Private Owens: A George Owens Novel - Paperback

by William DeForest Halsted (Author), Matthew Halsted (Illustrator), Emeline Halsted (Illustrator)

Tired of his mundane life going to school, playing video games, and generally accomplishing nothing worth mentioning, thirteen-year-old George decides to actually do something, something exciting and interesting, something real. When a recruiting sergeant for the Alamedan Empire comes to his school, he enlists in the Alamedan Army and goes to fight with other teenagers in the Paintball Wars.

George quickly discovers that this new life is not easy. From intense infantry battles to the deceitful peace between them, George is confronted with how much his fellow soldiers depend on him to do his part - and how far he has to go to fulfill his duty. And when his company finds itself in a pickle with no leadership, George must overcome his resistance to change and rise to the challenge.

The Paintball Wars is a fictional world set in the present day. Armies of tens of thousands of teenagers clash in epic World War II-style paintball battles, including tanks, artillery, and aircraft, to occupy each other's territory. Are you a history buff who loves World War II? Do you like to play paintball, but always wanted something grander? Do you enjoy the action and adrenaline of a gripping war story, but dislike the gory, brutal reality of war? Then the Paintball Wars Chronicles are for you!

This book is a quality paperback featuring color maps to illustrate the battles, showing terrain, unit positions, and movements. It also features black-and-white hand-drawn illustrations of key scenes.

This is a fictional paintball war story. As such, there is no blood, death, gore, or any of the like. Injuries are few and minor. That said, there are a great many battle scenes of simulated combat, some of which are very intense. In some cases there is real brawling; the main character is pinched in his nipple during hand-to-hand combat, which becomes a sore purple lump for a while. Even though there is no death, "kill" and "die" are the common terms used to described a soldier who has become a casualty (i.e. hit with paint).

Additionally, in the flavor of a "clean war story," mild language considered by the author to be more-or-less PG is used as follows:

Frequent use of "hell" and "blast" ("what the hell," "to hell with X," "helluva," "blast it," "blasted X")Occasional use of "ass" ("move your ass," "get your head outta your ass")Occasional use of "bastard," "butthead," and "dog" (used as a generic insult for an unpleasant person)There is one reference to the f-word as follows:

"Bernie," George asked, "what does FUBAR mean?"

"Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition," Bernie replied without looking up.

"Yeah," someone said, "but in World War Two the first word would've made your mom wig out and ground you for two weeks."

Another boy looked up from nearby, confused. "Yeah, maybe, I mean, if your mom had a habit of coming to the front lines with you."