish it this weekend. I'm also reading through the Preacher comic series.
Solaris was good overall but the hard sci-fi portions about the planet were a bit of a chore to get through. I was way more interested in the people involved in the story than the technical aspects and history of the planet they were on even though it's important to get a sense of just how alien the place is.
I love sci-fi in general but I've always been more of a horror/mystery book guy. I felt like Terms of Enlistment was a good choice for getting into the military sci-fi genre and couldn't wait to get into the next one when I finished it.
edit: fixed bolding since I was posting from mobile and didn't do it originally. Also added an update above and links below.
Solaris
Terms of Enlistment
Lines of Departure
Second Red Storm Rising. Probably the best cold war gone hot book out there. As a close second, Chieftains Link by Bob Forest-Webb is also really good. The American version is Team Yankee by Harold Coyle Link. Both about armoured divisions in Germany in a major land war.
Vortex by Larry Bond is really good too. It's set in South Africa (fucking prawns...) during an ultra nationalist takeover. Really interesting setting and superbly written.
Also of interest in the same genre, Cauldron, also by Larry Bond is set in the 90's and see's France and Germany form an ultra nationalist confederation and properly kick off. They basically annex eastern europe as a slave labour force and set their sites on European domination. Another great read.
Chieftains might be up your alley. Other than that?
Hrm... Sections of The [Color] Effect series and and Red Army.
Those are the full names
Here are links
Zumdahl:
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Steven-S-Zumdahl/dp/061852844X/ref=la_B001ILMCPG_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406049265&sr=1-2
Chang:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0073402680?pc_redir=1405946005&robot_redir=1
Buy them used and you don't need the latest edition (This saves a lot of money)
Pushing Ice meets the most of your requirements.
Forever Peace was a good read.
And Steal Across the Sky was worth reading.
The Yellow Birds?
The engineer trilogy! Haven't read it, but I think you would like it! Here is a link to the first book.
The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati
My absolute favorite book. Albeit slow in parts but I really do believe every high school graduate should receive this book. An unknown gem that has some of the best lessons in life implanted inside it's soul.
ya i have seen that one
i hear that one has a huge left wing slant (USS Hilliary Clinton are you fucking kiding me )
i am going to haft to find the audeo book for that it sound intriguing
__
id also add
https://www.amazon.com/Balance-Worldwar-Book-One-ebook/dp/B000FBFOQY/ref=la_B000APWWZQ_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483124684&sr=1-6
This series by A. American is a survivalist series about living off the grid. My husband really liked it.
the book
Then I suggest everything else by Kafka and nothing else by Bulgakov. Also this and Russian classics as a general rule.
It's a great book all right. Also read Going After Cacciato.
Plus, some war fiction: From Here to Eternity. Also Matterhorn.
I never considered myself a fan of war literature, but there are some GREAT novels and memoirs about war.
I would recommend Terms of Enlistment and Lines of Departure. Good books. Although you'd have to read through both books to get to the part you'll love, it will be worth it.
Though this was described (by a reviewer, not the author) as "A college-age Harry Potter teams up with Jason Bourne," which makes it sound like a guilty pleasure at least.
I knew I knew that name. He wrote Weapons of Choice, an excellent alternate history (sort of) WW2 novel. I really need to get around to finished that series.
It looks like the indie venture is working out well for him.
No there's plenty of stories that fall into alternate history while not into fantasy, one of the greatest is
https://www.amazon.com/Festung-Europa-Anglo-American-Nazi-War-ebook/dp/B015URFGEC
https://www.amazon.com/Going-Home-Novel-Survivalist-American/dp/0147516951
Oh, another that I had forgotten about earlier/ The Age of Ra by James Lovegrove.
http://www.amazon.com/Age-Ra-James-Lovegrove/dp/184416747X
I've been reading through it for the last bit and it's wonderful. It's sci-fi instead of strict fantasy but it's still a superb bit of literature.
I just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns and personally thought it was fantastic. Check it out if the subject interests you I guess.
Forever Peace - Haldeman
Book of The New Sun/Book of the Long Sun - Wolfe (this is a very rewarding story, but it requires commitment)
Never Let Me Go - Ishiguro
The Sparrow - Russell
Please be aware that these are all fairly dark. Maybe I'm soft, but The Sparrow was one of the roughest books I've read, from a psychological perspective.
The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers really affected and captivated me. It's probably a more honest portrayal of what Iraq was like in 2005 than any non-fiction book I've read.
Basically, all sorts of things happen because the atoms, molecules, or whatever, want to be stable, i.e to achieve lowest energy. Forming ions, i.e. removing or adding electrons to the atom, is a way for atoms to achieve lowest energy (stable).
The spdf orbitals do come into play. An atom's electronic configuration can be described with its shells, orbitals, and the number of electrons in the orbitals. For example, iron's configuration is 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 3d^6 4s^2 . The electrons has another property, its spin. Spin is an intrinsic form of angular momentum, thus carries energy. Electron can spin two way (that is the up and down arrow you see in orbitals). Pauli exclusion principle says that there cannot be two electrons in a single orbital that have the same spin (since the momemtum is the same direction, it will add up and increase energy). For the similar reason, the pairings of all electrons in a degenerate orbital (i.e. 2p, 3p, 3d, etc. orbitals with the same energy) decreases the energy (cancelled out spins in a way). However, the pairing of electron also increases energy because it decreases the distance between electrons. So, the degenerate orbitals is more stable when it is half filled or fully filled (the latter is more stable). The orbital can be more stable: just don't have the orbital. The energy of an atom is lowered when a specific set of degenerate atomic orbitals is empty, fully filled, or half filled.
Now consider the iron atom again. When it ionizes, it will want to be mroe stable. An obvious option is to take off 4s orbital entirely, losing 2 electrons, thus creating Fe^2+ . Now the ion's configuration is 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 3d^6 . To become more stable, we can make 3d orbitals (take ten electrons at most) half-filled to 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 3d^5 . Compared to the neutral atom, the ion loses three electrons, making it Fe^3+ . But the energy difference between Fe^2+ and Fe^3+ is not that big. External energy and chemical environment can convert them to each other. For example, oxidizing agents, a category of chemicals that love to rob electrons from others, can make Fe^2+ become Fe^3+ by accepting an electron from Fe^2+ .
Are they structurally different? Yes, other than the configuration difference (I think it can count as structure), the atomic radius is different. Fe^3+ is smaller because it has fewer electrons obviously, meaning less repulision between them, and thus stronger attraction to the nucleus.
Textbooks include the one given in the sidebar by Oxtoby and Chang's one. You may be able to find these books in your local post-secondary library. The edition doesn't matter. Oxtoby is a little hard, but it is good for in depth explanation. Chang is great for AP and other high school studnets.
The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
Fobbit by David Abrams
Both are great. Both are about the Iraq War
> https://www.amazon.ca/Chemistry-Raymond-Chang/dp/0073402680
I think this is the book that my coworker gave to me! glad to know that this book is a good source to turn to!
Haldeman was rather prescient with soldier boys in Forever Peace